CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF URBAN SPACES OF HISTORIC NATURE

Abstract

The thesis will provide the basis for the evaluation of public space use today and draw conclusions for future trends in public space use, two public space types �â� � the street and square, with respect to their morphological qualities and how they are used. The street and square emerge as two very important urban public space types. The street is examined from a morphological and user standpoint, and a typological study of squares is documented. Basic city types and public space types are studied to draw conclusions regarding urban form and the types of public spaces found in the city. Public spaces have been developed by different societies since ancient times. The ghats (river bank) of Benaras, the chowks (square) of Delhi & Jaipur, have been important public spaces for centuries. Every community needs a symbol of its existence, a centre on which to focus life. Public spaces can be such a symbol and are the 'pulse' of a city. They form nodes or focal points, symbolizing shared identity and culture. A city is made up of many urban spaces. Public spaces are among the most important of these. These are tangible spaces with some intangible qualities where friends and strangers alike can come together, communicate, recreate, transact business, work, stroll, promenade, relax, sit, or just enjoy the sights and sounds of each other. Over the ages, the nature of public spaces and people's preference for one kind over another has changed. Urban public spaces are living organisms, which respond to the varying socioeconomic conditions and cultural patterns of cities. The meanings of public spaces have varied with time, culture and context. Aristotle believed that an ideal square was one where nothing was bought or sold, instead ideas were exchanged and debates took place Urban public spaces are essentially open spaces and could be public parks, gardens, maidans, chowks or squares, plazas, lakes, streets, and boulevards. Public spaces may be planned and designed or may have naturally evolved over time. Public spaces may be either owned and managed publicly, or owned privately but open to the public. Public spaces need economic commitment for their creation and maintenance. As cities grow, open spaces are usedup for short-term economic gains. Economics also has a positive effect on public life. For example the presence of certain stores encourages pedestrianisation of streets. We have to discern formative phases in the development of ancient cities, as a background to the formation of newer ones. It is worth noting, however, that the difference between old cities and new ones is not dramatically significant. Their differences lie in the level of complexity of new cities as well as in their physical size, the large number of various webs within the new city and the diverse specialization in the level of land designation and use. The aim is to promote urban life characterized by a strong sense of historic and cultural vitality and continuity, aesthetic qualities, which will hopefully also be preserved, are not sufficient to achieve this goal. The values of day-to-day urban qualities, economic, social and environmental are the underpinning of the urban scene and must be rediscovered: the focus cannot be on monuments alone. Conservation and the concomitant concern for the uniqueness of places and their history - was instrumental in the evolution of the contemporary concept of urban design. Many current approaches to urban design attempt to respond to the existing sense of place, stressing 'continuity with', rather than a 'break from', the past. In a world of rapid change, visual and tangible evidence of the past is valued for the sense of place and continuity it conveys. Particular value is placed on the sense of place and the relative permanence of its character and identity. Despite constant change, because the elements of the city change at different rates, some essence of its identity is retained. In many cities, for example, street and plot patterns have accommodated incremental change. We prefer a world that can be modified progressively against a background of valued remains, a world in which one can leave a personal mark alongside the marks of history. The management of change and the active use of remains for present and future purposes are preferable to an inflexible reverence for a sacrosanct past. To preserve the capacity for change, the need is for environments capable of evolution: those that can welcome the future and accommodate the present without severing the thread of continuity with the past. The issues are not black and white, however. Total preservation is rarely completely right or total redevelopment completely wrong. Instead, it is usually a matter of balance. Lynch for example, advocated exposing 'successive eras of history' and inserting new material that enhances the past by 'allusion and contrast', with the aim of producing 'a setting more and more densely packed with references to the stream of time rather than a setting that never changed'. To work within established contexts, we need to understand how environments adapt to change and, more importantly, why some adapt better than others. It is also important to distinguish what is fundamental to the sense of place, and should remain, from what is less important and can change. An essential element of urban design's time dimension is the need for designers to understand what stays the same and what changes over time: that is, the time frames of change- the difference in stability of the major morphological elements. The survival of what are now seen as historic buildings and environments largely happened prior to the widespread practice of state intervention into the property market to protect them. The aim of the thesis is to identify the main issues and problems involved in public places of historic value to promote urban life characterized by a strong sense of historic and cultural vitality and continuity Esthetic qualities, which will hopefully also be preserved, are not