PhD, Votinov M.A.

O.M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy in Kharkiv, Ukraine

PUBLIC SPACES AS THE OBJECTS FOR THE FORMATION OF COMFORTABLE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

The main features of formation of public spaces in urban environment are considered. General criteria for their establishment are determined.

Keywords: public space, urban environment, small recreational area, artistic representation.

 The «public space» term characterizes every fragment of the urban environment in a form of architectural open space with a variety of functions and a high level of city dwellers attendance. City squares, streets with developed pedestrian zones, as well as small recreation areas (parks, boulevards, embankments) and some park spaces, located in the city center, are usually referred to public spaces. These spaces create comfortable conditions for the vital activity of people in the urban environment and have a high degree of expressiveness. They are characterized by certain criteria of architectural and landscape formation, providing successfulness of visiting. 
 The public space of urban squares should include in its structure both historical and modern unique objects, have a good pedestrian accessibility and environmental safety (isolation from transport). Attraction of human flows is provided with the help of objects surrounding the square. Architectural and landscape environment of the squares should have contemporary design and transformation possibility. Landscape gardening is also should be included to its structure. For example this can be plants in special containers with water devices, different floral arrangements which can change the exposure over certain time. The space must differ with its individual artistic representation due to application of landscape and light-and-color design as well as various financing sources. It is necessary to guarantee space management of these squares on the city level and to provide regular topical events. 
 The most modern public space one can name Nathan Phillips Square (Toronto, Canada). At present time this square is located on the roof of one of the largest underground parking garages and paved with reinforced concrete slabs. Over its perimeter the ground pedestrian walkway which crosses the roadway is situated. Along the pedestrian area there are treed lawns and various sculptures are installed, such as, for example, Sir Winston Churchill’s statue (by Oscar Nemon) and a Roman column. The main space of  Nathan Phillips Square is multifunctional. It is intended for concerts, art exhibitions, fairs, festivals and other public events, including demonstrations, as well as for active and passive recreation. Elements forming the structure of the square are: [1]
– City Hall;
– Peace Garden;
– decorative pond and skating rink at the same time;
– information pavilions for tourists;
– green areas.
 The compositional integrity of Nathan Phillips Square is provided by:
 – presence of the dominant;
 – identification of the main compositional axis;
 – clear division of the space into zones;
 – stylistic unity of the square and surrounding architectural volumes;
  – plasticity of vertical and horizontal surfaces;
  – usage of single color shade.
 Individual representation of the square is created by a clear regular plan, appliance of multipurpose elements, as well as sculptural, landscape and color compositions, functional division of the space, presence of multilevel structures and usage of modern lighting technologies. It is a special recreation zone not only for residents but also for tourists. 
 Along with urban squares we should admit pedestrian streets as public spaces too. They have to be located within walking distance from public transport and be equipped with necessary parking spaces. Their architectural environment should differ with stylistic unity, especially their front lines. Pedestrian streets must include shops, cafes, restaurants and nightclubs of different formats, considering the financial opportunities of the residents. In practice, there is some bad experience of creation such objects which were filled with expensive boutiques and restaurants. They were designed excluding demographic flows and different categories of citizens, so their attendance was negligible and economic effectiveness is low. Generally, pedestrian streets should be designed with the use of all means of light-and-color and landscape design.  Parks and embankments located in the city center are also belong to public spaces.  They need to be isolated from traffic flows with the use of protective landscaping. Their territories should be accessible for all residents of the city. It is necessary to create both active and passive recreation zones together with including different easy transforming areas. It is also required to ensure rational amount of sunny and shaded places. Here it is expedient to form the original landscape group or flower arrangements with the inclusion of aquatic devices.

In practice some embankments were initially focused mainly on passive recreation of residents. However, experts have concluded that passive recreation at places where people can sit or walk in the fresh air, is more successfully to be connected with other more strenuous areas of activity which offer various types of rest. Spaces which are deprived of dynamism and diversity of activities, which provide only passive, relaxing recreation in the fresh air, begin to lose in the face of other recreational spaces of the urban environment. Natural territories and recreation zones give the best effectiveness in combination with other activities. It is necessary to create a lot of opportunities for vacationers to select between maximum options for their pastime when they can enjoy seeing, smelling, touching along with a bit more active forms of recreation.

 European experience shows that one of the promising directions of regeneration of the urban environment along with formation of public spaces is to search for updated functional and aesthetic contents of open architectural spaces by their subject-spatial restructuring while taking into account the city's needs and possibilities of investors. Public urban spaces are become important objects of the city’s spatial structure. Variety of human activities and different landscape elements are concentrated in there. High visiting density of such spaces determines their representative character, preconditioning the necessity of its high-level landscape design. [2]

Through the analysis of the design practice and operation of public spaces, we should formulate the basic criteria of their formation in the urban environment:

· presence of a comfortable ecological environment (noise and insolation modes, wind conditions, the purity of the air basin);

· transport accessibility and safety for city residents;

· ensuring the dynamic processes of its constant functional expansion;

· availability of various recreation forms with certain opportunity for inclusion of a new active forms of recreation;

· usage of new technologies in the field of landscape and light-and-color design;

· creation of the urban environment with highly artistic individual architectural and landscape representation both at day and night time.

Public spaces are the new objects of urban environment which are strictly focused on the real social order. They have to become the municipal facilities of achieving the ideological and aesthetic ideals of the residents due to participating of private investors in its creation.

Literature:

1. Votinov M. A. (2015). Renovation and humanization of public spaces in the urban environment: monograph, O.M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy in Kharkiv, 153.

2. Krizhanovskaya N.Y. (2010). Methods of forming integrated nature of architecture in the urban environment, Publisher Belgorod State Technical University named after V.G. Shuhov, 144.