N.Zagora, D. Šamić
Summary
Rather than search for a general definition, this chapter encompasses the analysis of six socio-spatial attributes of contemporary public spaces: typology, scale, enclosure, urban activity, accessibility and urban atmosphere. Mapping was used as a visual methodological tool to pinpoint urban public spaces by these attributes in Sarajevo’s four municipalities. Our study of the function of public spaces identified the following typologies: civic spaces; communal spaces; green spaces; transport spaces; public interiors and third places; and undefined spaces. Because of unrestrained privatisation, the utopian modernist legacy of open public spaces has collapsed into dystopian areas of spatial fragments. The current situation requires a strategic approach to merge public spaces into a functionally and contextually meaningful network. Within the category of undefined public spaces, urban voids were identified as potential catalysts and links in projects of urban regeneration, and they merit further exploration. The scale of public spaces was explored in relation to the proportions of the city and the human body. Analysis of the distribution of the three groups of public spaces (from extra-largeto extra-small-scale), indicated a prevalence of medium- (from 25 to 100 metres’ range) and small-scale (less than 25 metres’ range) public spaces. The size of public spaces corresponds to the human scale of the urban fabric in the historic and central parts of Sarajevo, as well as with the fragments of undefined spaces in the municipalities of Novo Sarajevo and Novi Grad. Enclosure is a highly relevant factor in the assessment of the three-dimensional geometry of public spaces. Within the three categories of enclosure, our research highlighted semi-open public spaces as a stimulating research topic. Examples are Ottoman atriums in the form of meander, which enable a gradual outside to inside transition, 128
