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-large- to 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,

and Austro-Hungarian interior courtyards, with their challenging introverted character and limited accessibility. The mapping of public life (or urban activity) identified opposed categories of public space – active and passive – as well as an additional category of seasonally active public spaces. The study also determined factors that rise the level of public life, such as the regulation of vehicular traffic and organisation of public events, which gradually transform public spaces from passive to active use. Analysis of accessibility (as a key aspect of publicness) highlighted ownership, management and control issues, and pinpointed the phenomenon of the hybridisation of public and private spaces. The mapping of accessible and conditionally accessible public spaces in Sarajevo led to the conclusion that a large number of spaces are hybrid co-products of the public and private realms. Our exploration of urban atmosphere categorised extroverted and introverted public spaces. The latter is characterised by its enclosure, intimate atmosphere small- to medium-scale, and sense of interiority, which makes these spaces comparable to indoor ones.

The mapping of public spaces recognised the ambiguous status of many public spaces in the city of Sarajevo, which defy strict categorisation. The superimposition of maps highlighted: small- to medium-scale spaces; spaces with vaguely defined or undefined functions; semi-open and semi-enclosed spaces; seasonally active and conditionally accessible spaces; and semi-private and semi-public spaces, at the threshold of interior and exterior space. This typology of public spaces, which may potentially be referred to as urban rooms, is a particularly stimulating research and design topic. The challenge is to find the adequate tools to address their condition of “in-betweenness”, and convert their transitional state into impetus for urban regeneration and the creation of a network of vibrant public spaces in Sarajevo.