Speaker
Description
As part of the European project “Human Cities-SMOTIES: Creative Works with Small and Remote Places,” Alternance Architecture and Urban Planning, in collaboration with the Faculty of Planning and Design at the Agricultural University of Iceland, conducted a project on historic public spaces in the small town of Borgarnes, Iceland.
Titled “Sögutorgin” (Historic Squares), it aimed to design a preliminary plan to enhance historic public spaces in the town's oldest district. In recent decades, this area had been affected by the relocation of activities to a new town center along the country’s main road. Today, the historic city center contains many abandoned or temporarily used buildings. It also suffers from a lack of quality public spaces, most of which are currently poorly planned or designed for cars.
The overall objective of "Sögutorgin" was to contribute to the revitalization of the old town through the enhancement of historic public spaces. It also aimed to test and develop methods for mapping, evaluating, and planning historic public spaces in collaboration with local communities.
For the sustainable regeneration of small towns, developing public spaces is crucial, and heritage is undoubtedly an asset. Research on sense of place and place attachment shows how strongly people connect with heritage, which in turn enhances the livability of communities. Moreover, studies on cultural tourism and urban regeneration emphasize the economic value of heritage. Therefore, improving historic public spaces is a valuable strategy for developing the quality of life in small towns.
Undertaken between 2021 and 2024, the project progressed through several stages, from site analysis to the preliminary design of public spaces. It involved collaboration among specialists in the human sciences (history and environmental psychology), planning, and urban design. The project employed methods from these disciplines and fostered continuous dialogue between researchers in the human sciences and designers, ensuring a seamless connection between site analysis and design.
Initially, the team conducted research to map historic public spaces and identify those with significant development potential. Methods from urban morphology and urban design (concept of Imageability), along with a sensitive map created by the residents' association in 2021, were used to map these spaces and identify those conducive to a positive sense of place. Several public spaces were highlighted for their historical and environmental significance, the presence of key activities, and their importance to the local community.
The selected public spaces were then assessed to identify areas for improvement. The evaluation involved field surveys to analyze users behavior patterns and the quality of the spaces (Quality Criteria Index), as well as surveys to gather insights on how the local community experienced them and what were their expectations.
Finally, the team undertook the preliminary design of these public spaces with the active participation of residents and other stakeholders. Several information meetings, exhibitions, co-design workshops and one-on-one meetings were organized to engage the local population in the creative process and ensure that the preliminary design was grounded in the community’s values.
The interdisciplinary approach and the use of mixed methods for mapping, evaluating, and designing historic public spaces are promising. Regarding those used for public participation, the results indicate that they have been successful in several ways. For example, the 3D presentation played a crucial role in improving participants' understanding of the plan, and it also made them feel more involved in shaping its underlying assumptions. Furthermore, the participants expressed their willingness to support other planning projects using a similar participatory process. On the other hand, the results also show that there is still room to bring together disparate interest groups and expand their opportunities to contribute to the design of public spaces.
References
Auricchio, V., De Rosa, A., Fassi, D., Johannsson, B., King, J., Lelarge, A., Líndal, P.J., Monna, V., Russo, P., van Hasselt, F. (Eds.) (2024) SMOTIES TOOLBOX. Design tools for the creative transformation of public spaces in small and remote places. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser.
Bandarin, Fr., Van Oers, R. (2012) The historic urban landscape: managing
heritage in an urban century. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Dameria, Ch., et al. (2020) A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Sense of Place Dimensions in the Heritage Context. Journal of Regional and City Planning, 31(2), pp.139-163.
Carmona, M. (2019) Principles for public space design, planning to do better. Urban Design International, 24(1), pp.47-59.
Gehl Institute (2018) Twelve Quality Criteria.
Özbek Eren, I (2020) The meaning of urban morphology in terms of cultural heritage through changing urban space. International Congress of Architecture and Planning (ICONARCH IV).
Metha, V. (2014) Evaluating public space. Journal of Urban Design, 19, pp.53-88.
McCunn, L. J., Gifford, R. (2018) Spatial navigation and place imageability in sense of place. Cities, 74, pp.208-218.
| Keywords | Historic public spaces; small towns; heritage |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
