Urban public space as an object of sociological study

Abstract

The author of the paper is analyzing the "urban public space" concept from the sociological point of view. The review of existing approaches for interpretation of the concept is presented in the paper. In particular author also concern with the sociological specifics of the urban public space understanding and analyzing. In order to determine the concept the author conduct an analysis the relations between the such concepts as: "public space", "social space" and "civic space". In the paper it is presented the basic features and functions of the urban public space at the present stage of development according to sociological understanding of the public space. Moreover, based on the definition of the concept, the author emphasize on the heuristic potential of the urban public space as a source of information about social reality.