The Social and Spatial Aspect of Public Spaces - Through the Analysis of Ali Madanipour’s Works

Abstract

After the final decline of functionalism in the 1960s, the debate regarding public spaces returned to theoretical discussions and practical work in the field of urban planning and design. First as a reminder of the historical role and form of public space and then as a discussion of public space as a central tool for the development of sustainable cities. Among the most important theorists in this field is Professor Madanipour. The focus of this paper is in the social-spatial aspect of public spaces. Respectively, in analyzing two of the most important works of Madanipour, with a considerable time difference, for understanding whether and how did his viewpoints regarding public spaces change or develop during time. Initially, the two works are analyzed, one from 1996, the other from 2020. Further, these works are critically compared to each other. Madanipour describes the current situation of public spaces with the saying “From a critique to an orthodoxy”. The challenges and dissatisfactions that were raised in the past, and even mentioned by him, have now become commonplace, a reality we are accepting. For public spaces, his point of view is simple, he requires good access to them, to be inclusive and open to all, and to take into account their social-spatial aspect and all areas related to it. One of his main dissatisfactions is that public spaces are being treated as economic generators. At the end it is talked about nowadays public spaces, and possible directions for their development.