The changing publicness of contemporary public spaces A case study of the Grey s Monument Area Newcastle upon Tyne

2005-01-01
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge
Show full item record
254
views
0
downloads
Parallel to the recent rise in interest in public spaces, the proliferation of alluring, distinctive and exclusive public spaces in many post-industrial cities raises the question of how far these environments are truly ‘public’. This paper discusses the question of the ‘publicness’ of contemporary public spaces in Britain, where they have been placed at the top of the political agenda of the Labour Governments since the late-1990s. Studying in depth the changing ‘publicness’ of the Grey's Monument Area (GMA), a public space recently refurbished in the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, regarding the dimensions of ‘access’, ‘actor’ and ‘interest’, the paper seeks to show that, contrary to the wide recognition of diminishing ‘publicness’ of contemporary public spaces in urban design and planning literature, the recent refurbishment has in fact had both positive and negative impacts on the ‘publicness’ of the GMA. The paper concludes that contemporary public spaces may show different shades of ‘publicness’, in which degrees of ‘access’, ‘actor’ and ‘interest’ can vary widely, and seeks to underline the emerging trends and threats of: (i) the blurring distinction between public and private spaces, and (ii) image-led regeneration strategies dominating everyday society's needs and civic functions of genuine ‘public’ spaces, and ultimately violating the ‘publicness’ of public realms in post-industrial cities.URBAN DESIGN International (2005) 10, 95–113.
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/79979
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/palgrave.udi.9000138
Urban Design International
Department of City and Regional Planning, Article

Suggestions

New generation public spaces How inclusive are they
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge (null; 2004-10-29)
The proliferation of alluring, distinctive and exclusive public spaces in post-industrial cities raises the question of how far these environments are truly ‘inclusive’. Focusing on this question, this paper explores the changing ‘inclusivity’ of a recently redeveloped public space in the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, Britain, by investigating before, during and after the redevelopment scheme regarding the four dimensions of access: i) physical access, ii) social access, iii) access to activities and ...
The humanistic meaning of urban squares: the case of çayyolu urban square project
Zeka, Başak; Ataöv Demirkan, Anlı; Urban Design in City and Regional Planning Department (2011)
Urban public squares, within the context of public spaces, are essential components of cities because they provide spaces for social interaction. This helps sustain the humanization of the society through gathering, lingering and wandering through, and engaging together into various human activities and can make significant contributions to the cultural development of communities. In the last three decades, the concept of public space has been redefined within the context of urban space development leading ...
Questioning the publicness of public spaces in post industrial cities
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge (2005-01-01)
The proliferation of alluring, distinctive and exclusive public spaces in many postindustrial cities raises the question of how far these environments are truly "public." Focusing on this question, this article explores the changing "publicness" of a recently redeveloped space in the city center of Newcastle upon Tyne, Britain, in relation to the dimensions of access, actor and interest. It further seeks to underline two emerging trends: the blurring of distinction between public and private spaces in the p...
Transformation of public space : the case of Migros Akköprü shopping center
Tunç, Gülçin; Şengül, Hüseyin Tarık; Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments (2003)
Today, it is observed that shopping centers that are increasingly growing in number, especially in metropolitan cities, are used as public spaces by many urban inhabitants. Shopping centers have become places where social life is experienced and leisure time is spent through a wide range of activities offered besides shopping. On the other side, city centers that can be regarded as the most essential public spaces of urban areas are in a process of deterioration both in terms of physical quality and functio...
Transformation of a public space in İstanbul: the Eminönü Square
Çin, Tümay; Bilsel, Fatma Cânâ; Department of City and Regional Planning (2006)
Urban public spaces have always been subjected to physical, economical,social, political and cultural transformations of the city. These changing dynamics could cause decay in the spatial qualities and could also lead to a loss of values and identities of urban spaces, especially in public spaces. This thesis explores the qualities of a particular urban space in Istanbul: the Eminönü Square. Providing a guideline for the future urban design projects,the structure and the identity of the historical public sp...
Citation Formats
Z. M. Akkar Ercan, “The changing publicness of contemporary public spaces A case study of the Grey s Monument Area Newcastle upon Tyne,” Urban Design International, pp. 95–113, 2005, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/79979.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr