Public Spaces and Urbanity

This book is about renewing the city with room for people, about historical overlay and respect for the building traditions of the past, and about new architecture on a human scale. The book takes its departure in the European tradition of the dense classic city. Focus is on physical and spatial relationships, development patterns, access principles and their connection to public streets and squares: the elements that make for a rich urban life. Rooted in European traditions, this book is envisioned as a professional "instruction manual" that offers examples of a more humane direction for urban conversion. The examples in the book come from major European cities and are set in a broad conceptual framework. An historical outline reviews urban development over time. The chapters are organized into tool-oriented themes that help urban planners and architects put the concepts into practice and relate them to their respective challenges.