Identities of the public space of the squares Omonia-Kotzia-Varvaki-Monastiraki

An important dimension of urban planning and design is the approach of the overall function of an urban space and its recognition as an important place within the city. The approach of the overall function of an open public space in the contemporary city is more broadly related to its significance and its reach both within the urban fabric and in the local community, to its present uses and to its public (categories of users). Exploring the above dimension in several research projects that included field research, I was led to develop an addequate methodological approach. This approach comprises the quantified description of the overall urban function of a modern open public space resulting from the analysis of field survey data. The empirical data, having been obtained from  surveying  conducted at different times and in different localisations and addressed to one or more target groups such as site users, surrounding area residents, workers or entrepreneurs in the study area or/and decision-makers and designers, have been categorized according to the socio-spatial parameters related to the different proprieties of each site according to its current situation. This methodological approach was also used in the case of field research conducted in the framework of the project "Social impact of urban design for the sustainable development of cities" for the analysis of the field data collected. The objective was to read the current nature of urban public study spaces. The target group was that of user-entrepreneurs / workers active around the study site. The analysis combines the qualitative examination with the general parameters and the specific (per parameter) factors that affect the present use and the overall functioning of an open space in the social urban contemporary environment, by quantifying the contents of the responses collected for a series of open questions of the structured questionnaire. These questions focus on the urban open public space in the light of the variety of issues that aim at the fullest possible approach of the perception and the knowledge of respondents about space, uses, activities, public and their changes.