What Is Urban Space?

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What is Urban space? Definition:- Urban space is broadly a reference to a place which can be accessed by the people of the city as against the privately owned realm of their houses. Public and private are not extreme conditions. However there is a threshold beyond which the story of their communal life unfolds. An urban space need not be a purpose built stage or destination place always. It could be a transition space which facilitates ritual & interaction. Rob Krier defines urban space as ‘comprising all types of space between buildings in towns and their localities.’ It can also be defined as ‘all locales in human settlements which are outside the private & personal domains of citizens and as all space in the city that serves urban functions and facilities for free public interaction. “The charter of public spaces is freedom of action- & the right to stay inactive”. (Spiro Kostoff, The city assembled).Certain factors like location, size, form, scale & edge play an important role in shaping urban spaces. Factors that affect urban space:- Location is the most basic prerequisite to the effective functioning of an urban space. Centrality in position allows easy accessibility. The size of the place determines the level of conception of the place- a smaller place is more intimate in nature whereas a large open space is more explicit in nature. The form of an urban space is three dimensional projection, that depends on the formality of the space. A rigid structured space is used for city level spaces that require a formal image. The neighbourhood level spaces are usually residual spaces in additive growth. The less specific the form is, the more possibility of multiple usage. The scale of the space is determined by the relationship between the enclosing surfaces and the enclosing spaces. The life of an urban space forms naturally because of its
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