Public Realms And Its Contribution To The Town

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CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Importance of public realm

Every city is often judged either by its quality of the public realm or by its city centers to attract many people inside and outside to work and to visit. Good cities often have a very extraordinary public realm. For a good city to have a good public realm the city should be established based on current activities such as walking, cycling, playing, and better ideas on how to expand these activities enhanced with other programs. While looking forward to the public realm public space also has a vital role in building the public realm. Public space is a space that is open to the public all the time. Roads, parks, public squares, etc can be considered as a public space. Any government building that is open to the public mainly public libraries is included. The public realm defines the space which is being shared communally by the public. The public realm is a space for individuals to gather as a group or community and experience the place. This can happen in such a way, the user or the public is directly or indirectly participating in the public surrounding.

2.2 Public realm and its contribution to the town

  1. The public realm is an integral part of town planning or designing. Through space creation, nurture the liveability and increase the social economy and mainly the environmental liabilities of every individual community.
  2. We can select the spaces with our own desire, space which is more eco-friendly or which is calm or which is vibrant with the presence of everybody.
  3. Analyzing the form of the space and its function through its use.
  4. Usage of every single meaningless space to very beautiful eco-friendly spaces.
  5. By creating these spaces add more security to the public and reduced the fear of crime.
  6. It can improve cultural diversity and neighborhood interactions.
  7. This increases the attractiveness to the new visitors and also to the people living nearby.
  8. Create an interacting scenario between the public and the surroundings.

2.3 Elements in the public realm

2.3.1 Roadways

Roadways play a very significant role in the public realm which is mainly a transportation network in a town. The area mainly focuses on the area between the curbs, which is the area allotted for the vehicles and bicycles. Basically, a roadway classification has many or more implications for the design carried out by other elements in the public space which always include the gutters, curbs, markings, sidewalks, tree locations, etc. The curb gutters and median mainly describes the edge of the road which limits the users to a certain extend. Their materials and textures contribute to the usage and appearance of the public spaces. The width of the median depends on the width of the road.

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2.3.1.1 Gutters and curbs

the standard curb for every city street must of 7 inches high and strictly made of

  • concrete curb and concrete gutter,
  • bluestone curb and brick gutter,
  • granite curb and concrete gutter,
  • granite curb and brick gutter. These kinds of materials are mostly human-friendly and people try exploring them. The boundary of a sidewalk is mainly defined by curbs and gutters.

 

2.3.1.2 Standards of radius for alleys and driveways

The maximum radius that is given for every commercial driveway is 6ft and for alleys, it is 10ft. Moreover, the driveways must be flushed with the pavement. So the space that is generated will be much safer for the pedestrians and also for the drivers.

2.3.1.3 Medians

Medians must be landscaped which separates the 2 roadways. Medians that are landscaped gives an open character to the street or town. The hardscapes boundaries shall be of concrete, flagstone, or exposed aggregate concrete.

2.3.2 Sidewalks

Sidewalks are the main part of the public realm, the space that comes immediately after the roadway. The sidewalks are always vertical or horizontal which is remained clear for the easy flow of pedestrians and it also ensures functionally adequate safe and is well connected. public realm mainly occurs in the sidewalks where wide sidewalks are provided for the commercial regions for the easy movement of rushing pedestrians. Street furniture, small café, vendors, etc give life to the sidewalks. Narrow sidewalks are normally given to the residential areas where paving, landscaping comes as a secondary need. The elements which are commonly seen in the sidewalks are provided for the easy environment of pedestrians. The location of the components ensures safety for pedestrians. In this way, we can identify that how this sidewalk is used and how it is experienced, and how the public realm has been involved through the interaction of these spaces between the public. By using different paving materials pedestrians can differentiate the special uses of the sidewalks, ie plaza, driveways, café, etc. Neighborhood characters can be defined using the sidewalks

2.3.2.1 Sidewalks and public realm

There are different policies and regulations for sidewalks. The sidewalks regulate and reinforce their very important as a part of infrastructure transportation. Sidewalks are one of the best spaces for the public realm, the wider the sidewalks the possibility of the public realm increases and vice versa. Every sidewalk links the neighborhood, and improves the quality of pedestrian safety moreover it enhances the character of the neighborhood which mainly supports the street-type functions. The public realm is active on every sidewalk. The presence of seating café etc adds more to the atmosphere.

2.3.2.2 Sidewalk and standards

For the better and easy movement of pedestrians, the size of commercial, residential, and high-density residences should be maintained with minimum width. The size of the commercial sidewalk shall be 10 ft and the median separating the sidewalk and the road must be mini of 4ft. For the high-density residential areas, the sidewalk shall be of 8ft width and the medium must be 4 ft. The low and moderate density residential areas have a sidewalk width of 6ft and the medium shall be 4 ft.

Paving material can influence the character of the sidewalk or street to a great extend. If the street is paved with diff patterns pedestrians will choose the suitable pattern for easy movement and the pattern which is at the sides of the street is for the pause movement. In a high-density residential area, the street is linked with the commercial areas where several activities take place with a link to the adjacent road. The street in front of the residential areas shall be of lesser width where the neighbor visitors have access through. Paving materials for the sidewalks shall be cement concrete, exposed aggregate concrete, pressed concrete pavers.

2.3.3 Sidewalk cafes

Sidewalk café is the main area where people in the café and also people moving in between the café and the pedestrians moving along the sidewalk has a link and they increase the public realm. The sidewalk relation nurtures the liveability and it enhances the environmental social culture of that particular town which increases more visitors more pedestrians towards this sidewalk. The crowd attracts the people. Thus it becomes a public area where people have access. Here the sidewalk cafes are open all the time so the nightlife and daylife continue. Since the sidewalk café which is abutting towards the sidewalk will probably don’t have a permanent fixture. The main movable components that are found here are umbrellas, chairs tables, lights, (either it can be street lights or lights owned by the café). No furnishing is done and no furniture is fixed to the ground. The furniture which is placed shall not block the doorway for access. The components which block the pedestrian movement shall not be placed in the vicinity of the street.

2.3.3.1 Location and sidewalk clear spaces

Every public space which is used as the sidewalk or as any commercial space should have an adjacent clear-cut area that serves as the passageway for the public. The width shall be upto6 to 10 ft. for horizontal sidewalks. The sidewalk width shall be 10 ft at the intersections and at the junctions or at the metro stations where people have a pause of transit so the density of the crowd shall increase. Floors of the streets shall be of the same and equal elevation with that of the adjacent spaces which allow a continuous flow of pedestrians.

2.3.3.2 Enclosed and unenclosed sidewalk café

Enclosed sidewalk cafes saw during the time of the rainy season. Here the café is enclosed so that people get a warm atmosphere inside. When the season starts the majority of people reduce the use of pedestrian streets. The public realm decreases. In order to create a public realm inside the sidewalk café, the material of the café plays an important role in it. If the material with which it is constructed creates a pleasant feeling for the people and tend to have an interaction with it. The enclosure must only be on the roof. It should not be covered on 3 sides. Poles can be used for the support and the material which is used for enclosure shall of fire-resistant or non-combustible

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