The role of public space in the sustainability of contemporary cities: Mediterranean urban culture in Europe.

Abstract

Urban sustainability is determined by means of several indicators which often combine economy with ecology, while keeping in mind social or cultural variables, among others. Urban public space can be understood as a powerful tool to meet sustainability expectations in a city’s planning process. Through a careful look at the contemporaneous urban reality in Mediterranean Europe, this paper aims at revealing this ability of the public space to catalyze the stress of the city, weighing its contribution to functional, urban, aesthetical, cultural, social and political sustainability. It was concluded that the different roles of the public space cannot be studied separately, since all of them are interlinked, while a suggestion is made to promote an adequate local governance as an appropriate mechanism to promote a city’s sustainability.