Quality in Public Open space. An Urban Design perspective In this presentation, we delve in the theory of public open spaces in the perspective of urban design. Our main goal is to support the definition and measuring methods of quality related attributes, by revisiting the literature on urban design and architecture. First, a set of performance attributes that can account for the success of urban spaces, as used and vivid places; and second, another set of heterogeneous descriptive attributes that can be correlated with the former. The presentation is structured as follows: (i) Introduction: the different definitions, cultural perspectives and history of urban design, a discipline that come to light with the crisis of modernity; its frameworks and diverse dimensions (morphologic, perceptual, social, visual, functional and temporal); the sense of place and the human-environment interaction. (ii) Human scale and needs in public open spaces: the rise of a broader and more complex definition of function that pinpoints the social relevance of public space, everyday live, the ordinary, and the human needs in those spaces (physical and psychological); the urban design as an anthropocentric, case-based and evidence-based approach to the project. (iii) Activity in public open spaces: the relation between human behaviour, spaces, environmental conditions and the activities they afford; the primary activities (moving, seeing, standing, sitting, talking, …) that allow for the emergence of social contact and complex collective action. (iv) Attributes of successful places: the physical and functional attributes of successful places; the importance of a rich public-private interface relation; the importance of integrating analysis, programming, design and evaluation in the design process. (v) Assessing public open space quality: the use of quality concepts like vitality, liveliness or pleasantness and the possibilities of their measurement; some methods of direct (e.g. users’ activity survey) and indirect measurement (e.g. rental or land prices, active frontages, rehabilitation dynamic). (vi) Urban design practice: the urban design as product and process and its disciplinary boundaries; the management dimension and the exploration of affordances with the objective of satisfying conflicting needs and interests; clear images and ambiguous functions.

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