Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top

2016 | Book

The Importance of the Public Realm Read chapter Read first chapter

What Makes a Great City

Author: Alexander Garvin

Publisher: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Login to get access
insite
SEARCH

About this book


This volume will help readers understand that any city can be changed for the better and inspire entrepreneurs, public officials, and city residents to do it themselves.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
1. The Importance of the Public Realm
Abstract
National Mall in Washington, D.C. (2010). (Alexander Garvin)
Richard Heinberg
2. The Characteristics of a Great Public Realm
Abstract
Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris (2014). (Alexander Garvin)
Richard Heinberg
3. Open to Anybody
Abstract
Entry to Plaza Mayor, Salamanca, Spain (2013). (Alexander Garvin)
Richard Heinberg
4. Something for Everybody
Abstract
One of my stops during my quest to determine what makes a great public realm was Palace Square in St. Petersburg. On the way I stopped in Helsinki to see how it had changed in the fifty-two years since my last visit. After checking into my downtown hotel, I stepped out for a walk along Esplanadi, a long stretch of lush green space at the heart of the city that hadn’t been much used the last time I had been there. To my surprise, it was now jammed with people having fun.
Richard Heinberg
5. Attracting and Retaining Market Demand
Abstract
Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, California (2011). (Alexander Garvin)
Richard Heinberg
6. Providing a Framework for Successful Urbanization
Abstract
In 2014, I traveled to St. Petersburg to have yet another look at Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshchad). I had been there in 1959, when people in Nikita Khrushchev’s Russia called the city Leningrad; in 1996, when people in Boris Yeltsin’s Russia had renamed it St. Petersburg, and in 2004, when it was Vladimir Putin’s beloved jewel of a city. As I had done each time before, I climbed to the top of St. Isaac’s Cathedral to photograph the city from above. There, looking at the spire of the Admiralty, I understood how and why a great public realm provides a physical framework for urbanization.
Richard Heinberg
7. Sustaining a Habitable Environment
Abstract
Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn is among the greatest designs produced by Olmsted and Vaux. From the time that I first encountered it I have been amazed at the wide variety of people and activities that take place there. Its success is the result of the designers’ objective of sustaining a habitable environment, though they certainly would not have used this modern jargon.
Richard Heinberg
8. Nurturing and Supporting a Civil Society
Abstract
Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, London (2013). (Alexander Garvin)
Richard Heinberg
9. Using the Public Realm to Shape Everyday Life
Abstract
By now it should be evident that the public realm must possess a range of different attributes to succeed. It must be a multifunctional constellation of streets, squares, and parks that is open to anybody. It must have something for everybody, attract and retain a market, provide a framework for urbanization, and sustain a habitable environment that nurtures a civil society for all citizens. As important as these six characteristics may be, however, what ultimately matters is the impact that the city’s entire public realm network has on the everyday life.
Richard Heinberg
10. Creating a Public Realm for the Twenty-First Century
Abstract
Lower Manhattan skyline (2013). (Alexander Garvin)
Richard Heinberg
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
What Makes a Great City
Author
Alexander Garvin
Copyright Year
2016
Publisher
Island Press/Center for Resource Economics
Electronic ISBN
978-1-61091-759-9
Print ISBN
978-1-61091-824-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-759-9