- Planning Public Spaces Networks towards Urban Cohesion    554 kb by    Pinto, Ana Júlia & Remesar, Antoni | ajulia.pinto@gmail.com    Short Outline Spatial fragmentation is one of the main problems with consequences for urban sustainability. To achieve urban cohesion is necessary to plan public spaces integrated in the urban network, in order to build cohesive cities, promoting sustainability. Abstract Spatial fragmentation is, in today’s cities, one of the main problems involving serious consequences for urban sustainability. Therefore it is necessary to endow the urban planning and urban design processes with efficient instruments which can contribute to the mitigation of the named problems. Studies that have been developed about public spaces have been showing that they play a fundamental role on structuring the cities, not only concerning formal issues but also regarding social, economic and environmental aspects. Thus, it is fundamental to think on planning and designing public spaces in a way that helps us to find solutions to the structural problems of urban pattern, such as the lack of territorial cohesion in the cities. In order to achieve urban cohesion it is necessary to consider public spaces in a broader scale, in other words, planning public spaces so that they will be logically integrated in to the urban network and not as isolated spaces. Planning and designing public spaces as part of urban network brings out the possibility not only to restructure the existing spaces but also to develop new public spaces in the expansion urban areas (especially relevant in new developing areas) so that they can create cohesive cities, promoting urban sustainability. The process of planning and designing public spaces in relation to the network which they form part of can be operationalized through indicators of (1) Mobility / Accessibility / Connectivity; (2) Sociability / Cooperation; (3) Land Uses / Activities; (4) Comfort / Safety. Through these indicators it is possible to evaluate the urban structure and plan / design the public spaces in a way that they can be part of a coherent and cohesive network. This study was held in the city of Lisbon, by developing an evaluation process of the public spaces network based on the above named indicators, and also based on the historical evolution of the public spaces in the city. This process allowed the establishment of guidelines for the planning and design of Lisbon public spaces. Keywords Urban Cohesion, Public Spaces, Urban network Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2010: Sustainable City - Developing World   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper