Public Squares as Public Living Rooms
SUBMITTED BY JWE 01.25.2010 01 - 05 - 2010

Our tour guide in Florence made an interesting comment that prompted me to think about public squares in a new light. She talked about how outdoor public spaces in Europe are still used today for meeting places with friends, public protests or demonstrations, and the setting for outdoor markets among other things. She compared it to the indoor shopping malls of America. Group discussion brought up the analogy that a European square could be considered the community living rooms for these people as it becomes the setting where their lives can play out in front of one another. It is a place to see and be seen as well as have a diverse range of experiences. In this way the people create a narrative that gives a lot of character and identity to their particular culture and community. In Rome, I spent a few hours one afternoon sitting in the Piazza del Popolo watching people and movement with these ideas in mind. In this particular public space there is a giant obelisk that the Romans took from Egypt directly in the center of a large open plaza space. The steps that line the base of the obelisk create a gathering point where people can people watch and enjoy the life happening around them in the square. It also successfully helps to separate the space into 4 smaller spaces that rotate around the rectangular base. The fountains on each corner help as well. The large tower also becomes a cultural landmark as well as a good way finding device for people walking through the city Circulation into the plaza happens as people filter into the space from two opposing sides. On one side, three busy street corridors converge on each other at the mouth of the plaza, accounting for most the pedestrian traffic through the space. Opposite this people enter into the plaza through a set of three archways but from one street. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine, so the place was being fully taken advantage of by tourists and local Romans alike. All around us people gathered in a variety of group sizes to do a number of different activities. There were people sitting all over the steps leading up to the obelisk facing out into different portions of the plaza. In one portion there was a man dressed as the statue of liberty taking pictures with tourists and hoping for some spare change. I was able to witness how the obelisk separated the large public space into 4 smaller ones first hand, when all of a sudden in the smaller space to the right of the statue of liberty a Michael Jackson impersonator broke out his jukebox and best Michael Jackson dance moves and put on a show for the people. People that were sitting atop the steps to the obelisk facing any other direction stood up and reoriented themselves to face his way to inhabit a different space. A large ring of people also gathered around him creating an audience that stayed fairly large for awhile because the crowd of people just prompted more curiosity and more people.