Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets

Democratic public spaces are open spaces - such as streets, parks, playgrounds and marketplaces - which are accessible to all and allow different cultural expressions for individuals and groups. They can be characterized by their vivid and active public life. This paper focuses on the visual featur...

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Main Author: Ceren Sezer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Delft University of Technology 2020-02-01
Series:A+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment
Subjects:
Online Access:https://aplusbe.eu/index.php/p/article/view/214
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author Ceren Sezer
author_facet Ceren Sezer
author_sort Ceren Sezer
collection DOAJ
description Democratic public spaces are open spaces - such as streets, parks, playgrounds and marketplaces - which are accessible to all and allow different cultural expressions for individuals and groups. They can be characterized by their vivid and active public life. This paper focuses on the visual features of public spaces at street level and understanding visibility as the condition of seeing and being seen in public space. It analyses how visibility can be useful to assess and promote democratic public spaces. This paper considers the visibility of immigrant amenities, such as shops, restaurants and communal places with distinctive signs, languages, and spatial practices. Describing the main features of democratic public spaces and democratic streets, this paper explains how the concept of visibility is associated with observable features of democratic streets. It claims that visibility can be used as a tool to analyse the democratic character of public space. This suggests that planners and designers need to be aware of the usefulness of taking into account visibility issues to promote inclusive public spaces and cities.
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publisher Delft University of Technology
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series A+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment
spelling doaj-art-2a629edc658a4b9dbd75c410d2c443dc2025-08-26T11:31:40ZengDelft University of TechnologyA+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment2212-32022214-72332020-02-011004Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streetsCeren Sezer0TU Delft, Architecture and the Built Environment Democratic public spaces are open spaces - such as streets, parks, playgrounds and marketplaces - which are accessible to all and allow different cultural expressions for individuals and groups. They can be characterized by their vivid and active public life. This paper focuses on the visual features of public spaces at street level and understanding visibility as the condition of seeing and being seen in public space. It analyses how visibility can be useful to assess and promote democratic public spaces. This paper considers the visibility of immigrant amenities, such as shops, restaurants and communal places with distinctive signs, languages, and spatial practices. Describing the main features of democratic public spaces and democratic streets, this paper explains how the concept of visibility is associated with observable features of democratic streets. It claims that visibility can be used as a tool to analyse the democratic character of public space. This suggests that planners and designers need to be aware of the usefulness of taking into account visibility issues to promote inclusive public spaces and cities. https://aplusbe.eu/index.php/p/article/view/214democratic streetspublic spacesvisibility
spellingShingle Ceren Sezer
Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
A+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment
democratic streets
public spaces
visibility
title Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
title_full Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
title_fullStr Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
title_full_unstemmed Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
title_short Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
title_sort visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
topic democratic streets
public spaces
visibility
url https://aplusbe.eu/index.php/p/article/view/214
work_keys_str_mv AT cerensezer visibilityasaconceptualtoolforthedesignandplanningofdemocraticstreets