This paper is a critical inquiry about spatial relationships between occupancy and the physical structure of squares and parks in city centres. It focuses on usability and the spatial capacity of places, from two different angles. Firstly, it discusses the actual uses mapped in
places, using repeated observation on different days, times and weather conditions. Secondly, it addresses uses imagined in parks and squares by urban designers, landscape architects and architects, using two approaches: mapping out likely uses in detailed maps of selected places, and revealing a physical structure of a particular place by knowing its behavioural patterns. The paper reveals a need for effective design-research integration and stresses the importance of empirical knowledge and its incorporation in design. From toolkit point of view it promotes GIS as a successful practical tool to build, develop and maintain a body of empirical knowledge using interactive GIS maps as its scripts.
Moderator: Stefan DECORTE (to be confirmed)
Report by: Christine SCHAUT
researcher and assistant professor - Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia
Barbara Golicnik Marusic, a graduate of the school of Landscape architecture at University of Ljubljana with a PhD specialisation in environment-behaviour studies at Edinburgh College of Art, Heriot-Watt University, is a researcher at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia and an assistant professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Maribor. Her work addresses design research and environment-behaviour issues in the context of urban planning and open space design.
Biba Tominc has a degree in geography and pedagogy, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts. She is working at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, where she is involved in multidisciplinary projects and researches on the issues, such as urban planning, urban renewal, cultural heritage issues, accessibility for disabled people, etc. At the moment she is also a postgraduate student of Philosophy and Theory of Visual Culture at the University of Primorska, Faculty of Humanities. She specializes in data visualization and explores how to demonstrate spatial data in clear, effective and friendly way for different users and different media.
