Responsive urban building edges: exploratory study on the supportiveness of the building edge; to the activities and mode of behaviour of the people, in urban public spaces

Abstract

Most of our present day cities have not provided proper "architectural settings" for the urban spaces. Since, the "urban activities" have an inseparable link with the urban place, or in other words social and spatial attributes are intertwined in our urban space: most of urban places and urban buildings designed recently, in our cities have not understood or neglected to cater to such social and spatial attributes in the urban environmental design. This has created "socially unresponsive urban spaces" (as well as buildings) in all over the cities, as a result of this phenomenon (centrally); modern city experiences have little to offer as a social, cultural experience of an urban public place. In the other hand local cities are being mass produced by the developers, and due to unplanned rapid development, urban outdoor spaces or city open spaces have become lost as, urban pockets; misused spaces or dead spaces. The aliveness of the urban spaces and their activities are increasingly diminishing due to various negative effects of this unplanned urban development. The negative effects of this rapid mega development could thus be found at all places in all levels. Towns, open spaces, public buildings and other areas around the world are fastly becoming similar, due to standardization of production methods, improper use of materials and lack of concern in urban environmental design. As a result of that, especially urban people are in a danger of fastly loosing there sensitivity, attachment and identity to local urban spaces. Therefore especially in local urban context, urban public places have to playa major role in accommodating "urbanized people" and fulfilling their various requirements and needs. Hence the need of "meaningful, socially responsive urban places and buildings", which are capable of accommodating various urban public activities with "positive architectural responses", has become a central issue among the present urban designers. Thus novel way of approach for "urban environmental design": which essentially deals with and cater to "intertwined social and spatial attributes" in urban places is essential...