Urban Space, Quality of Urban Life

The goal of this paper is to show that architecture and urban design should be considered part of peacebuilding efforts aimed at helping find long-term sustainable solutions to conflict by fostering ownership, cohesion, and inclusion. The paper argues that recent developments in the field of peacebuilding and development, and particularly the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which have the motto " No one should be left behind, " make a strong case for addressing the spatial, specifically urban needs of people living in cities inside conflict-affected countries. It goes on to point to policy gaps and to the practical challenges involved in devising urban solutions for cities in conflict. Finally, the paper claims that finding creative and innovative ways to prioritize sustainability in conflict-affected cities is not only possible, but a necessary part of addressing conflict. Our arguments are supported by examples from the field, focused specifically on the case of Kabul.

Kentsel alandaki insanların yaşam kalitesi insanların kentsel çevre ile etkileşiminin bir sonucudur. Kentsel çevrenin önemli unsurlarından biri de kamusal açık alanlardır. Birçok çalışma göstermektedir ki, açık kamusal alanlar ve bu alanlarda gerçekleştirilen aktiviteler yaşam kalitesine katkı sağlayan önemli kentsel çevre unsurlarıdır. Ancak günümüzde, kamusal açık alanların niceliği ile beraber niteliği de azalma eğilimindedir. Bu eğilim ile beraber kentsel alanda " kalite " kavramı üzerinde önemle durulan bir konu haline gelmiştir. Kamusal açık alan-larda gerçekleştirilen kentsel mekan aktivitelerinin yoğunluğu ve çeşitliliği, mekanın kalitesine paralel olarak gelişmektedir. Bu noktada, mekanın çevresel özelliklerinin yanında, kamusal açık alanlarda gerçekleştirilen kentsel mekan aktivitelerinin yoğunluğu, çeşitliliği, akti-vitede bulunan kullanıcıların sosyo-ekonomik yapıları gibi göstergeler, söz konusu alanlardaki mekansal kaliteyi ölçme anlamında önemli bir veri sağlamaktadır. Bu çalışmada da kamusal açık alanlarda mekan kalitesi ve kentsel mekan aktiviteleri arasındaki ilişki, Beşiktaş'ta konumlanan iki parka (Azerbaycan Dostluk Parkı ve Sevgi Parkı) yönelik yapılan analizler doğrultusunda ortaya konmuştur. Günümüzde salt fizik-mekan boyutu ile ele alınarak metalaştırılan kentsel alanları sosyal ve toplumsal içeriğini göz ardı etmeden ele almak ve kamusal açık alanlardaki mekan kalitesi ile kentsel mekan aktiviteleri arasındaki ilişkiyi açıklayabilmek çalışmanın temel amaçlarındandır. |

The quality of life of people in urban areas is a result of interaction of humans with the urban environment. Many studies show that open public spaces and the activities conducted in these areas are important urban environment factors that contribute to the quality of life. However, today, not only the quantity but also the quality of open public space tends to decrease. Along with this tendency, the " quality " in the urban space concept has become overemphasized. Density and diversity of urban space activities are conducted in public open spaces developed in parallel to the quality of space. Besides the environmental characteristics of the space; some indicators such as the density and diversity of urban space activities and the socioeconomic status of users provides an important means of measuring the quality of space. In this study, the relationship between the quality of space in open public space and urban space activities has been revealed in the analysis conducted for the two parks—Sevgi Park and Azerbeycan Dostluk Park–located in Besiktas. Demonstrating how urban spaces are commodified by referring only to the physical structure without acknowledging their social and communal context and explaining the relationship between quality of space in urban spaces and urban space activities are the main objectives of these studies.

El objetivo de esta comunicación es estudiar el bienestar de la población urbana, basada en dos pilares fundamentales: la proximidad a los servicios de la población, y la biodiversidad urbana. El valor social de este proyecto consiste en combinar elementos de urbanismo ético que persigue el interés público (localizando servicios a la población), factores de biodiversidad, y Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG). El principal objetivo del proyecto es analizar los niveles de bienestar de la población basada en la biodiversidad y la provisión de servicios con la construcción de una tecnología digital e interactiva basada en un SIG que permita trasladar el conocimiento del bienestar de un territorio urbano, en términos de información de la provisión de servicios y de la biodiversidad urbana, a la población y a los agentes implicados y, a su vez, reforzar el sentimiento de identidad.

Aydemir, Ş., Aydın Türk, Y., Öksüz, A.M., Özyavuz, A., & Erkonak Aydemir, S. (2001). "Essentials of Liveable Environments For Urban Young", LIVENARCH Livable Environments & Architecture International Congress - Nature, Cities, Architecture, Sustainable Development, Trabzon, Türkiye, 4-7 Temmuz 2001 (pp.42-49), Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi.

CONCLUSION:
In summary, evaluating the findings given previous sections reveal that;
One of the attributes of pleasantness is cleanness and well maintenance which are the most frequently complain of city center and neighbourhood environment. However, such problems can be solved more easily, in short run with modest resources than other sited problems (structural and social) which demand more time and resources. Local authorities should regard this an opportunity to make the living environment of inhabitants more pleasant, working together with public in general.
Both at city and neighbourhood levels, natural areas, greens, parks, and play fields are generally valued higher than other type of places/spaces. The reason of such attitude may be the scarcity of green areas and/or elements within city that those reflects the inhabitants’ yearning to active and passive green. Local authorities ought to re-evaluate all public space at city center and neighbourhoods in this sense, and ought to design providing green elements and urban rooms where are possible/suitable. These arrangements facilitating place attachment will improve liveability of cities/neighbourhoods.
Among young people place and social attachment are rather weak, especially at neighbourhood level, partly because publicly and/or privately supplied provisions are very rare. This also hinders seriously leisure activities wished to be involved (i.e. sports, etc.) The issue of attachment deserves much attention since it related to number of urban questions at all scale (i.e. willingness to participate to planning, care to living environment, etc.)
Although visual aesthetics, on the whole, seem to have some priority evaluating places/public spaces in detail only the basic components of aesthetic (soft landscaping public spaces and building facades) are valued. Public arts, visual richness of places and hard landscaping are hardly considered. However, this may bound with the profile of sampling universe, those mostly coming from less prosperous areas, families and physical/social environment where in their hierarchy of needs as seen in above statements, the higher order needs are not yet essential as Maslow indicated.

Salama, A. M. and Grierson, D. (2019). Urban Performance Between the Imagined, the Measured, and the Experienced. Open House International, Volume 44, Issue 1, PP. 04-07. ISSN # 0160-2601.
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A multitude of diverse attributes is required for effective urban performance at various scales ranging from the immediate context of public buildings to central urban spaces, and from urban corridors to residential neighbourhoods. Following their earlier works (GRIERSON, 2014; MUNRO and GRIERSON, 2016; SALAMA, 2011; SALAMA and WIEDMANN, 2013; and SALAMA et al., 2016) the guest editors frame these qualities under a cycle of three main symbiotic pillars: the imagined, the measured, and the experienced, which contribute to the development of insights that elucidate various parameters for exploring urban performance. These three pillars stem from the Lefebvrian arguments and his theory on the production of space, which postulates a triadic relationship of three different but related types of spaces: the conceived (Imagined), the perceived (measured) and the lived (experienced).

Primarily, Lefebvre defined ‘conceived space’ as the space which is theorised by scientists and planners, known as ‘representations of space’, representations that are intangible and are entrenched in the principles, imperatives, beliefs and visions of experts, decision makers, and those who are in a position to impose their personal notion of ‘order’ onto concrete reality. The second is ‘perceived space’, the space of ‘spatial practice’ defined as the space where movement and interaction takes place, where networks develop and materialise. Consequently, it includes both daily routines at an individual level and urban realities such as the networks that link places designated for work, leisure and ‘private’ life (LEFEBVRE, 1991, p. 38). The third is ‘lived space’, which is explained as the unconscious, non-verbal direct relation between people and space. This is the space that is occupied through associated images and symbols (LEFEBVRE, 1991, p. 39). The current body of knowledge on Lefebvre’s work suggests that the ‘conceived space’ is abstract and tactical and where authority functions, the ‘perceived space’ is a pragmatic, physical space encompassing flows of investment, workforce, and information and that this where the conceived and lived spaces are construed. Salama and Wiedmann (2013) suggest that the ‘lived space’ is the most subjective space, involving the actual experience of individuals that is performed in the ‘perceived space’ and as a result of the ‘conceived space’.

In our call for papers, the premise was that contributions to this issue of Open House International (OHI) would address the way in which decision-making processes, led by policy makers and discipline experts, contribute to successful urban environments; how the social and spatial practices of key actors (investors, developers, and users) manifest diverse urban activities; and how users attach to places and identify with their surroundings as a basis for social and spatial justice. Contributions were expected to address one of the three pillars while offering implications on the other two.  In response we have received more than 40 abstracts, and subsequently identified 19 for further development into full papers towards submission for review. The outcome of a rigorous review process concluded with the identification of 11 papers published in this issue.  Addressing various contexts in Europe and the Middle East, the papers represent diverse efforts undertaken by committed scholars in universities and academic institutions in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Qatar, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
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Please see more in the attached editorial document

Chile is among the countries of Latin America that have seen accelerated and intense demographic transitions of aging and urbanization in the last decades. This paper presents the main
findings of the research “Quality of Life of older adults in the urban habitat: the case study of Valparaiso” (Fondecyt 106117), conducted in Valparaiso (Chile) between 2006 and 2009, and
its successive actualizations (2011-2013). Based on empirical evidence obtained by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the paper analyses how certain conditions of the urban habitat impact upon the quality of life of the older age group. Given to the Valparaiso’s elevated aging index, its social structure, unique topography and architectural configuration, the city is a case study of special interest.
Key words: Quality of Life, older adults, urban habitat, Valparaiso

Although it has been assumed for many years that there is a relationship between the subjectively perceived quality of residential environment and quality of life, empirical evidence for the existence of such a link has been inconclusive. It is also assumed that the perception of residential environment in a certain way covariates with the behavior of people in this environment; Empirical support for this correlation is now all the more problematic. The objectives in the our research project were as follows: (1) enriching the current knowledge about those links between the perceived quality of various residential areas and their inhabitants' experienced quality of life , and (2) examining the co-variables between the sense of satisfaction with the residence and declared pro-social and civic behavior. For the purpose of our study, we proposed an original theoretical framework integrating several available man-environment-behavior relationship concepts with the more general homeodynamic regulation concept for achieving psychological balance. Sixty-two people aged 18 to 85 took part in the research. Two groups were identified in the analysis: young adults and seniors. No significant correlation was found between the respondents' perceived quality of life and their satisfaction with the quality of the environment they inhabited. It was almost exclusively seniors who undertook activities to benefit the residential area, and their life quality was correlated with this activity. Young adults turned out to be generally inactive. Correlations between pro-social and civic behavior and the residential area's assessed quality proved to be weak and simple, but had different directions and dimensions in young adults and seniors.

Resumo: O presente texto recupera da literatura de desenho urbano conceitos de imagem da cidade, sentido, adequação e construção do lugar para discutir a relação entre sociedade e espaços públicos dentro do ambiente amazônico. Objetiva-se aqui, partindo da definição de qualidade urbana e da escala do indivíduo, ilustrar as consequências do padrão de expansão urbana observado na cidade de Canaã dos Carajás, escolhida como área de pesquisa, sobre a apreensão dos seus espaços públicos. Concluiu-se, após entrevistas realizadas com moradores da cidade, que o paradigma vigente tende a assumir a cidade como suporte para a exploração mineral em detrimento de outras funções necessárias ao bem-estar da população. A cidade teve crescimento extraordinário na presente década, com rápida expansão da mancha urbana e grande escassez de espaços públicos. Existem diferentes percepções da cidade entre pioneiros e novos migrantes, e a imposição de padrões homogeneizantes, que destroem elementos da paisagem e desconstroem a dimensão pública da cidade, a ponto de colocar em risco sua sobrevivência para além dos ciclos de mineração. Palavras-chave: espaços públicos; construção do lugar; cidades amazônicas; qualidade urbana. Abstract: This paper brings from urban design literature concepts like image of the city, sense, fit and perception of the place to discuss the relationship between society and public spaces within the Amazon environment. This work aims, through the definition of urban quality and from the individual scale, illustrate the consequences of urban sprawl pattern observed in the town of Canaã dos Carajás, chosen as area of study, on the apprehension of its public spaces. As a conclusion, after interviews with residents of the city, we found out that the current paradigm tends to take the city as support for mineral exploration at the expense of other functions necessary to the welfare of the population. The city has had tremendous growth in this decade, with rapid expansion of the urban area and a dearth of public spaces. There are different perceptions of the city between pioneers and new migrants, and the imposition of homogenizing patterns that destroy landscape elements and deconstruct the public dimension of the city, to the point of endangering their survival beyond the mining cycles

Today, the environmental sustainability and development model are linked to culture, urban regeneration and new economy. Conceptualized in the 90s, cultural industry has flourished with the affirmation of the creative economy and new systemic economic theories and is now advancing towards models of creative cities and regions representing the spatial expression of the post-industrial economy. The territorial dimension has a fundamental role in the development of creative environments, while the space of the creative class represents the new urban work-environment. The qualitative analysis of those places in terms of requests and performance distinguishes it as a motivating field for the application of the technological project.