ABSTRACT
What are public spaces for? Urban design often pursues such clear-cut instrumental goals as comfort, practicality and order. But the scope of everyday life in urban spaces is never completely subordinated to the achievement of predefined, rational objectives. People can be capricious and unpredictable. Urban spaces and the activities which occur in them constantly generate disorder, spontaneity, risk and change. Urban public spaces offer a richness of experiences and possibilities for action.
