ABSTRACT
The city has always been identified in its public spaces and vice versa. Public space has always constituted the fulcrum of ‘centrality’, or the city itself. Even though public spaces have always been given priority in the history of urban design and planning, nowadays they are undergoing a destructive influence, a mortal blow. The aim of the old-fashioned method of zoning was to ensure functional quality for the various areas of the city. Small and medium-sized towns, in spite of some pleasant features that improve the quality of life, have lost all meaningful centrality. Such a method is perfectly suitable for towns of a certain size and within the threshold limits of the city effect. The decline of urban centres and public spaces is common not only to large cities but also to the other parts of the urban scene: the small and medium-sized towns.
