ABSTRACT
There is growing recognition among academics that the notion of ‘public spaces’ is now becoming ever more wide-ranging than in the past. Today many disciplines, such as architecture, urban studies, economics etc., consider public spaces in a different way from the past, and include new types of spaces within this notion. Public spaces are broadly conceived as any spaces, either physical or virtual, where people, either as individuals, collectivities or communities, live, operate, claim rights and obtain entitlements. Speaking of the architectural features of public spaces, we can consider several aspects worthy of mention, such as accessibility, visibility, intensity of use, as well as the capacity to either create social relations or promote the symbolic identity of places or foster the mission and the transformation of the same spaces.
