ABSTRACT
Located in San Francisco’s commercial district, Union Square like other urban squares in the United States has undergone numerous changes as architects and landscape architects try to accommodate the varied social and economic changes in American cities. These changes have pushed landscape architects toward more complex spaces often with undulating surfaces, pavilions and other planned or programmed events. As suggested in the comments on Cincinnati’s Fountain Square, Los Angeles’ Pershing Square and Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, it seems that at some point American public squares seem overburdened with institutional programming and spatial articulation. There is a concern that a resulting over-articulation will become so specific that the spaces will be used by only a few and only at specific times.
