The study on attributes of urban plaza and design implications

Abstract

The city plaza is an important element in the public realm part of urban public place and a city’s symbol; it reflects historic culture and artistic style in a city. The place of relaxation and interaction for people is provided by the plaza. At the same time, the city plaza plays an important role in enhancing communication and enriching the citizen life. The city plaza serves for people, and people play leading roles in plaza. The aim of the study is to generate the urban plaza which people aspire, and serving as a welcoming node in the urban environment. The study reviewed the development history of urban plaza and identified the difference between eastern and western plazas of the countries. The research works of humanized design about city plaza concern the areas of psychology, behaviorism, and social culture. Based on the knowledge of environmental behavior, the study puts forward applied principles of environmental consciousness and place cognition in urban plaza design. After the behavior regularity and psychological feature were analyzed, the peoples’ activity types were induced into individual activity, group activity and community activity. The urban plaza represents a social space. In the study of the People’s Square, the affection of eastern traditional culture was put forward, which emphasized the importance of ‘nature and human’, ‘feng shui’ and ‘multi-religious coexistence’. Research on the characteristics of modern urban plazas was analyzed. In case study, the People’s Square of Shanghai was analyzed by questionnaire and onsite observation. The People’s Square of Shanghai can therefore be enhanced, to serve socially and functionally its role as the major urban green space in the city.