engleski

PUBLIC LIBRARY AS AN APPEALING URBANSCAPE ELEMENT

A public library has been a part of the urban design since ancient times. Its architecture, space, functions, and public space character make it an appealing, active, and vital part of the urbanscape. It is therefore recognized as an urban landmark, place activator, and urban magnet supporting urban strategies. This paper aims to define public library as a complex institution related to the urbanscape, investigating its effects on and the power to transform urbanscape in multiple layers, the symbolic patterns of which create an outward image of this relation. The research was con- ducted through the case studies of four downtown libraries: two historic and two contempo- rary ones, by analyzing and defining their locations in the city, the relation of library project to the city/state policies, their social and cultural meanings, functions, and architecture. Public library is an appealing urbanscape element that shapes prominent public spaces in the city. It adds to the quality and the value of urbanscape, creates or transforms the image of the city through space and time. This opens up further discussion on the ways public libraries fit into the concept of urbanscape emanation.

public library ; urban transformation ; image of the city ; urbanscape

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