engleski

GREEN SYSTEMS IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE OPEN SPACE OF SELECTED MEDITERRANEAN TOWNS

The thesis is based on the assumption that open spaces of historical towns can be linked to the green system of the contemporary urban area in a social, structural and ecological sense. Four Mediterranean towns have been chosen for the research on the Croatian coast with a comparable historical development. Therefore historical maps were examined and digitalised for the purpose of the comparative analyses. The data were compared with new ortophoto maps in order to define links between open spaces of a historic town and the green system of a contemporary one. The results show that during the historic development of urban centres open spaces had a very important role in the formation of the urban fabric. This was very obvious in the roman period when a forum had a function of the urban nucleus where most of the public activities took place. In that period inhabitants spent their free time in the surrounding landscape. This scheme of the urban form was kept until the nineteenth century when researched town opened to the landscape. Park, as a new form of urban open space was a kind of a certain substitute for the surrounding landscape which became more distant for everyday usage. Twentieth century brought a further diversification of the open public spaces. Results showed that during the historical development open public spaces were always situated on the most valuable areas inside the urban parameter, but during twentieth century they started to appear as a „leftovers“ in the development process. Therefore the morphology of the green systems is mostly influenced by the natural background (relief, water features, coastal line). So open spaces of the historical town, as well as a green system of the contemporary town, have an effect on the urban structure. At the same time historical square appears to be the core from which other types of the public open spaces have been developed thus making elements of the green system. Urban open spaces have always been an active element of the urban sustainability, but its ecological function changed from the anthropocentric (in the historical town) to the ecocentrical (in the contemporary urban area).

green system; open public space; historical town; contemporary town

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