A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Related concepts are the civic center, the market square and the village green.
Most squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets, concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. They are not necessarily a true geometric square.
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings (municipal buildings, schools, and hospitals), transport infrastructure (roads, railroads, bridges, pipelines, canals, ports, and airports), public spaces (public squares, parks, and beaches), public services (water supply and treatment, sewage treatment, electrical grid, and dams), environmental protection (drinking water protection, soil erosion reduction,wildlife habitat preservation, preservation and restoration of forests and wetlands) and other, usually long-term, physical assets and facilities. Though often interchangeable with public infrastructure and public capital, public works does not necessarily carry an economic component, thereby being a broader term. Construction may be undertaken either by directly employed labour or by a private operator.
Public works has been encouraged since antiquity. The Roman emperor Nero encouraged the construction of various infrastructure projects during widespread deflation.
Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi (formerly Ivaritji), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha (24,000 m), it is located at the junction of Sturt and Morphett streets in the south-western quarter of the Adelaide city grid.
It is one of six squares designed by the founder of Adelaide, William Light, who was Surveyor-General at the time, in his 1837 plan of the City of Adelaide which spanned the River Torrens Valley, comprising the city centre (South Adelaide) and North Adelaide. The square was named in 1837 by the Street Naming Committee after William Wolryche-Whitmore, a British politician who had introduced the South Australia Act 1834 to the British House of Commons. In 2003, as part of the dual naming initiative of the Adelaide City Council, a second name, Ivaritji (later corrected to Iparrityi), was assigned in the Kaurna language of the original inhabitants. Iparrityi (c.1847—1929), also known as Amelia Taylor, was the last full-blood Kaurna person and last speaker of the Kaurna language.
A forum (Latin: forum, pl.: fora; English pl.: either fora or forums) was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls. But such fora functioned secondarily for multiple purposes, including as social meeting places for discussion. Many fora were constructed at remote locations along a road by the magistrate responsible for the road, in which case the forum was the only settlement at the site and had its own name, such as Forum Popili or Forum Livi.
A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, such as public libraries, are public spaces, although they tend to have restricted areas and greater limits upon use. Although not considered public space, privately owned buildings or property visible from sidewalks and public thoroughfares may affect the public visual landscape, for example, by outdoor advertising. Recently, the concept of shared space has been advanced to enhance the experience of pedestrians in public space jointly used by automobiles and other vehicles.
Public space has also become something of a touchstone for critical theory in relation to philosophy, urban geography, visual art, cultural studies, social studies and urban design. The term 'public space' is also often misconstrued to mean other things such as 'gathering place', which is an element of the larger concept of social space. Public spaces have often been valued as democratic spaces of congregation and political participation, where groups can vocalize their rights.
Victoria Square, also known as Tarntanyangga (formerly Tarndanyangga, Kaurna pronunciation: [ˈd̪̥aɳɖaɲaŋɡa]), is the central square of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.
It is one of six squares designed by the founder of Adelaide, Colonel William Light, who was Surveyor-General at the time, in his 1837 plan of the City of Adelaide which spanned the River Torrens Valley, comprising the city centre (South Adelaide) and North Adelaide. The square was named on 23 May 1837 by the Street Naming Committee after Princess Victoria, then heir presumptive of the British throne. In 2003, it was assigned a second name, Tarndanyangga (later amended to Tarntanyangga), in the Kaurna language of the original inhabitants, as part of the Adelaide City Council's dual naming initiative.
Gammel Strand (modern Danish for "old beach"; originally meant "the old shoreline", i.e. prior to land reclamations) is a street and public square in central Copenhagen, Denmark. On the south side it borders on the narrow Slotsholmens Canal while the north side is lined by a row of brightly coloured houses from the 18th and 19th century. Across the canal, Thorvaldsens Museum and Christiansborg Palace are seen on the island Slotsholmen.
The art gallery Kunstforeningen and the Ministry of Culture are the most notable institutions facing the street.
Trafalgar Square (/trəˈfælɡər/ trə-FAL-gər) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early 19th century around the area known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar.
The area around Trafalgar Square has been a significant landmark since the 1200s, as distances from London are measured from Charing Cross. The King's Mews occupied part of the site until the reign of George IV, who moved them to Buckingham Palace, allowing the area to be redeveloped by John Nash. Progress stalled after the death of Nash in 1835, and the square did not open until 1844. It is faced by buildings including the National Gallery, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Canada House and South Africa House. The square also contains several pieces of public sculpture, including the 169-foot (52 m) Nelson's Column in the centre, which commemorates Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's victory at Trafalgar; an equestrian statue of Charles I; and the fourth plinth, which since 1999 has hosted a variety of artworks.
37°48′18″N 122°16′18″W / 37.8050°N 122.2718°W
Frank H. Ogawa Plaza is a public square located in Downtown Oakland.