ZHANG Ruijie, JIANG Xinyuan, HE Yi, Miquel Marti CASANOVAS

Keywords： Urban Morphology; Small Public Space; Historical Type; Homogeneous; Barcelona

Abstract：

Small public spaces, as the “empty” parts beyond the urban physical spaces, play a transitional role between streets and buildings. While injecting vitality into cities, these spaces also preserve a wealth of historical information during urban renewal and succession processes, making them highly valuable for research. This paper explores the often-neglected intangible aspects of urban areas, specifically small public spaces, from the perspective of urban morphology. It establishes a recognition system for the form of small urban public spaces based on spatial patterns and composition, as well as their usage and quality. The study focuses on five types of small urban spaces in Barcelona, spanning from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, to investigate historical typologies. The aim is to reveal the significance of small public spaces as the “empty” parts in relation to urban fabric and contextual heritage, and their embodiment of a people-oriented, “homogeneous” and “non-designed” approach. This research holds reference value for preserving historical context, and creating public spaces in urban renewal processes in China.

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