La vuelta a Barcelona en 548 plazas: una deriva poliédrica

Abstract

Barcelona has 548 squares. But, what does square means? The term square describes a kind of public space that encloses a collective image. However, due to the great diversity of characteristics that differentiate each of these spaces, it would be difficult to delimit in a precise way what a square is. Upon mapping the term by joining the different languages definitions, we get seven core ideas that are repeated in the differents definitions: space, urban environment, streets, users, activity, built limits, and configuration. It has been made a field work by watching the reality of squares nowadays in Barcelona: Which characteristics they have, what happens there, how they are inhabitated or used, how design influence interaction or which factors condicionate their functioning. By joining all these dots through the core ideas, we get a global image that will let us be closer to the reality of this kind of spaces.