IN-PERSON London. Section B

Abstract

The presentation is based on empirical fieldwork and observations of informal public social life, focusing on the movement and social interactions among urban dwellers in the public spaces, by referencing cases both within the context of a local condition – that of the Phaneromeni parish of the historic city of Nicosia in Cyprus – but also looking outside the confines of the focus, so as to present a wider picture of this urban condition. An overall argument will be made that these spaces and the spatial conditions that describe them constitute a distinctive set of informal social settings, that are often described as “fourth places” in the literature and that find their place alongside the other three realms of social life ‒ home, work and “third places”. If paths offer spatial, behavioral and sensorial variation, in terms of enclosure and width, types of encounter and vistas, then looking at informal corridors of mobility may enhance the utilization of urban space in the historic city and enrich the experience of engaging in everyday public life by the urban dweller. The approach is one of an ethnographically infused, heritage-led urban regeneration paradigm. Such an approach benefits from participatory planning. Conservation and rehabilitation in this manner has become a strategy to achieve a balance between urban growth and quality of life that make cities more livable. Furthermore, the introduction of a systems-thinking approach may potentially unveil the dynamic and complex interactions at work linked to community development. In this way, hidden events and patterns and mental models may be revealed and the interconnectedness of socio-spatial structures and elements may be observed and better understood. This in itself constitutes a useful tool for mapping, modelling and simulating the change of a spatial system’s parameters over time and helps improve the townscape.