Town square

A town square (or city square, urban square, public square or piazza) is an open public space[1] commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Related concepts are the civic center, the market square and the village green.

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see Town square (disambiguation), City square (disambiguation), Public Square (disambiguation) and Piazza (disambiguation).
Piazza della Signoria, in Florence, Italy, a historic example of a traditional public square
President George W. Bush and Slovakia's Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda are greeted by a crowd of thousands gathered in Bratislava's Hviezdoslavovo Square
Raekoja plats ("Town Hall Square") at Christmas in Tartu, Estonia

Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets, concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. Being centrally located, town squares are usually surrounded by small shops such as bakeries, meat markets, cheese stores, and clothing stores. At their center is often a well, monument, statue or other feature. Those with fountains are called fountain squares.

By country

Australia

The city centre of Adelaide and the adjacent suburb of North Adelaide, in South Australia, were planned by Colonel William Light in 1837. The city streets were laid out in a grid plan, with the city centre including a central public square, Victoria Square, and four public squares in the centre of each quarter of the city. North Adelaide has two public squares. The city was also designed to be surrounded by park lands, and all of these features still exist today, with the squares maintained as mostly green spaces.[2][3]

China

In Mainland China, People's Square is a common designation for the central town square of modern Chinese cities, established as part of urban modernization within the last few decades. These squares are the site of government buildings, museums and other public buildings. The best-known and largest of such squares in China is probably Tiananmen Square.

Germany
Pariser Platz with Brandenburger Tor, in Berlin, Germany

The German word for square is Platz, which also means "Place", and is a common term for central squares in German-speaking countries. These have been focal points of public life in towns and cities from the Middle Ages to today. Squares located opposite a Palace or Castle (German: Schloss) are commonly named Schlossplatz. Prominent Plätze include the Alexanderplatz, Pariser Platz and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Heldenplatz in Vienna, and the Königsplatz in Munich.

Italy
"Piazza" redirects here. For other uses, see Piazza (disambiguation).
Piazza Navona and the Fontana (fountain) del Moro in central Rome, Italy. The fountain in the background is Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

A piazza (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjattsa]) is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. San Marco in Venice may be the world's best known. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza. In Ethiopia, it is used to refer to a part of a city.

When the Earl of Bedford developed Covent Garden – the first private-venture public square built in London – his architect Inigo Jones surrounded it with arcades, in the Italian fashion. Talk about the piazza was connected in Londoners' minds not with the square as a whole, but with the arcades.

A piazza is commonly found at the meeting of two or more streets. Most Italian cities have several piazzas with streets radiating from the center. Shops and other small businesses are found on piazzas as it is an ideal place to set up a business. Many metro stations and bus stops are found on piazzas as they are key point in a city.

In Britain, piazza now generally refers to a paved open pedestrian space, without grass or planting, often in front of a significant building or shops. King's Cross station in London is to have a piazza as part of its redevelopment. The piazza will replace the existing 1970s concourse and allow the original 1850s façade to be seen again. There is a good example of a piazza in Scotswood at Newcastle College.

In the United States, in the early 19th century, a piazza by further extension became a fanciful name for a colonnaded porch. Piazza was used by some, especially in the Boston[4] area, to refer to a verandah or front porch of a house or apartment.[5]

A central square just off Gibraltar's Main Street, between the Parliament Building and the City Hall officially named John Mackintosh Square is colloquially referred to as The Piazza.

Indonesia

A large open square common in villages, towns and cities of Indonesia is known as alun-alun. It is a Javanese term which in modern-day Indonesia refers to the two large open squares of kraton compounds. It is typically located adjacent a mosque or a palace. It is a place for public spectacles, court celebrations and general non-court entertainments.

Iran
Naqsh-e Jahan Square, in Isfahan, an example of Iranian Squares known as maydan.
Azadi Square, Tehran

In traditional Persian architecture, town squares are known as maydan or meydan. A maydan is considered as one of the essential features in urban planning and they are often adjacent to bazaars, large mosques and other public buildings. Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan and Azadi Square in Tehran are examples of classic and modern squares.

The Netherlands

Squares are often called "market" because of the usage of the square as a market place. Almost every town in Belgium and the southern part of the Netherlands has a "Grote Markt" (for example "Grote Markt" in Brussels) or "Grand Place" in French. The "Grote Markt" is often the place where the town hall is situated and therefore the centre of the town.

The same naming can be found in surrounding regions as for example Cologne has several central squares named "-markt" or "Markt" (Heumarkt, Neumarkt, Alter Markt).

Russia
Red Square, in Moscow, Russia, a view from the northwest, showing historic St. Basil's Cathedral and the Spasskaya Tower or "Saviour Tower"

In Russia, central square (Russian: центра́льная пло́щадь, romanised: tsentráĺnaya plóshchad́) is a common term for an open area in the heart of the town. In a number of cities, the square has no individual name and is officially designated Central Square, for example Central Square (Tolyatti).

Spain and Hispanic America

Throughout Spain, Spanish America, and the Spanish East Indies, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing of a governor's palace, and the audiencia or law court. The plaza remains a center of community life that is only equaled by the market-place. This open space at the center of the cities is originally from the Mediterranean where public spaces always had very important role for public life. The origin of the word Plaza is, via Latin platea, from Greek πλατεῖα (ὁδός) plateia (hodos), meaning "broad (way or street)". The Plaza is the heir to the Roman "Forum", and this is the heir of the Greek (Agora). Most viceregal cities in Spanish America and the Philippines were planned around a square "plaza de armas", where troops could be mustered, as the name implies, surrounded by the governor's palace and the main church.

Central Madrid Square or "Plaza" in Spanish language.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, and especially in London and Edinburgh, a "square" has a wider meaning. There are public squares of the type described above but the term is also used for formal open spaces surrounded by houses with private gardens at the centre, sometimes known as garden squares. Most of these were built in the 18th and 19th centuries. In some cases the gardens are now open to the public. See the Squares in London category. Additionally, many public squares were created in towns and cities across the UK as part of urban redevelopment following the Blitz. Squares can also be quite small and resemble courtyards, especially in the City of London. In London the most impressive example which does not incorporate gardens and which is surrounded by historic buildings is probably Trafalgar Square. In Halifax, the recently restored Piece Hall has been described a Piazza rivalling many in Europe.

United States
Soldiers and Sailors is a town square monument that Grover Cleveland laid a cornerstone for and later dedicated in Lafayette Square, Buffalo. In the United States, a town square typically consists of a park or plaza, in front of the original county courthouse or town hall

In some cities, especially in New England, the term "square" (as its Spanish equivalent, Plaza) is applied to a commercial area (like Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts), usually formed around the intersection of three or more streets, and which originally consisted of some open area (many of which have been filled in with traffic islands and other traffic calming features). Many of these intersections are irregular rather than square.[6]

Throughout North America, words like place, square, or plaza frequently appear in the names of commercial developments such shopping centers and hotels.

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See also

References
  1. Pages 8-3 and 78 in Watch this Space: Designing, Defending, and Sharing Public Space, by Hadley Dyer and Marc Ngui, Kids Can Press (2010), hardcover, 80 pages, ISBN 9781554532933
  2. "The Adelaide park lands and city layout" (PDF). Australian Heritage Database: Places for Decision: Class: Historic. For consideration for National Heritage List. Australian Government. Dept for the Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts. 9 July 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2019. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Anderson, Margaret (31 December 2013). "Light's Plan of Adelaide 1837". Adelaidia. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  4. Boston University, "Boston English"
  5. Piazza in the Oxford American Dictionary (2001).
  6. "Boston squared". 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
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