Public Space as a Soft–Connection for Urban: Study on Japanese Streets

Abstract

Public space is one of the most essential elements of people’s urban life, which provides the material foundation for people to exchanging goods, social activities and communication. The most common pattern of urban spaces for gathering activities is narrow and long street in dense blocks. As the majority of Japanese take part in social activities by intensive walking through dense blocks rather than stay statically in one square with certain form. This article studied on four famous Japanese streets –– Dotonbori (Osaka), Osu commercial pedestrian (Nagoya), Shijo Kawaramachi (Kyoto) and Omotesando (Tokyo) to figure out the characteristics of typical Japanese public spaces.