Public Plazas

The Metropol Parasol sweeps majestically up out of the Plaza de la Encarnacion in Seville, Spain. The world's largest wooden structure, it was completed only last month.

Transit planning consultant Jarrett Walker pools his readers' brains together to rough out what circumstances would need to be in place to create a truly transit-activated public space.

Three public plazas in the center of Philadelphia are set to see much-needed makeovers, and soon.

San Jacinto Plaza is the historic heart of El Paso, Texas. City officials are planning a major redevelopment of the plaza, perhaps even expanding its traditional borders and using New York's Bryant Park rebirth as a model.

A new book by Robert Gatje gives public squares and piazzas the coffee-table treatment, meticulously detailing what makes these historic spaces work.

A group of planners and designers recently headed out to audit Petrossian Square in Manhattan, carefully observing how people use the space.

The City of Paris is looking to update the historic Place de la Republique, and is running a closed competition to find the right design. Barcelona-based Mateo Arquitectura gives us a glimpse at their ideas for the space.

Fred Kent of the Project for Public Spaces was recently entangled in a dispute with architect Frank Gehry over the impact of iconic architecture in cities. Though Gehry's work has its moments, Kent says city emphasis on icons is a mistake.

The new public plazas in New York City have gained much popularity among locals -- and earned much money for the city. Officials have been renting out the spaces to advertisers, blurring the lines between public and private.

Nine new sites have been selected by New York City's Department of Transportation for conversion into public plazas.