The squares, between spontaneous and functional public spaces. His analysis in the Center of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The article is based on the analysis of the squares in the center of Rio de Janeiro from three sources of information -Secretariat of Urban Planning of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (COMLURB) and Google Maps- with the objective of knowing their characteristics and the role they play in the urban fabric. The results show that some of them are part of the urban fabric as articulators of its main axes, while others are inserted in it occupying empty urban spaces or assigning the ‘plaza category’ to spaces that have not been thought of as such. These situations are related to the characteristics of public spaces in cities of Portuguese origin.

Keywords:
public spaces; squares; urban fabric; function; Downtown Rio de Janeiro