Author:

Keywords:

Urban project, public space, rational paradigm, habitus

Abstract:

During the last decennia urban projects as main instruments for transforming physical urban environment have been increasingly impelling social reactions and challenging the rational paradigm still persisting in urban planning practice. Complex interaction of manifold human values, motivations and desires provides permanent tension whose modus varies from explosive conflict and open display of negative collective emotions to durable latent confrontation. This paper introduces an initial stage of the research aimed to investigate the spatial applications of human feelings. Applying the concept of habitus of Bourdieu from the political sociology to the case of small scale strategic urban helps to overcome duality between synoptic and participatory views on community practice, e.g. between activity formation characteristics and the processes by which these activities are enacted. It provides the research with effective tool for analysis of the tacit dimension of urban planning which goes beneath the level of rational ideology. An example of an ongoing public space project in Riga – renovation of the square in front of the medieval Riga Castle – is used to illustrate how socio-psychological structures underlay stakeholders’ judgments and affect the outcome of the project. The strategic position of a small, but environmentally, symbolically and spatially complex project and its post-soviet planning context makes an exemplary case for studying the interplay of the manifold social identities and their representations in urban planning and design. In conclusion the article discusses the relevance of socio-psychological analysis of spatial projects and its methods for researching and understanding the ways human dimension, manifested in feelings and emotions, which underlines organized spatial interventions in contemporary public space.