Assessing the Degree of Publicness in Streets

Abstract

Streets have always been a vital source of public life in Indian cities. The advent of virtual technologies and changing
urban realities, have impacted its publicness and activation. Additionally, increasing degree of publicness in privately
owned public spaces poses significant reduction in street life. Hence, it is important to assess the street qualities which
contribute to public life. The physical, non-physical and metaphysical qualities of street assessments will bring out the
essential qualities of streets that contribute to public life in contemporary streets. This paper enquires socio-cultural
and sensory aspects of street life. It would assess parameters that contribute or contradict the degree of publicness.
The study would discuss and build assessments from Vikas Mehta, William H. Whyte, Henry Lefebvre and Jan Gehl’s
theories and perspectives. This research would build a critical enquiry about temporality and everyday urbanism and
contribute to the discussions on placemaking and tactical urbanism strategies.