Urban environments are the main elements of cities and urban areas. Parks, public spaces, urban courtyards, urban patios, and plazas are the main types of spaces in urban environments that people use to meet at. And the meeting is one of the routines in the livelihood of humanity. People want to meet in comfortable and pleasing urban environments for different reasons.
Here are some of the good urban environments that are used as meeting spaces within the different Urban environment.
1. Central Park
Location: Manhattan New York, USA
Architects: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux
Year: 1857-1876
Central Park is considered as one of the most famous public parks that was designed in 1853 to enter the urban competition among the world cities including London and Paris.
2. Trafalgar Square
Location: London, UK
Architect: Charles Barry
Year: 1840
Trafalgar square was made to commemorate the British victory against the French and Spanish fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar. Prominent buildings facing the square include the National Gallery, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Canada House, and South Africa House.
3. Eiffel Tower, Champs De Mars
Location: Paris, France
Architect: Stephen Sauvestre
Year: 1887-1889
The 128-year-old iron structure welcomes around seven million visitors per year, making it the most-visited paid-for attraction in the world. It was first built for the 1889 World’s Fair. Nicknamed by many as Iron Lady, the Eiffel tower and its surrounding urban area, Champs de Mars, is considered as an interesting urban meeting space.
4. St. Stephens Green
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Landscape Architect: William Sheppard
Year: 1880
The St. Stephens Green is a rectangular metropolitan park that is surrounded by streets that once formed major traffic arteries through Dublin city centre, although traffic management changes were implemented in 2004 during the course of the Luas work.
5. Plaza Mayor
Location: Madrid, Spain
Landscape Architect: Juan de Herrera
Year: 1885
Plaza Mayor is Madrid’s major public space that is found at the heart of the city. The plaza Mayor has originally served the city as a market. It consists of a bronze statue of King Philip III at the center of the square.
6. Trg Bana Jelacica
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Sculptor artist: Anton Fernkorn
Year: 1641
The main square in Zagreb was initially named Harmica, representing the Hungarian name for customs duties. It, Zagreb’s main square, epitomizes the city’s refined ‘Mitteleuropa’ urban culture, enriched by Mediterranean and Balkan traditions. It functions both as a destination—with some places all its own—and as a multi-faceted connector.
The square features several focal points. on September 19th, 1866. the statue was placed and the square was renamed Ban Jelacic Square. The statue is the work of Austrian sculptor Anton Dominik Fernkorn.
7. Wisconsin State Capitol
Location: Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Architect: George B. Post
Year: 1906-1917
Situated in the heart of downtown Madison, this beautiful building is actually a major street corner—the place where the pedestrian extensions of major streets meet indoors. It truly represents the ideal of a town square that America’s founding leaders imagined as the crux of democracy.
8. Golden Gate Park
Location: San Francisco, USA
Designers: Civil Engineer William Hammond Hall and Master Gardener John McLaren
Year: 1870
Built from more than 1,000 acres of sand dunes, San Francisco’s beloved Golden Gate Park opened to the public in 1870. By 1879, this urban haven boasted 155,000 trees and plenty of culture-worthy attractions including the Conservatory of Flowers (the oldest Victorian greenhouse in the Western Hemisphere) and the five-acre Japanese Tea Garden, originally designed for the 1894 Midwinter International Exposition.
9. Park Güell
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Architect: Antoni Gaudí
Year: 1900-1914
Park Güell is the famous city park with the mosaics and the salamander in the district Gràcia of Barcelona and definitely one of the most important attractions in Barcelona in terms of visitor numbers and architecture.
Park Güell is a city park with an area of 15 hectares. Read more about the background of and access to this world-famous, fairytale-like park by Gaudi.
10. Ibirapuera
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Landscape Architect and Architect: Roberto Burle Marx and Oscar Niemeyer
Year: 1954
Located in the heart of São Paulo, Ibirapuera is the center of the city’s cultural life. First opened to the public to celebrate the city’s 400th anniversary, it’s now the city’s most famous attraction.
Covering a total of two square kilometers, Ibirapuera features a beautiful landscape of fountains, lakes, and monuments. It also contains a series of museums, the Japanese Pavilion, and renowned Bienal—the venue for São Paulo Fashion Week. During the weekends, visitors can also enjoy live music shows in the park’s many performance spaces.
