Evaluating the Scarcity of Public Squares in the City of Nablus

Public Square is an accessible space for all individuals and usually hard-surfaces surrounded by buildings and is considered an attractive place for the people’s gathering. Public squares are one of the fundamental components of the urban environment. It affects the social life and the social coherence positively and encourages the interaction between the people in the community. However, in some cases, the squares are not used by the people or do not exist in a city due to various reasons, factors, and qualities such as the case of Nablus city in Palestine that has a special socio-political condition and it is chosen as the case study for this research. Two types of analysis were carried out; the first one involves the analysis of existing planning policies, and the socio-political characteristics of the entire city while the second focuses on the analysis of the selected squares in the city in terms of physical qualities, natural effects, and socio-cultural characteristics. Based on this study, it is found that there are clear weaknesses and deficiencies in the public squares in Nablus city such as the absence of effective planning policies regarding public square, the topography of the city, the small size of the existent squares, the culture of the people, and the socio-political conditions, all played a role in affecting the usage and existence of public squares in Nablus city. Keywords: Public squares, City of Nablus, Physical qualities, Socio-cultural characteristics, Planning policies, Natural effects