Participation: The Basis of Designing Multifunctional Urban Spaces

The idea of designing a multifunctional urban space in different forms and with various meanings has always been existed in the field of architecture and the urban design, but the comprehensive definition of this concept is still missing. Although these types of urban spaces have always been elaborated spontaneously in developing countries, in developed countries, there are more restrictions for using urban spaces. Despite the differences in the ownership of public spaces, multifunctional spaces have emerged around the world and are increasing day by day. These spaces differ according to the context in which they are formed, the characteristics related to the morphology of the space and its dimensions and sizes, as well as their primary function. Beside these differences, they maintain common patterns that will help urban actors plan and design for such spaces in the future.
This article analyses 80 examples of spaces that are currently multifunctional or demonstrate the potential to become one. In this research, the case-based reasoning (CBR) method has been employed along with the pattern language of Christopher Alexander to select the criteria and extract patterns. The result represents principles that can help designers to be more effective in enhancing the quality of life of citizens. Finally, it is observed that the obtained patterns have less physical form and mostly involve space planning and management. The pattern that has the most repetition among the extracted patterns is “participation”, which should be considered as a culture in all its forms from the beginni.ng in the process of planning, design and management.