EGLE CHODOCINSKAITE

“Urban Public Spaces in Scotland: Manifest the Rain”

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MANIFESTO/DESCRIPTION

 

“The city must be a place of waste, for one wastes space and time; everything musn’t be forseen and functional... the most beautiful cities were those where festivals were not planned in advice, but there was a space where they could unfold” (H. Lefebvre, 1987).
Rain is one of the main disruptors of outdoor social activities in Scotland. It has been estimated that the annual average rainfall amount is more than 3000mm (Met Office, 2009). Dull and sunless days lowers mood and causes chemical imbalances in our body often provoking seasonal depression syndrome. This can lead to mental and psychological problems, lack of energy and sleepiness- disrupting peoples social life. It creates separation and draws a divide between outdoor and indoor spaces. As a result people tend to spend much of their time indoors.
However, rain does not have to mean end of a beautiful day outdoors. Rain belongs to the water cycle which refreshes the environment and awakes other senses. Wet weather can be psychologically calming, and can erase the boundary between humans and nature.
The west coast of Scotland is the wettest area in the UK (Met Office, 2009). In Paisley, potentially the next UK City of Culture, outdoor spaces provides many social activities in the form of parks, avenues and the riverside. All exposed to the weather limiting their use to warmer days.
Successful urban public spaces are dynamic, diverse and unpredictable which is opposition from static and foreseen environment. Play is one of the key components to successful public spaces which should be found in the city. Quentine Stevens interrelates encounters between strangers as one of four successful ways in which playful environments could be arranged in urban public spaces.
“Understanding the ways in which urban space both collects people together and separate them, how it shapes the arrangement of serious and frivolous activities, and how it helps to support particular roles for players is crucial for understanding what makes urban spaces playful” (Q. Stevens, 2007).
This thesis aim is to analyse the rain and its impact on people and the city. The objective is similar to that of Quentine Stevens to find new approaches for how rain could be manifested in a positive way. So that the wet weather will no longer disrupt the social lives and moods of people living in Scotland but inhance it through outdoor activities that engage with the wet climate. .