Improving Public Space through Urban Events : The Strategy Research

Public space is the most important part of the city. It is an important carrier of civil society life and social interaction, and also a concrete representation of urban quality. However, in the process of rapid urban development in China, public spaces in many contemporary cities have some problems, especially in those traditional cities or traditional urban areas. The recession of the physical environment, accompanied by the decline of the economic, social, and cultural vitality of space are its main problem. These problems are mainly due to the difficulty in synchronizing the development speed of traditional urban space with modern urban life. Because of the significance of public space for cities, it is of great significance to improve the decline of public space. However, it is impossible for us to completely negate the traditional urban space in order to adapt to modern life, that is to dismantle and rebuild it; it is also impossible to completely protect it at the expense of quality of life. Therefore, in the face of the contradiction between traditional urban space and modern lifestyle, how to seek a balance between protection and renewal, and how to comprehensively improve from the physical and non-material aspects of public space, is the departure point of this study.

At the same time, in the context of contemporary globalization, cities are actively participating in the competition. Among them, the “urban event” that can attract convergence of urban elements are particularly dazzling. It is an important manifestation of the city’s overall competitiveness and an important opportunity to improve urban space in the context of this era. Urban Events take place in cities and are mostly sponsored by the city government. It is a large-scale activity that depends on certain government resources, has extensive social influence, and is conducive to the realization of urban development goals. Today, more and more traditional cities have achieved urban space improvement through urban events, and even the revival of the city. For example, the EU’s large-scale cultural strategy project “European Capital of Culture”, a series of European cities have succeeded with cultural projects.

Therefore, what is the mechanism for improving the public space in those traditional urban spaces through the intervention of urban events? And what specific measures can be used to improve? These issues are the focus of this study.