Improving liveability and attractiveness by preserving place identity in emblematic thoroughfares: A method and a case study

The article uses the PlaceMaker method of analysis and design of urban landscapes. The method is a key resource for assessing the identity of places and measures for its enhancement, reconstruction and design. By using different tools for analysis and interpretation of places and questionnaires administered to their users, PlaceMaker finds the identity material that the city has available and how to decompose and re-compose it for its sustainable project transformation. Pedestrian-intensive areas, in particular urban, cultural and historical poles of attraction, increasingly bear the imprint of globalisation, conveying messages that have developed in an uncontrolled manner and are aimed at conveying their users’ patterns of thought and action. The presence of a dense mixture of contrasting elements and perceptions can detract from the image of a city. This article presents a synopsis of an experiment carried out in an historic axe in London – Oxford Street – where globalisation is in danger of levelling out the beauty of the area in favour of widespread genericity.

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