This book reveals the social basis for public space use, design and management. The authors - an architect/environmental designer, a landscape architect, an environmental psychologist, and an open space administrator - offer a well-integrated perspective of how to integrate public space and public life. They contend that three critical human dimensions should guide the process of design and management of public space: the users' essential needs, their spatial rights, and the meanings they seek. To develop and explain these three dimensions, the authors draw on the history of public life and public space, evidence from recent social research, and a series of original case studies, all amply illustrated. Public Space offers an innovative approach for adapting the dimensions to the unique social and environmental context of each project.