Comparing two key modernist public squares among Athens and Stockholm : From similar morphological patterns to common urban experience

Abstract: The urban form undergoes a constant evolution process that transforms the urban experience. As it has been stated by urban morphologists, the design and planning principles as well as emerging social-economic forces shape the built environment. During the period of modernism, cities reformed their urban cores according to the fundamental elements of modernism, aiming to address the ongoing urban growth, the traffic increase and the emerging social issues. Thus, after that period, several urban cores were transformed from old districts to new modern and prestigious business and commercial centers were the former urban experience disappeared.  The center of Athens as well as the center of Stockholm constitute two representative examples of how modernism transformed completely the built environment during that period. Traffic oriented solutions prevailed against the traditional urban districts in both cases. Thus, by experiencing these two cases, common patterns were identified on the urban form of these two key public spaces of the cities. The current study is aiming to unfold the evolution of their urban form and the processes of change that took place in each case during the same time. An extended analysis is conducted, where formal and non-formal conditions are thoroughly examined. Through the analysis of the urban form, this work is aiming to reveal whether common elements that are identified in the built environment produce same implications on the urban life of the public space and consequently common urban experience to the users, despite cultural differences. In addition, the emerging unique formal and non-formal conditions, that generate vitality in each case, are selectively extracted in the last chapter, where crucial interventions are proposed.