Pedestrian areas in the space of a city

This article has been devoted to problems associated with the shaping of pedestrian areas within the spaces of a city. The author attempts to determine the characteristics that pedestrian spaces – which shape urban space – should possess on the basis of an analysis of three built architectural and urban complexes in the cities of Slovenia dated to the second decade of the twenty fi rst century. The examples that were presented – each having a different programme and form of use, as well as being located in different conditions – confi rmed the thesis that pedestrian areas constitute node areas within a city. Attractively shaped pedestrian areas connected with the surrounding architecture and spatial context have an impact on the integration of spaces within a city. Pedestrian areas – as node areas within a city – play a signifi cant part within the spaces of cities, as they constitute mixed-use planes that focus basic pedestrian traffi c, providing all manners of interpersonal contact: intellectual and professional, social, educational, etc., which is very characteristic of public spaces. They also have an impact on the merging of integrated spaces within a city.