Väikelinnade keskväljakud ruumilise kultuuritekstina
Central squares of small towns as cultural texts

Summary/Abstract: Central areas in tens of small Estonian towns have been redesigned during the last decade in the framework of the Good Public Space programme. Besides urban space being reconstructed, the assessment and interpretation of public representative places have become a topic for a broader discussion in Estonian culture. This study analyses main spatial semiotic traits, meaning potential and expressed interpretations of (re)designed central squares. While the position of these squares as spatial texts in culture has yet to stabilise, opinions and assessments by experts and local users diverge to extremes. The study adds the semiotic dimension of meaning-making to debates on design and place-making that can be found in media and studies by landscape architecture students. Spatial semiotic elements and the delimitation of the whole of the square, reception by users and in media are analysed. Even though the public space in central squares of small towns has a rich potential for meanings due to the diversity of involved agents and layers of interpretations, this potential might be left unrealised and squares left as concrete areas.

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