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Yes, exactly! I lived in Germany and I would see the paved town squares used on the weekends for farmer's markets, or Christmas markets in December. They weren't always empty.
And my neighborhood has a "green" that is used similarly. The farmer's market is set up around the grassy area (as are other types of temp. markets) and then they set up a stage on the "green" for outdoor movies, concerts and other performances where people just bring blankets to sit on and watch.
Sorry, neighbor, that just doesn't count, according to some on this thread. (I agree with you.)
Actually, this whole discussion about cafes is off topic, and a lot of us, including me, have participated in it. It started with an off-hand response to someone wanting to restrict traffic around Portland's (all hail!) town square. I agree with ohiogirl81 who said it was ironic that street side cafes were considered so hip yet it's not OK to have auto traffic around a "town square".
Actually no one wanted to restrict traffic about Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland. A member was unaware of what kinds of roads and traffic were around this square.
I thought what memph was what the off-topic conversation was bout. I gave some examples of relatively quiet (though still somewhat noisy) sidewalk cafes, some worse ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
It started with an off-hand response to someone wanting to restrict traffic around Portland's (all hail!) town square. I agree with ohiogirl81 who said it was ironic that street side cafes were considered so hip yet it's not OK to have auto traffic around a "town square".
That was ciscokid. I don't think he likes sidewalk cafes by traffic, either. Don't see the irony. The Leciester Square example has no traffic around it; I think that's what ciscokid has in mind. But even in London, most squares aren't that car-free, but some are on quiet streets.
In my view, Empire State Plaza is a famous example of going too far in the "removed from traffic" category. So sterile, with its back turned to the city.
Uh, no. You know, the funniest sentence I ever read was in an obstetrics text written by a male chauvinist. "Ovulation has been observed in man. . .". Get with the program! Humans and draft animals, people and draft animals, men and woman and draft animals, many choices!
The reason the European squares are heavily paved in large cities is because they used to be market spaces with intensive use by man and draught animal. Could you imagine what a mess of rotting muck those squares would be without the ability to be washed and drained?
By contrast, the American, park-like square served a different purpose. Where I come from we call them 'greens' (as in village green) as well as 'squares' which reflects their park-like look. In small towns they are still green, often with a bandstand or poduim. This is because they were more for occasional and/or light use gatherings such as speeches, celebrations, and such rather than daily or weekly markets.
Also, prior to the boom in tourism in a lot of European cities in recent decades, many those 'pedestrian' squares were indeed used as parking lots since the markets had moved off site around the same time as the automobile grew in popularity. Just look at pictures of some of those squares from the 80s and earlier. You will see them jam packed with cars, sometimes a vestige of the old arket with a few stands selling flowers or beverages.
A lot of the pedestrian atmosphere of Europe is fairly new in the grand scheme of things.
I've seen some images of parking lots in European squares, mainly smaller cities. Either from streetview or a photo thread with lots of European regulars, I'd have to dig that up.
England has village greens, too as I mentioned. Most London ones I found skimming through streetview appear to be at least partially green, usually more green than paved. Perhaps they were meant to be small parks, though it appears the grass is sometimes fenced off. Judging from some of their "squares", any small park in the shape of a square is called a square. Here's Claremont Square in London:
Not only does not seem like what I'd expect of a public square; it's not public at all (according to Wikipedia), it's closed to the public and fenced off.
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