Assessing the quality of public spaces: A proposed decision support tool
In the interests of sustainable development, cities today need to establish new goals that challenge previous ideas about how public spaces should be designed. In this changed context, there is a vital need for appropriate decision support tools to assess the quality of public spaces. One way to address this challenge is through a holistic approach where public spaces are understood as whole systems. We adopted this approach and developed a method for decision-makers to apply in assessing the quality of public spaces from a sustainable development perspective, using a scientifically valid series of criteria and evaluation indicators. Notably, the method described could be of particular use in developing countries such as Algeria which, although wishing to ensure their citizens have good quality urban life, do not currently have the decision support tools they need to assess the quality of public spaces.