Urban Spaces: Squares

These are urban spaces with rectangular shapes and bounded by four streets on all sides:

Source: wikipedia.org

Place des Vosges, Paris, France

Originally known as the Place Royale, the Place des Vosges was built by Henri IV from 1605 to 1612. A true square (140 m x 140 m), it embodied the first European program of royal city planning. -- Wikipedia

Source: westminster.gov.uk

St. James's Square, London, UK

This is a typical London Square with four entrances, one on each side.

A tarmac path with rolled gravel skirts the square with a shrub bed and railings adjacent to the road. The four paths join a central circular path around a central circular grass area with a statue man on horseback on a plinth in the centre of the square entitled "Gulielmus III".

The square is predominantly surrounded by Georgian and neo-Georgian architecture and remains a privately owned and managed garden. -- official web site

Read a description from Wikipedia 

Source: wikipedia.org

Soho Square, London, UK

Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square. At the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardener's hut. During the summer, it hosts open-air free concerts. -- Wikipedia

Source: lookfunguide.com

Russell Square, Bloomsbury District, London, UK

Bloomsbury is one of the greenest parts of London, and famous for its formal squares. Russell Square is the most renowned square in London.

Queen Square, Bath, UK

Queen Square. Its the biggest square in Bath and hosts many events through the year, French markets, Italian Markets, with an annual event called Boules, weekend where all the restaurants compete with each other,lots of fun, you can buy drink and food. -- official web site

Read a description from Wikipedia 

Source: wikipedia.org

Alamo Square, San Francisco, California, USA

Alamo Square is a residential neighborhood and park in San Francisco, California. A row of Victorian houses facing the park on Steiner Street, known as the "Painted Ladies", are often shown in the foreground of panoramic pictures of the city's downtown area. --Wikipedia

Source: wikipedia.org

Union Square, San Francisco, California, USA

Union Square is a plaza of 2.6 acres (11,000 m²) bordered by Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Streets in San Francisco,California. -- Wikipedia

Placemaking: Union Square, San Francisco, ASLA 2001 Merit Award - Communication

Hall of Shame on Project for Public Spaces

The result is like the proverbial camel, neither hard nor soft, with no clear focus or purpose, and cluttered beyond belief with tchotchkes, no doubt meant to "enliven" the users experience but which merely supplant any genuine engagement with others or with the city. Worse still, they tore out an old and beloved space to build this travesty. -- PPS

Source: williamfrenzullimd.blogspot.com

Union Square, watercolor, 22x43 framed by William Renzulli