La qualité des espaces publics et les stratégies du développement durable urbain

Abstract

The issue of public spaces has always been of considerable interest in urban policies. Nowadays, progress lies in the way we approach the relationship between public space and the principles of sustainable development. In Algeria, in recent years, there is a marked determination of the authorities to adopt urban management strategies that are essentially based on the integration of environmental policies in a process of sustainable urban development. However, the design of public spaces does not completely satisfy users. Their poor quality reflects on the one hand, the authorities’ negligence of the urban functionality, urban design and landscape and on the other hand, the absence of a charter and a reference frame. Our issue targets particularly the quality of public spaces in the vicinity of metro and tram in Algiers. These are complex public spaces that need to be renewed. The objective of this research is to establish an evaluation method of the QUality of Public Spaces named “QUEP” which will serve as a tool for decision support and design. This method relies on a system of criteria and indicators for assessing the quality of public space, which is mainly based on the expectations of urban actors in a sustainable development perspective. It can be applied at various stages of evaluation of development projects (ex-ante, in-itinere and ex-post) for an improved quality of public spaces and therefore a better quality of urban life. QUEP is characterized by its simplicity of use and its flexibility. The demonstration of the procedure followed (tool development procedure) through its application on a real case study, can illustrate the quality of the result and show the relevance and operational inputs of the method.