| Summary: | This article is devoted to the analysis of the square as one of the key visual elements (patterns) of the urban environment. To understand how a city works, it is necessary to find out what urban practices are associated with the square, what its role is in shaping the overall appearance of the city, and in what ways it relates to other visual patterns. The study of the city square in its aesthetic, semiotic, social, and cultural aspects is a necessary part of the discourse, which is focused on the theoretical understanding and practical formation of the overall image of the city. The article deals with questions about the human scale of the square, its cultural functions, artistic integrity, and forms of its participation in the scenography of urban space. A comparison of the closed and open squares is made by referring to some well-known examples. It is shown that a normal urban pattern is a square that combines the properties of ‘openness’ and ‘closedness’ and at the same time includes elements of geometry, architecture, sculpture, and local history in its ensemble. It is concluded that a stable visual pattern of the urban environment can only be such a square that combines several functions, is in obvious combination with patterns of other types, has a human scale, and is a noticeable architectural ensemble. The square can act as a visual dominant of the entire urban structure, determining the general perception of the city, its appearance, and silhouette. At the same time, the city also influences the square, programming its form, style, and function. The degradation of squares, which leads to the degradation of the urban environment as a whole is explained by their dehumanization, functional reduction (the transformation of squares into transport hubs), and, most importantly, the fragmentation of their visual perception. The city square is degrading precisely because the townspeople cease to understand and perceive it as a certain and very complex form of organization of the urban texture, on which both the compositional unity of the city and the continuity of its cultural identity rest.
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