Public Spaces Evaluation

When talking about well-being, there are two different types; hedonic and eudaimonic. This is usually in reference to the individual, the well-being of a person. Hedonic being short term pleasure while eudaimonic being long term and everlasting happiness. In order to ensure that a community can flourish and stay healthy, a combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural and political conditions identified by the individuals within the community must be met. Safe outdoor public spaces, which encourage citizens to live active and healthy lifestyles outdoors while connecting with their environment and socializing are the key towards a happy community. These outdoor public spaces must feel safe, welcoming and nurturing to all if citizens are to feel encouraged to use them. There are many factors which can be explored in methodology for determining if a public space was successfully designed and implemented. within the Greater City of Sudbury. We have chosen to analyze three very different public spaces; Memorial Park, Bell Park and Tom Davies Square. Upon evaluating the three places, we have drawn many conclusions that are specific to the Sudbury context which we wish to share here in hopes to start a conversation about how we could make Sudbury’s public spaces better.