A Tourist-Based Typology of Open Public Sapces: A Case Study of Golubac, Serbia

Abstract

Open public spaces represent focal places within settlements as parts of a city structure. Nowadays, they are classified into various types and categories, such as parks, squares, children's playgrounds, river banks, urban forests, and, even, streets and sidewalks. Each of these categories has its own significance in the network of open public spaces because of the content and role it plays in a particular area. This is especially important for Golubac, as a town in Eastern Serbia in which a diverse typology of open public spaces has been recognised in a specific limited space, thanks to its rich cultural heritage, its position along the Danube River, but also the close proximity of the national park. On the one hand, this offers great opportunities for the further development of open public spaces, while, on the other hand, certain specifics in typology bring many limitations. Also, the richness of culture and heritage has led to a significant increase in the number of tourists in Golubac in recent years. However, they usually pass through the city only to reach heritage sites in the town vicinity, such as a Golubac fortress. Therefore, the subject of this paper is the analysis of the network of open public spaces in Golubac considering tourists needs. The paper starts with a general theoretical section on open public spaces, after which it focused on the case study of Golubac Town. The final contribution of the research is to understand the interrelationships, connections, significance, obstacles, and limitations in forming The final aim of this paper is to propose certain guidelines through the typologies of open spaces in order to bring open public spaces closer to the needs of tourists and enable them to stay longer in the town of Golubac.