On Public Issues and Public Spaces – a Design Course Focusing on the Danube Bank in Budapest

This article discusses three theses that explore the public realm in the modern city. Firstly, constructing buildings and places is always a public issue because the level of change within the sociophysical environment always exceeds the simple physical act of building. Public space is a controversial concept in architecture, environmental psychology and also in geography. Although its area in reality is determined by its use and size, our thought system defines public space as a social space rather than a three-dimensional physical space. Second, according to studies, spaces created through a cooperation of architecture and environmental psychology are more gratifying from both a human and an environmental perspective. Lastly, from the shared viewpoint of environmental psychology and architecture, the water and waterside are outstanding environment-shaping factors and focal points for public issues