How Great Public Spaces Encourage Festive Celebration [Bruges]

When I think of the most joyful place during the holiday season, I always think of Bruges in Belgium. The cozy atmosphere makes the Bruges Christmas Market one of the most festive markets I have visited. Within the Markt piazza (Yes, that is the spelling! Not, that I am good at spelling…) there is an ice rink surrounded by stalls emitting glorious fragrances of warm waffles, hot chocolate, pomme frits and mulled wine. There is a high-energy happiness that can be observed through the smiles and laughter of adults and children skating around the Christmas tree and in the horse drawn carriages dropping off and picking up people in front of the belfry. The medieval pattern of streets and canals lead toward a number of smaller markets found in almost every direction from the center within the connected public squares unifying the city into one big celebration! The heights of joy in our lives are marked by celebrations. During this time, our joy overflows, and we have the desire to bring others together to join in our happiness. Joy’s social form draws us into a communal experience, making us want to pause our daily lives to feast and frolic. This emotional energy brings us together and strengthens a community. Research shows that celebrating positive events with others increases our feeling that they will be there for us when times are hard, and boosts our own joy. People who make it a point to celebrate positive events with others are happier than those who keep to themselves. Celebrating as a community propels the joy of the holiday season even higher!

Images courtesy of Andy Rutz

The Markt piazza is formed by friendly, brick Gothic buildings. There is a deep simple joy in seeing the impeccable row of buildings standing in perfect harmony enclosing the piazza. It is a real expression of a vibrant harmony, of separate parts working together to create a graceful balance. The ground floor of the buildings offer places along the street for people to sit, eat, drink and watch the world go by, and they emit a playful glow of colorful hues from the decorated shopfronts and twinkling lights. The buildings are dynamically connected to the adjacent piazza, supporting public life and creating a strong sense of place. The human-scale fabric has a positive effect on our perception of the space. Even though Bruges has evolved over centuries, you feel as if you were considered in the design of the space. Harmony offers visible evidence that someone cares enough about a place to invest energy in it.

John Ruskin proposed that we seek two things from our buildings, we want them to shelter us and we want them to speak to us. We want them to speak to us about the values we find important and need to be reminded of. They present us with an invitation to be specific types of people, and speak of memories of happiness. They communicate by making connections, tying them to the personal moments in which we have previously seen them. Architecture and public spaces become emotional souvenirs of the occasions we came across them.

Marie-Henri Beyle (a.k.a. Stendhal) pointed out that beauty is the promise of happiness. Beauty implies an attraction to a particular way of life the building is advocating through it’s language making it the physical articulation of a good life [link to prior post]. We see the stepped gables gracefully shielding steep roofs from the public evoking kindness and elegance, and the varying colors of brick presenting subtlety and strength.

Images courtesy of Andy Rutz

Great public open spaces encourage celebration by inviting people to be on the street enabling chance interaction, supporting the exchange of ideas, reflecting diversity, and encouraging people to live together effortlessly. This creates an atmosphere of liveliness and endurance. As seen in Bruges, the energy of the Markt piazza is expressed by the possibility to enjoy it in various ways throughout the year. This vitality attracts people to the space. It is a source of civic pride and helps residents and visitors connect to the history and culture of the city. It also presents an opportunity for play. The National Institute of Play explains that play is as fundamental for us as sleep. When an infant makes eye contact with her mother, each experiences a spontaneous surge of joy. The baby responds with a beaming smile, her mother with her own smile and baby talk. This is the grounding base of the state-of-play. Social play, such as a play face and various play body languages (i.e. children jumping up and down ready to get on the ice rink), is a key aspect of play behavior. We all have an innate drive to play, and this impulse is one of our most natural and effortless sources of joy.