Editing Public space (section)

===Approaching urban design===
Contemporary perception of public space has now branched and grown into a multitude of non-traditional sites with a variety of programs in mind. It is for this reason that the way in which design deals with public space as a discipline, has become such a diverse and indefinable field.

Iris Aravot puts forward an interesting approach to the urban design process, with the idea of the 'narrative-myth'. Aravot argues that "conventional analysis and problem solving methods result in fragmentation...of the authentic experience of a city...[and] something of the liveliness of the city as a singular entity is lost."<ref>Iris Aravot, "Narrative-Myth and Urban Design", Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Nov., 1995), pp. 79–91</ref> The process of developing a narrative-myth in urban design involves analysing and understanding the unique aspects of the local culture based on Cassirer's five distinctive "symbolic forms".<ref>Ernst Cassirer, An Essay on Man (New York: Bantam, 1970)</ref> They are myth and religion, art, language, history and science; aspects often disregarded by professional practice. Aravot suggests that the narrative-myth "imposes meaning specifically on what is still inexplicable", i.e. the essence of a city.