Public Space in Beijing

This thesis examines the Beijing south moat park with a comparative case study of the Madrid Rio park. It contains three aspects that the BSM park is anticipated to achieve—a key to reviving city history, urban expressway landscape, and modern public space. In each aspect, the comparative case study of the Madrid Rio park, which is widely regarded as a successful public space transformation, will serve as the comparative study to illustrate the weaknesses of the current situation of the BSM park. Along with the analysis of two other case studies, Montgomery, Alabama and Cheonggyecheon, Seoul, this thesis seeks to provide comprehensive recommendations in different aspects of the BSM park by extracting and purifying the strength and weakness of the comparative case studies. The overall key findings include recommendations that fit in four categories: cultural heritage, reconnecting segmented spaces, non-vehicular traffic, and placemaking.