| Abstract [eng] |
The master's thesis „Public space in Vilnius: analysis of the construction of meanings and functions at the political level“ examines the construction of the meanings and functions of public spaces in Vilnius at the political level (1990 – 2022). In Vilnius, as the capital of the state, public spaces represent the development of the history, culture and politics of the city, therefore the formation of the meanings and functions of public spaces becomes an important task at the political level. The influence of the political level in the construction of public spaces is understood as a media channel that allows for the effective transmission of a specific message on a certain political issue. However, in Lithuania, the political level is seen as an indecisive actor that shapes the meanings and functions of public spaces. Relying on the events of recent years and academic literature, this work aims to answer what functions and how public space is assigned by the political level, the creators of public spaces in Lithuania? The purpose of this work is to analyze the public space in the city of Vilnius and to determine what meanings and functions are assigned to specific public spaces by the political level. Applying Henri Lefebvre's construction of spaces and using the theoretical approaches of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann's social constructivism, it is analyzed what meanings and functions are applied at the political level by the creators of public spaces in Lithuania. The documents that regulate the operation of public spaces are analyzed – design proposals, naming documents of public spaces, together with the analysis of media material, which allows for a holistic picture of the meanings and functions of public spaces. The analysis is carried out with the help of the qualitative content analysis method, which allows to see a holistic picture of the formed public spaces, related to meanings and functions. The method of content analysis allows efficient and purposeful examination of documents, thereby discovering the common vocabulary used by the political level, shaping the meanings and functions of public spaces. The conducted research supports the initial insight that the political level is an active shaper of public spaces, but it is done chaotically and inconsistently. The structure of this work is divided according to the functional zones of the city – the old town, the center and the periphery, which allows us to notice the features of public space, which features are dominant, which are less noticeable and which should be paid more attention to. The analysis carried out allows us to say that the functional zone of the old town is dominated by the symbolic function, which is related to the meaning of the city's founding, the perpetuation of personalities, the functional zone of the center is characterized by a political function, and the peripheral functional zone of the city is dominated by the physical function, which is related to active and passive activities. As the relevance of public spaces increases in both academic and empirical fields, the role of the political level as a shaper of space becomes important, which can not only create attractive spaces for city residents and guests, but also use public spaces as a media channel, thus transmitting the narrative created by the political level. |
