Architects' Places, Users' Places: Place Meanings at the New Central Bus Station, Tel Aviv

When planning urban public projects, urban designers and architects are often required to create meaningful places. However, when architects interpret the meaning of places using different terms than their non-professional users, their ability to instill places with comprehensible meaning is hindered. The issue of architects' and users' place meanings is addressed in this paper through an analysis of place-narratives of an 'everyday' public place, the New Central Bus Station, Tel Aviv. It is found that although both architects and users emphasize the activities carried out in the place, they do not engage the same modes of thought when reflecting on it; while architects tend to use abstract thinking, users tend to prefer experiential, emotive or relational thinking. However, it is concluded that the different modes of thought do not prevent a mutual agreement on the overall place-meaning of the Station.