View source for Engineering:Plaza

{{short description|Public square in the center of a town or city}}

[[File:Valladolid-plaza.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Plaza Mayor, Valladolid'' is a typical Spanish plaza.]]
[[File:CatedralPrimadaBogota2004-7.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Plaza de Bolívar is the largest plaza in Bogota, Colombia, and home to one of the largest cathedrals in South America, the Cathedral of Bogota.]]

A '''plaza''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|l|ɑː|z|ə}}, '''pedestrian plaza''', or '''place''' is an open urban [[Social:Public space|public space]], such as a [[Engineering:Town square|city square]].<ref name="etymology">{{cite web|title=plaza|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plaza|publisher=Reference.com}} {{cite web|title=place|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=place&allowed_in_frame=0|publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary}} {{cite web|title=place|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/place|publisher=Merriam Webster}} {{LSJ|platu/s|πλατεῖα|ref}}.</ref>

Throughout Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies, the '''plaza mayor''' of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the [[Religion:Cathedral|cathedral]], the ''cantabile'' or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing of a governor's palace, and the ''audience'' or law court. The plaza might be large enough to serve as a military parade ground. At times of crisis or fiesta, it was the space where a large crowd might gather. Like the Italian piazza, the plaza remains a center of community life that is only equaled by the market-place.

Most colonial cities in Spanish America and the {{wipe|Philippines}} were planned around a square ''plaza de armas'', where troops could be mustered, as the name implies, surrounded by the governor's palace and the main church.  A ''plaza de toros'' is a bullring.

In the US, they can be used to open spaces for low income neighborhoods, and can also the overall aesthetic of the surrounding area boosting economic vitality, pedestrian mobility and safety for pedestrians.<ref>{{cite web|title=Public Plazas|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/public-plazas.shtml|website=NYC.GOV|accessdate=30 August 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907063254/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/public-plazas.shtml|archivedate=7 September 2015}}</ref> Most plazas are created out of a collaboration between local non-profit applicants and city officials which requires approval from the city.<ref name="silverlake">{{cite web|last1=Bloomekatz|first1=Ari|title=Silver Lake gets an unusual new park space|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/11/local/la-me-silver-lake-space-20120311|website=Los Angeles Times|publisher=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=10 October 2015}}</ref>

In modern usage, a plaza can be any gathering place on a street or between buildings, a street intersection with a statue, etc.  Today's metropolitan landscapes often incorporate the "plaza" as a design element, or as an outcome of zoning regulations, building budgetary constraints, and the like.  Sociologist William H. Whyte conducted an extensive study of plazas in {{wipe|New York City}}: his study humanized the way modern urban plazas are conceptualized, and helped usher in significant design changes in the making of plazas.

==Etymology==

''Plaza'' (<small>European</small> {{IPA-es|ˈplaθa|lang}}; <small>or, Latin American</small> {{IPA-es|ˈplasa|lang}}) is a [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]] word, cognate to Italian ''piazza'', Portuguese ''praça'', Galician ''praza'', Catalan ''plaça'', Romanian ''piața'', German ''Platz'' and French ''place'' (which has also been borrowed into English). The origin of all these words is, via Latin ''platea'', from Greek {{lang|grc|πλατεῖα (ὁδός)}} ''plateia (hodos)'', meaning "broad (way or street)".<ref name=etymology/>

==Examples==
[[File:Bandera del zocalo.JPG|thumb|right|200px|The Zócalo (officially ''Plaza de la Constitución'') has been the central gathering space of Mexico City since Aztec times.]]
[[File:Genova-IMG 2285.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Piazza De Ferrari in the heart of Genoa, Italy]]
[[File:Costilla NM Plaza 1943.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The plaza of Costilla, Taos County, New Mexico, {{wipe|United States}}, a plaza in a rural setting, 1943.]]

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[[Earth:Europe|Europe]]:
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaza Mayor, [[Place:Madrid|Madrid]]
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Puerta del Sol, Madrid
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaza de Colón, Madrid
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaça Sant Jaume, [[Place:Barcelona|Barcelona]]
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaza Mayor, Valladolid
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaza Mayor, Salamanca
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Plaza de España, Seville
*{{Flagicon|Spain}} Praza do Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela
*{{Flagicon|Portugal}} Praça do Império, [[Place:Lisbon|Lisbon]]
*{{Flagicon|Portugal}} Praça do Comércio (Terreiro do Paço), Lisbon
*{{Flagicon|Portugal}} Praça D. Pedro IV (Rossio), Lisbon
*{{Flagicon|Italy}} Piazza de Ferrari, Genoa
*{{Flagicon|Netherlands}} Dam Square, [[Place:Amsterdam|Amsterdam]]
*{{Flagicon|France}} Place de la Concorde, [[Place:Paris|Paris]]
*{{Flagicon|France}} Place Pigalle, [[Place:Paris|Paris]]
*{{Flagicon|Germany}} Potsdamer Platz, [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]]
*{{Flagicon|Belgium}} Grand Place, Brussels
*{{Flagicon|Poland}} Plac Zamkowy, [[Place:Warsaw|Warsaw]]
*{{Flagicon|Poland}} Plac Defilad, [[Place:Warsaw|Warsaw]]
*{{Flagicon|Poland}} Plac Grunwaldzki, Wrocław

[[Earth:Asia|Asia]]:
*{{Flagicon|Israel}} Rabin Square, [[Place:Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv]]
*{{Flagicon|Iran}} Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Safavid Persia (currently in [[Place:Isfahan|Isfahan]], [[Religion:Iran|Iran]])
*{{Flagicon|Iran}} Amir Chakhmaq Complex, [[Place:Yazd|Yazd]], [[Religion:Iran|Iran]]
*{{Flagicon|Uzbekistan}} Registan, [[Place:Timurid Empire|Timurid Persia]] (currently in Uzbekistan)
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza de Armas, Intramuros, [[Place:Manila|Manila]]
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza Dilao, Paco, Manila
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza Lacson, Santa Cruz, Manila
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, Manila
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza Moriones, Tondo, Manila
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza Rajah Sulayman, Malate, Manila
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza de Roma, Intramuros, Manila
*{{Flagicon|Philippines}} Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz, Binondo, Manila

[[Earth:Africa|Africa]]:
*{{Flagicon|South Africa}} Kerkplein, [[Place:Pretoria|Pretoria]]
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The Americas:
*{{Flagicon|Argentina}} Plaza de Mayo, [[Place:Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires]]
*{{Flagicon|Argentina}} Plaza de la República, Buenos Aires
*{{Flagicon|Argentina}} Plaza 25 de Mayo, Rosario
*{{Flagicon|Bolivia}} Plaza Murillo, La Paz
*{{Flagicon|Brazil}} Praça dos Três Poderes, [[Engineering:Brasília|Brasília]]
*{{Flagicon|Brazil}} Praça da Sé, São Paulo
*{{Flagicon|Brazil}} Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro
*{{Flagicon|Mexico}} Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución), [[Place:Mexico City|Mexico City]]
*{{Flagicon|Mexico}} Macroplaza, Monterrey
*{{Flagicon|Mexico}} Plaza de la Paz, Guanajuato, Guanajuato
*{{Flagicon|Peru}} Plaza Mayor, [[Place:Lima|Lima]]
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Monument Circle, [[Place:Indianapolis|Indianapolis]]
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Freedom Plaza, [[Place:Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]]
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Madison Square, {{wipe|New York City}}
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Times Square, New York City<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://observer.com/2015/08/manhattan-beep-calls-plan-to-tear-up-times-square-pedestrian-plaza-preposterous/|title = Manhattan Beep Calls Plan to Tear Up Times Square Pedestrian Plaza 'Preposterous'|date = 24 August 2015|accessdate = 10 October 2015|website = Observer|publisher = Observer|last = Barkan|first = Ross}}</ref>
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Union Square, New York City
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Queens Plaza, Long Island City, Queens
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Campus Martius Park, Detroit
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} Sunset Triangle Plaza in Silver Lake, {{wipe|Los Angeles}}<ref name=silverlake/>
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} The former World Trade Center complex had a 5 acre plaza, named after Austin J. Tobin
*{{Flagicon|United States of America}} City Hall Plaza, in Boston, Massachusetts 
*{{Flagicon|Uruguay}} Plaza Independencia, [[Place:Montevideo|Montevideo]]
*{{Flagicon|Ecuador}} Plaza de la Independencia, [[Place:Quito|Quito]]
*{{Flagicon|Colombia}} Plaza de Bolívar, [[Place:Bogotá|Bogotá]]
*{{Flagicon|Puerto Rico}} Plaza Colón, Mayagüez
*{{Flagicon|Canada}} Place Jacques-Cartier, Montréal
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==Buildings called 'Plaza'==
[[File:Taweekit Plaza.jpg|220px|thumbnail|right|Taweekit Plaza in Buriram, Thailand]]

The first purpose-built shopping center in the United States, opened in Kansas City, Missouri in 1922, knowingly took the name of "Country Club Plaza" and adopted Spanish architectural details.<ref name="kcs120423">{{cite news |first1=Suzanne P. |last1=Cole |first2=Tim |last2=Engle |first3=Eric |last3=Winkler |work=Kansas City Star |title=50 things every Kansas Citian should know |url=http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/19/3564081/50-things-every-kansas-citian.html |date=April 23, 2012 |accessdate=April 23, 2012}}</ref> More recently ''plaza'' has been used to describe a shopping complex, similar to a shopping mall, borrowing its connotations of a center of cultural life. The name is currently even applied to a single building with some semi-public street-level areas, often with a hotel or office tower above, while ''mall'' more often refers to multiple buildings or a street.  

Examples: Pantip Plaza ([[Place:Bangkok|Bangkok]]), Plaza Las Américas ([[Place:San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]]), Plaza de las Estrellas ([[Place:Mexico City|Mexico City]]), Central Plaza ([[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]), Schiphol Plaza ([[Place:Amsterdam|Amsterdam]]), Plazas del Centro Comercial Santafé ([[Place:Bogotá|Bogotá]]), The Plaza (Evergreen Park, Illinois), and Cityplaza, ([[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]).

Central Plaza, in [[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]], was for four years the tallest building in Asia, at 78 storeys, 374 m (1,227&nbsp;ft).

==See also==
*Gostiny Dvor
*Piazza
*Shopping mall

==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Urban design]]

{{Sourceattribution|Plaza|1}}