So one contemporary equivalent of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca is the Place de la Défense in Paris,
说一个与萨拉曼卡的马约尔广场相较衡的现代广场,巴黎的协和广场,
a windswept, glass-walled open space that office workers hurry through on the way from the metro to their cubicles
一个大风贯通、被玻璃墙围绕的开放空间,办公室白领会迅速从中通过,从地铁站直奔属于他们的办公室,
but otherwise spend as little time in as possible.
除此之外,他们也会尽可能的少花时间呆在里面。
In the early 1980s, the architect Philip Johnson tried to recreate a gracious European plaza in Pittsburgh.
在上世纪80年代初期,一个叫做Philip Johnson的建筑师曾尝试在匹兹堡重塑一个优雅的欧式广场。
This is PPG Place, a half acre of open space encircled by commercial buildings made of mirrored glass.
这就是PPG Place,半英亩空地就这样被由玻璃组成的商业建筑包围着。
And he ornamented those buildings with metal trim and bays and Gothic turrets which really pop on the skyline.
他运用了金属镶边,间隔排架,还有哥特式的塔楼设计,这些使得整栋建筑确实冲破了天际线。
But at ground level, the plaza feels like a black glass cage.
但是从平地的角度来看,整个广场就好像一个黑色的玻璃笼子。
I mean, sure, in summertime kids are running back and forth through the fountain and there's ice-skating in the winter,
我的意思是,是的,在夏日的午后,孩子们还是会在喷泉的周围来回跑动,冬天还是会在这里滑冰,
but it lacks the informality of a leisurely hangout.
但是却少了这种娱乐的休闲与自在。
It's just not the sort of place you really want to just hang out and chat.
这个广场的确不是那种会让你想去聚会畅谈的地方。
Public spaces thrive or fail for many different reasons.
这些公共空间的成功与失败取决于很多不同的原因。
Architecture is only one, but it's an important one.
建筑虽然只是其中一方面,但却也是极其重要的一方面。
Some recent plazas like Federation Square in Melbourne or Superkilen in Copenhagen
一些最近新建的广场,比如墨尔本的联邦广场或是哥本哈根的Superkilen线性公园,
succeed because they combine old and new, rough and smooth,
它们的成功源于它们结合了古朴与新潮、粗糙与光滑,
neutral and bright colors, and because they don't rely excessively on glass.
色彩的中性与明亮,并且它们没有过分依赖玻璃。