Street as a place: a study of sense of place in commercial streets of Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Commercial streets are places that considered as heart of our cities that are mostly intertwined with people’s everyday routines facilitating many activities, movements, and social interactions. The previous studies have researched the streets’ characteristics and qualities to enhance and evaluate the image of the streets and places. But, a less focus has been given to the commercial streets in the Sri Lankan context. The aim of this study is to identify the attributes that influence people’s sense in the commercial streets. The study was conducted in two commercial streets of Jaffna city and emphasis was given to qualitative analysis. Nine attributes namely access, number of people, street vendors, and variety of shops, trees and vegetation, walkways, lighting at night, pedestrians, and wall arts are found as influencing attributes for people’s sense in the selected two cases. It concluded that the activity as the most influential aspect which needs to be considered in facilitating the sense of place in the commercial streets. This paper will contribute to planners, architects, and designers to create and arrange the commercial streets as a meaningful place for people.