Typology of rural public places. On examples from Eastern Poland.

The paper proposes a typology of rural public places, actually functioning in the social life of villages, pointing out the distinctness of this system from the public space of cities or even suburban villages. The research was conducted using the method of interviews in 21 villages located in eastern Poland. A total of 124 interviews were conducted thanks to which 169 public places were identified and characterized.  The result of analyses is a typology that includes 8 basic types of rural public places: Multifunctional village squares; Grocery surroundings; Other service facilities surroundings; Sacred sites; Village streets; Neighborhood space; Recreational places; Semi-natural places. Most of them are unintentionally created places. The research shows that multifunctional places - both central and typically recreational - are crucial for rural areas, while semi-natural places are the most characteristic. However, we did not find any basis for distinguishing a separate category including arranged greenery, representative places or club spaces. This is due to the specific character of the rural landscape, the small population, and the nature of relationships between residents.