Public space is a complex socio-spatial structure, lying at the centre of social, political and cultural life. It reflects the society and its values, as well as it is a key for livable and inclusive cities. Especially it becomes important in the rapidly changing environments, where new spatial structures are emerging in
the extreme pace. These new spatial structures are replacing old ones, destroying existing social-spatial relations and erasing so important heritage - a valuable source of knowledge, what arrangements people create in build up environments.

In countries as Ethiopia, where urbanization rates are phenomenal, yet there is a lack of resources to provide basic needs, the context-based knowledge becomes more than important. Due to these problems, high pressure from society and the global world, solutions often are lacking understanding
of context, thus are not reaching their full potential.

This thesis seeks to analyse daily practice in public spaces, aiming to identify what spatial units exist and what is the social, cultural background of such formation. Moreover, it aims to identify, are there any differences between use and meaning in open public spaces in planned and organically emerged towns. The comparative analysis of 15 open public spaces, from 3 different emerging towns located in Northern Ethiopia, identifies the existing traditional typologies of open spaces. First, this study analyses the political and cultural factors, which have shaped society and then examines the daily behaviour patterns occurring in public spaces. Secondly, by comparing morphological and social characteristics distinguish existing spatial typologies, aiming to get a glimpse if and how public spaces differ in planned and organically grown towns.