Resumen
The urbanization process that change urban space and people also goes on in small towns in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. As the region becomes more urbanized, commercial centers grow up. In contrast, public open space tends to decline. In this condition, the study aim is to explore the public life that goes on. The research indicates that almost POS was not designed based on common criteria of successful POS in those of developed countries. However, people utilize the POS intensively and meet people needs. The using grade of the POS shows that there is no a significant different between well-design and poor design POS. © 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer?review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Public life; public open space; small towns; North Sumatra