Publicness and Spatial Quality on Urban Riverfronts: The Case of the Çoruh Riverfront in Bayburt

This study evaluates publicness and spatial quality along the Çoruh Riverfront in the city center of Bayburt through the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) framework. The research is based on a literature review, interpretation of satellite imagery, on-site observation, production of visual documentation, and surveys conducted with a total of 210 participants, including 30 users in each of seven public spaces. The findings show that the presence of parks along the riverfront alone does not produce continuous and inclusive public life. In the composite PPS index, July 15 Martyrs Park showed the strongest profile (63.4%), whereas the surroundings of Kıyasi Şentürk Mosque showed the most vulnerable profile (44.1%). The mean values indicate that Access and Linkages are relatively strong (62.5%), whereas Comfort and Image constitute the weakest dimension (46.2%). This result suggests that although the Çoruh Riverfront is physically accessible, it has difficulty producing continuity in terms of staying, shade, orientation, maintenance, safety, and inclusive social programming. The study argues that, in small-scale Anatolian cities, riverfronts should be planned not as fragmented recreational areas but as accessible, socially inclusive, and ecologically sensitive blue-green public spines. Therefore, this study does not use PPS merely as a scoring tool. It uses it as a placemaking framework that makes it possible to read public continuity, place-led management, and social-ecological sustainability together on small-city riverfronts. The findings are interpreted as exploratory and diagnostic evidence for planning and design, rather than as inferential statistical proof of site-level differences or direct ecological performance.