Place character as a forming factor for Gajah Mada Square Medan’s place attachment

Gajah Mada Square is a public open space experiencing environmental degradation in its vitality of use. The linkage of place in its function as a place for human activities forms a meaning known as place attachment. Place Attachment is formed by the community’s collective memory about the site’s character. To support the revitalization of Gajah Mada Square, this research was conducted to reveal the character of the place as the maker of the Place Attachment. Using a qualitative descriptive method, observations and interviews were carried out on the activities and physical artifacts of the area with the parameters of the character of the place according to Lynch’s version of The Image of the city theory. Through classification analysis and critical interpretation, it is revealed that the area of parks and trees in a church building is a memory bond to the place of the landmark category (place marker). Meanwhile, the activities of hawkers at the Gajah Mada intersection are included in the node category. The path around the square, which is densely packed with vehicle parking and trees, is a memory marker in the path category. Gajah Mada Square’s famous big-name signifies a strong place bond for the Medan Baru district. The results of this study reveal that Gajah Mada Square’s place attachments persist in the collective memory of the people who use the place. This can be an identity-forming element for revitalizing the Gajah Mada Square area.