## 4 Discussion
### Contribution to Understanding the Potential of Public Space in Mitigating Loneliness  
The results of people's conceptualization of public space in this study has complemented the current understanding of public space by providing an account of users' subjective experience. This adds to [PERSON]'s argument for a multi-dimensional definition of public space, addressing who public space matters for at a rhetorical and reality level [104], and [PERSON]'s overarching typology of contemporary public space as a reaction to the critiques anchored in the management aspect [11; 12]. Through the MST demonstrated in this study, it shows that public accessibility is a key concern for individuals when considering going to a public space, and that this judgement is based upon the participants' everyday living experiences of the city. The five categories 'OP', 'EP', 'SEP', 'HEP' and 'GPP' of public space discovered through the samples did not happen by chance. Distinguishing natural environment from the built environment has clearly objective basis, but its subjective implications, especially in an urban context have been emphasized in this study. Furthermore, the built environment has been found to be more complex and interesting because it is a mixture of physical, social, and culture components according to the individual conceptualizations shown in the samples. Whether a public space is free of charge was not the primary issue considered when people search for social interactions in public space. The best evidence demonstrated in the study is that 'cafe' was identified as an effective place for mitigating loneliness for both young adults from _Sample One_ and elderly from _Sample Two_. It implies that the cafe as a 'third place' has a unique quality for people who are vulnerable to loneliness. According to [PERSON], third places such as cafes, coffee shops, book stores, bars, hair salons, and other 'hangouts' provide people with \"a home away from home\" because they are equally open for all who seek social interactions and community building [30]. [PERSON] went further to describe the values that third places provide as 'commercial social support' [31]. New YorkCity sought to re-energize urban space for social use by inventing 'privately owned public space' (POPS) [29]. Another recent example includes the U.K. National Trust project on Loneliness, which is designed to get people to \"start talking\" to enhance the radical act of community service [105]. On the other hand, both in _Sample One_ and _Sample Two_, those \"free\" public spaces in terms of streets, libraries, elderly activity centers run by public authorities, as well as natural environments (like parks and waterfronts) are also important meeting places. As such, their presence in urban areas may contribute to reducing the loneliness of urban populations, though establishing a direct link would require further studies. This would be in addition to many other health benefits provided by the presence of nature that have been evidenced in various studies [17; 18; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26]. The effectiveness of these spaces as meeting places, however, may change under different circumstances. For example, one of the elderly participants (_Sample Two_) commented that in situations of feeling lonely, the picture of Skansen (picture N - the outdoor museum of Swedish culture and history) could make her feel comfortable by walking in a natural and nostalgic environment, but it could also emotionally trigger her loneliness to another level if she saw people around her in that environment were all in pairs or groups. Familiarity of the actual places in the photographs during the MST procedure plays a vital role in people's conception process [38; 39; 97].