Abstract: Public space development has got an increasing role in the urban development movements. These parts of the city were always important in history and today they are more and more often analyzed in scientific researches. In the Western countries (mainly in North America and Western Europe) public space development is highly detailed and really longsighted. In Hungary this kind of method started to be used later and has not been so sophisticated and matured yet. This paper presents the development of Saint Stephen square of Szeged, Hungary. Besides the development, it also presents what kind of methods are appropriate for analyzing a square. Saint Stephen square is a good example to illustrate the changes related to the rehabilitation because it has been a degraded but popular place and after the development it has become a really attractive but not so lively square. Its main characteristic was a flea market, which gave the essence to it, but after the renewal it has become much smaller; due to some other changes, it could no longer function as before. This movement caused the biggest impairment of the place and some other negative changes also emerged.