The squares are the significant elements of the urban public spaces that provide the users different experience in the city, activate their city life and they are human oriented places for cities and societies. The squares are strong accumulation places where each day a different experience comes true so they transfer society‟s culture, social habits, way of life, memories from past to the future. Since urban squares have those significant roles for cities, researching the spatial, functional and social qualities of the squares are very important to understand and identify them. The aim of this study is to reveal the characteristics of urban squares according to leading literature studies. The study focuses on what are the criteria we need to analyze in order to determining the qualities of the squares. Accordingly, the main common ideas on urban squares in the literature have been categorized to evaluate the squares. The leading qualities of the squares comprise of the ten normative criteria based on sixteen important authors of related studies which are the main textbooks of the thesis. The content of the criteria consists mainly of the characteristics that the square must have physically, socially and functionally. In this study, Ali Paşa Square, Hatuniye Square, Cumhuriyet Square, and Gündoğdu Square are chosen in İzmir as case study area. The study cases are observed and analyzed according to ten evaluation criteria. The analyses results extract the characteristics of each square. All findings, results and normative criteria are together discussed as results. The results of this study may guide to reconsideration of urban squares within modern usages and designing more useful squares for further studies. Key words: urban public space, urban square, evaluating criteria on urban squares, İzmir city squares