The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
• What makes an open place (e.g., plaza, mall, park, etc.) pleasant?
• How do we measure/assess the pleasant qualities of these spaces?
• What view of city life is put forward in this film?• What was the societal impact (in New York City) of
Whyte’s work?
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Seagram Building, 375 Park Avenue (52nd to 53rd Streets, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Phillip Johnson (1958), who won an architectural competition arranged by Phyllis Lambert, architect and daughter of Sam Bronfman.
What building in Toronto did Mies van der Rohe design that is quite similar to Seagram’s?
Seagram Building
Architects:Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe & Phillip Johnson
Built in 1958
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Toronto-Dominion Centre
• Mies van der Rohe’s only Canadian building
Paley Park
• Designed by Zion & Breen on the site of the former Stork Club (just off 5th Avenue at 53rd Street
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
• What ethical issues arise from Whyte’s filming behaviour occuring in the street? What does the current Canadian Tri-Council Ethics Code state about the filming of behaviour in public?
Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan made a distinction between North American and Mediterrean cultures’ use of space related to privacy and community.
This cultural difference could explain the Kitty Genovese incident.
The Street in Mediterranean Culture
• Note the presence of the chairs brought to the street from the home and the umbrellas
• Note also the absence of litter on the street
Martina Franca, Italy
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Characteristics of best used plazas:• higher proportion of groups rather than solitary
individuals• Greater proportion of female users• Variablility over day, week, season
*”People are most likely to sit where there are places to sit”
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Design Criteria for Plazas:• “Triangulation: presence of people or things that
induce strangers to talk with each other• Surveillance comes from vendors, newsstands,
building employees.• Dealing with “undesirables”: make the area appeal to
anyone
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Design Criteria for Plazas• Movable chairs (benches are less desirable)• Seating area should be approximately 10% of the
total open space• Protection from sun, wind and noise (use trees and
water)• Availablility of food (snack bars, vendors, tables &
chairs)• Related to the street, near the action
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Design Criteria for Indoor Spaces
(e.g., atria, galleries, courtyards, arcades, concourses, indoor plazas)
• Seating• Food• Retail stores• Public toilets• Presence
Underhill, P. (1999). Why we buy: The science of shopping. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• A fascinating description of Underhill’s company’s (Envirosell) research into consumer behaviour.
• % buying jeans after trying them on:– Females: 25%– Males: 65%
Envirosell at work
Examing price tags:Females: 86%Males: 72%
“Butt-brush” stops female purchasers
Importance of adjacenciesDetection of shopliftersImportance of shopping basket distributionRight turn bias of North American shoppers
Mean shopping times in a national housewares chain store (USA):
Women with women 8 min. 15 secs.Women with children 7 min. 19 secs.Women alone 5 min. 2 secs.Women with men 4 min. 41 secs.
How could you increase women’s shopping times for women accompanied by males?
Urbanism
• Jane Jacobs described “eyes on the street” as a crime prevention strategy
• Security came from shopkeepers, pedestrians, and residents of a street-oriented community
Marshall McLuhan’s Explanation for the Kitty Genovese Incident
• Kitty Genovese was murdered while 38 witnesses failed to intervene
• McLuhan’s explanation was different from the diffusion of responsibility model of social psychology: cultural differences in the perception and use of space
Kitty Genovese
Marshall McLuhan
The residential street (Queens, NY) where Kitty Genovese was murdered in 1964
Marshall McLuhan’s Explanation for the Kitty Genovese Incident
• In North America, people go outside for privacy and inside when they seek community—to socialize with others
• In Mediterranean cultures, the reverse is true: people go outside when they seek community and go inside when they seek privacy
Marshall McLuhan’s Explanation for the Kitty Genovese Incident
• Sidewalk cafes are an example of people going outdoors to be with people.
• Mediterranean cultures take possession of the street
• North Americans don’t view the street as their territory—public places become a “no-man’s land”
Paris, France
Lucca, Italy
Another example of a the use of public space:The Passagiata in Rome
Some extreme examples of urban defensive behaviour
Which appeared in the New York Times,
October 20, 2007
