Whyte Flashcards
What did Whyte become famous for?
Extensive study of how people use public space. Especially parks and plazas
How did he conduct his study?
By setting up cameras aimed at urban areas from different angles, filming hundreds of hours of material of how people used these areas and interacted here with each other
Which group of society were included in his team?
Women. He listened carefully to their perspectives
What did he discover about women?
- women are more discriminating in where they will sit
- more sensitive to annoyances
- a plaza with high proportion of women is probably good
- women are also more likely to clean their specific place
How did the city of New York incentivize the building of plazas and parks?
Developers were allowed to build higher and bulkier if they agreed to build parks and plazas at the street level
What attracts people to sit in the park or on the square?
- Sun
- Decoration and design
- Quantity of space
- Quantity of seats
- Location
Name the four types of seats:
- Included in the design: steps, ledges, stairs
- Benches
- Chairs
- Grass
What are the implications of the connection of a park or plaza to the street?
- Difficult to adjust since it’s quite fixed in a location
- The connection to the street is important: social life flows between them
- Park and street should not be separated by a wall