Public plazas part one: people sit where there are places to sit
I’ve been a huge fan of the late William H. Whyte since I bought his book City: Rediscovering the Center when it was published in 1988. It would be many years later before I would read his 1980 book The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces or see the companion film of the same name. I had hoped to show you the film but the six YouTube videos that someone had posted have been removed due to copyright infringement.
The book and film are brilliant. New York City had passed zoning changes that allowed developers to build taller buildings if they provided public plazas. A decade later Whyte and his team meticulously studied numerous public plazas to determine why some were heavily used and others stood vacant. In the coming weeks and months I’m going to take a closer look plaza spaces here in St. Louis and use Whyte’s findings to see if they apply and how our plaza spaces might be improved.
One important finding was that “people sit where there are places to sit.” Sounds obvious right? People would sit on steps and any place they could and not necessarily where the designers wanted them to sit. “People attracted people” was also a finding, people watching is better when there are others to watch.
- Steve Patterson
