Social Life of Small Urban Space
It has been approved that people like to get involved in social life. They are interested of being a part of the universal. The study of Whyte agrees with that. Observing what other people are doing is a valuable tool used by the majority of people to understand the behavior of others. Public plaza is a good example to practice that so when isolating people and not allowing them to observe, the public place will not have any meaning. Forcing people to sit in certain way without any connection with other activity is boring so people try to avoid it (Almansoour).
The direct area in front of a building should always communicate with the buildings form, entryways and design style. A building that lacks communication with the street level will be perceived of as cold and uninviting (Perry). The study of deferent plazas in New Yurok city by Whyte shows that people tend to sit whenever there is a place to sit. If a plaza is close to the street or in front of public place such as the library it becomes more occupied then others. The study indicates that observation is an important key when design a plaza(Almansoour).
The amount of sitting area as well as width of sitting area should be adjusted based on context that urban part is in (Hirose). Also, it has become necessary to characterize open spaces in areas that have more density. As long as the open space is planned in the right place within its area it can provide such a positive effect to those people who use them (Alotaibi). Variety of factors would effects whole operation of designing sitting area such as occupants’ moral, culture, life style, physical size, and combination of above.
Urban spaces are mixed areas of characteristic yet they have some distinguished characteristics from other spaces, therefore I agree with flexible zoning ordinances on designing sitting area in urban park (Hirose). Regulation is uncomfortable, but it may provide a more uniform approach to design. Why shouldn’t every building have plentiful and inviting exterior sitting spaces? But what would that regulation look like. The author’s data seems a bit confused.
Analyzing light, square area, and open spaces did not seem to direct any relative findings. Even their data on amount of seating did not perform as the authors would have us believe. Plazas with large amount of seating were still often underused (Perry). Finally, the difference between good plaza design and poor plaza design is a combination of personal experience and trial and error. A designer may have good intentions, but if everything is to not look the same a designer has to be given the opportunity to experiment (Perry).
