The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte
★★★★★ Highly recommended for anyone with interest in urbanism, architecture, or just human behavior
A fantastic short read on how the design of small urban plazas and parks impacts use. Based on actual in-the-field observations, both quantifiable and subjective, of how people use these spaces (primarily in New York City) in the 70s. This was a time when NYC was associated with “dirt, decay, grime, and fiscal crisis,” as noted in the foreward. “Smiles? Why should people on New York streets be smiling?”
Written with insight and humor, and nicely illustrated with photos.
Some learnings:
- People don’t flock to empty spaces as refuge from busy city life. People go to places where there are other people.
- Openness to the street, and the “theater of the street” is huge.
- Anything can be seating — walls, ledges, stairs, etc. — as long as it’s the right size. Size is primarily dependent on depth, not height. Anything 1' — 3' gets used pretty equally. Builders tend to screw potential seating up by putting rails or other impediments in the way, quite by accident.
- Chairs beat most benches. But anything moveable is far better than anything immovable. Social interaction is a subtle art and hard to design for.
- Somehow it’s all-too-common to ignore critical factors like wind and sun when designing spaces.
- Provide food! Or at least don’t regulate it out of existence. If you want activity, food will draw it. Which will draw more food. Etc.
40 years later, I still see plenty examples of such spaces built against all the rules laid out here. The only thing that feels dated about the book are the people in the photos.
