A collective map to capture human behavior for the design of public spaces (original) (raw)
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GIS mapping and analysis of behaviour in small urban public spaces
Area, 2017
In city centres where public space is at a premium, checklists and images of design quality attributes generated from observations of successful public spaces are increasingly being utilised in designs of new or refurbished areas. This replication assumes the success and popularity of these elements will generalise to other locations. However, the accuracy and reliability of observations in using current methods of behaviour mapping can miss important details in the small and often crowded successful public spaces. Coding of time interval photographic records of public spaces in Geographic Information System (GIS) is introduced as a data collection methodology for mapping and analysing behaviour. The results indicate that actualised affordance is a function of the spatial configuration of design elements with respect to the number of users, the availability of choice, climate (sun and shade), and the enclosure and exposure of design elements within subspaces. Although design elements are selected for their potential affordance, actualised affordance is defined by the configuration within which elements are embedded in a specific location.
Human Social Behavior In Public Urban Spaces
Cities are like books; they can be read, and we have to understand their language. The street, the footpath, the square, and the parks are the grammar of the city; they provide the structure that enables cities to come to life, and to encourage and accommodate diverse activities. A humane city creates pleasure for visitors and passers-by, as well as for those who live, work, and play there every day. Everyone should have the right to easily access public open spaces; everyone should be able to see a tree from their window, or to sit on a bench close to their home with a play space for children, or to walk to a park within ten minutes. Well-designed cities inspire the people who live in them, whilst poorly designed ones brutalize their citizens. A city must increase the quantity and quality of well-planned beautiful public spaces that are human in scale, sustainable, healthy, safe, and lively. In this approach, this research studies the relation between the human social behavior as a valuable concept and the urban design theories that will help improve the lack of understanding of what people need for space and how urban designers can stimulate a better urban public place. It then goes on to emphasize the importance of urban qualities of these spaces for conveying human behavioral social activities in public spaces. Critically, this social function often conflicts with understandings of public spaces, which emphasize their place in promoting a city's image, consumer activity, and economic renewal. The research will be conducted over three parts: the human social behavior approach as a new dimension from definitions, models and personalization; public urban space design throughout time, place, and space configuration; and the linkage between the theory and practice of people in the conclusion of the research.
User Patterns: Outdoor Space and Outdoor Activities
Present Environment and Sustainable Development, 2020
The understanding of the relationship between outdoor activities and outdoor urban spaces is a complex issue, comprising a mutual study between urban space configuration and human behaviors aspect. Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre 1987 confirmed that when the outdoor areas are of high quality, the outdoor activity take place with the same frequency, and they tend to take a longer time. From this point, this paper presents an investigation method of the quality of outdoor urban space basing on the investigation of user pattern. El-Houria plaza in Biskra city, Algeria was chosen as case study. Behavioral mapping and questionnaire surveys were applied, for data collection and analysis on March, where the mean daily maximum temperature in the city is 24°C. The findings from this study show that there is a segregation in the continuity of outdoor activities during the day, due to the poor quality of plaza, as well as this confirmed that the continuity of outdoor activities in space depends o...
Human Social Behavior in Public Urban Spaces: Towards Higher Quality Cities
Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies, 2013
Cities are like books; they can be read, and we have to understand their language. The street, the footpath, the square, and the parks are the grammar of the city; they provide the structure that enables cities to come to life, and to encourage and accommodate diverse activities. A humane city creates pleasure for visitors and passers-by, as well as for those who live, work, and play there every day. Everyone should have the right to easily access public open spaces; everyone should be able to see a tree from their window, or to sit on a bench close to their home with a play space for children, or to walk to a park within ten minutes. Well-designed cities inspire the people who live in them, whilst poorly designed ones brutalize their citizens. A city must increase the quantity and quality of well-planned beautiful public spaces that are human in scale, sustainable, healthy, safe, and lively. In this approach, this research studies the relation between the human social behavior as a valuable concept and the urban design theories that will help improve the lack of understanding of what people need for space and how urban designers can stimulate a better urban public place. It then goes on to emphasize the importance of urban qualities of these spaces for conveying human behavioral social activities in public spaces. Critically, this social function often conflicts with understandings of public spaces, which emphasize their place in promoting a city's image, consumer activity, and economic renewal. The research will be conducted over three parts: the human social behavior approach as a new dimension from definitions, models and personalization; public urban space design throughout time, place, and space configuration; and the linkage between the theory and practice of people in the conclusion of the research.
The social life of public space in theory and practice
2014
Current behaviour is something that has its origins in history, and yet design normally places emphasis on innovation rather than learning from what works. Often the design of an urban space fails because reviewing and evaluating designed past design has been forgotten. The same mistakes are repeated without considering similar unsuccessful examples. Over time theoretical and practical research in urban design has attempted to answer the question of what makes a successful public space. Approaches to the study of place have focussed on its different aspects. Theories interested in the meaning of place have focussed on the link between meaning and physical setting while designers mostly look at the link between physical setting and activity. However, studies have rarely linked these two approaches together. This paper describes research that aims to fill the gap between theory and practice by investigating the influence of natural design attributes on behaviour in a small urban space...
The human cities observation mission: research tool for public space analysis and evaluation
2012
Brussels" at the ULB, Faculty of Architecture La Cambre-Horta. Her main research interests are the production, reception and representation of public space in contemporary cities. More particularly, she investigates the links between public space and public sphere: how designing public spaces can foster common debates and actions and how common debates and actions can reshape public spaces? Biba Tominc is a geographer working at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. She specializes in graphic design, data visualization, database creation, analysis and management, and explores how to demonstrate spatial data in clear, effective and friendly way for different users and different media. She is also a postgraduate student of Philosophy and Theory of Visual Culture at the University of Primorska, Faculty of Humanities. Matej Nikšič is an architect and holds an MA degree in urban design from Oxford Brookes University and a PhD in architecture from the University of Ljubljana. He works as a researcher at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia in the fields of detailed urban design and place identity by design. His research focuses on open urban public spaces in general and users' mental conceptions of these spaces in particular.
Design of Urban Public Spaces: Intent vs. Reality
International journal of environmental research and public health, 2018
This study investigated how two public spaces for sport and recreation were utilized by different user groups, and how this aligned with the initial design objectives for these spaces. Two newly built urban spaces situated in Copenhagen, Denmark, provided the context for this investigation. The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) was used to examine the physical activity of users in these two urban spaces. The architects responsible for designing each space were interviewed to ascertain the intended target group of each space and to unravel the reasons behind the design decisions. The SOPARC observations revealed that males were more vigorously active than females when using the recreation facilities, and the observed users did not align with the intended target groups. The interviews suggested that design decisions were based on minimal interdisciplinary knowledge, and that expert knowledge was chosen randomly. These findings point to a systematic lack ...
This tenth volume in the series addresses an important topic of research, design, and policy in the environment and behavior field. Public places and spaces include a sweeping array of settings, including urban streets, plazas and squares, malls, parks, and other locales, and natural settings such as aquatic environments, national parks and forests, and wilderness areas. The importance of public settings is highlighted by difficult questions of access, control, and management; unique needs and problems of different users (including women, the handicapped, and various ethnic groups); and the dramatic reshaping of our public environments that has occurred and will continue to occur in the foreseeable future.
The behavioural desk research in urban space analysis as a policy tool: the case of Instagram
Studia z Polityki Publicznej, 2019
The dissemination of social media and the growing resources of big data create both new opportunities for urban space analysis and new challenges for contemporary policy making. Among the sources useful from this standpoint there are, inter alia, photos posted on Instagram. They can easily become the basis for behavioural analysis of the quality of urban life based on complete sampling and conducted in the method of desk research. The article uses photographs published on Instagram for the purpose of exploratory analysis of land use on the examples of five parks located in New York. This makes it possible to determine the nature and ways of perception of selected spaces.
Theory of Place in Public Space
Urban Planning
Place as a theory fails to clearly articulate linkages between meaning and physical settings for chosen activities in public space. In addressing these issues, the meaning of user behaviour in public space is described by affective and cognitive images of the physical setting; a theoretical conceptualisation of individual experiences which include overlapping social, cultural, and educational contexts. The results of a survey of 160 users across four public spaces found that affect framed cognitive evaluations of design elements for anticipated behaviour. A two-stage process suggesting place-making in design need to shift emphases from articulating preferences to enabling interpretation and opportunity. Within this theoretical framework, the argument is presented that a focus on aligning design with public expectation at a point in time will lead to temporal popularity of location, to popular places that will be presented for redevelopment at some future point in time when their pop...