DESIGN OF SPACESBY WILLIAM W WHYTE

Instructor: Dr. Anna Grichting - TA: Arch. Luzita ballPresented by Somaia El-Sherif

Sunday 22 March 2015

DAUP – Department of Architecture & Urban

Planning

ARCT421- Introduction to Urban Design and

Planning

Content page About the Author

The street life project

Project methodology

How cities use economic incentives?

The problem and start of the project

Effect of demography on the use of spaces

What attracts people in parks ?

Seating

Pedestrian and activity zoning

Accessibility

Relevance to the city of Doha

Doha Public Parks

List of References

About the Author William W Whyte (October 1, 1917 — January 12,

1999)

American urbanist, organizational analyst, journalist and people-watcher

He is considered the mentor for Project for Public Spaces because of his seminal work in the study of human behavior in urban settings

While working with the New York City Planning Commission in 1969, Whyte began to wonder how newly planned city spaces were actually working out –something that no one had previously researched. This curiosity led to the Street Life Project, a pioneering study of pedestrian behavior and city dynamics.

He always believed that the greatest lesson

the city has to offer us is the idea that we are

all in it together, for better or for worse,

and we have to make it work.

About the Author William W Whyte For sixteen years William Whyte walked the streets of

New York and other major cities. With a group of young observers, camera and notebook in hand, he conducted pioneering studies of street life, pedestrian behavior, and city dynamics.

Whyte and his team trained Super 8 cameras on plazas, streets, playgrounds, and other small urban spaces and simply watched, via time-lapse photography, what people actually did.

What they found led to changes in the way we view the social settings of cities.

City: Rediscovering the Center is the result of that research, a humane, often amusing

view of what is staggeringly obvious about the urban environment but seemingly invisible

to those responsible for planning it.

The street life project

Produced exceptional study of How people

used urban spaces

Provided set of urban design guidelines for

New York and have been used in many other

cities

Project Methodology

An Excellent example of how to do an urban research

•Observation

•Checking against hypothesis, previously

set

•Filming

•analyzing the films (Time-lapse videos)

•Creating circulation pattern from dawn to

dusk

•Charting how people used the spaces

•Taking notes during different times during

the day / all over the year

•Gender

•Couples or in groups

•Where did they sit ?

•Interviewing people :

•Where they worked ?

•How frequent they used the

plaza?

•What did they thought of it ?

How cities use economic

incentives ?

There is a strong market for additional office spaces in the central businesses districts of many cities

Zoning ordinances set limits on height and bulk of office buildings

Permission to build more office space than zoning allows is worth money for developers

New York city awarded developers “Density Bonuses” allowing them to build more office space if the private developers agreed to provide park and plaza space at the street level

While some developers worked hard to design attractive parks and plazas, others just wanted to build something that would get them the density bonus

The problem and start of the project

On most plazas there were few people

In the middle of the lunch hour on a beautiful

day the number of people sitting on plazas

averaged four per thousand square feet of

space – an extraordinarily low figure for so

dense a center

Effect of demography on the use of

spaces

A good new space builds a new constituency,

it gets people into new habits and encourage

them to use new paths

The best-used places tend to have higher than

average proportion of women

1. Location

• Major avenues, attractive side views, close to bus stations, pedestrian sidewalks huge flow

2. Sun & aesthetics

• Wasn’t a major factor in concluding popularity of plazas

3. Amount of space and its shape

• Not a major factor as well , refer to graphs

4. Seating area

• Whatever were the attractions, it will never induce people to use the space if there’s no spaces to sit

What attracts people in parks ? (FACTORS)

What attracts people in parks ?

Amount of space Location

Retrieved from “The city: rediscovering the center” book

Seating

Integral seating

The basic kind of seating built into place such as

steps and ledges

Sitting height

Benches

Chairs

1. Integral seating

Horizontal metal strip

with saw-tooth pointsJagged rock set into

concrete

Railing placed to hit your back !

2. Sitting height

Thanks to slopes , ledges usually have different height

Conclusion showed that people will sit at any height ranges from 30 cm to 90 cm , specified in the zoning (considering different age groups)

Human backside dimension , Ledges to be double-side used

3. Benches

Most often fitted in modular forms, spaced equidistant from one another, that looks pleasant in plan view

How benches fill-up ? First arrival takes the first

end, second arrival takes end of another benches, the subsequent arrivals will take any end spots that are vacant

4. Movable Chairs

The possibility of choice is important as much as the exercise for it

Moving for shade or for privacy

Grass, for picnicking, napping or sun-bathing and psychological benefits

1

2

3

4

Pedestrian and activity

zoning

Old NYs’ zoning codes called for “Pedestrian circulation areas”away from “activity areas”

Sunken and elevated plazas tend to attract low flow of people > new code called for 3 feet difference

More east the flow between the street and the plaza the more easy people will go to sit

Accessibility

Handicapped facilities , Drinking-Water

fountains

Back rests for seats

Relevance to city of Doha, Qatar

Barzan Olympic Park ledges and wooden benchesMIA park movable chairs and view to

Westbay towersFixed chairs and tables at Al-Ruwais Park

Benches at the

pathways and at

the nodes of

passages at

different parks

Public outdoors parks and plazas observation of types of seating and activities

Parks for a comfortable weather day, benches with no shading canopies at Al Khesah Occasions Square at the right and the

green carpet park “Al-Bossat AL-Akhdar” to the left, what makes them special is the large space of green grass with little paved

walkways passing through

Abu Dhalouf Park provides Beach, barbeque and a

boat ride as well as shading canopies without fixed

seating

Al-Morona and Al-Moroub parks are attracting male visitors.

Activities such as football playing and workers usually taking nab

during rest times

Al-Rumiela park, benches to the back of the water feature

looking towards stalls and shops

Benches at Onaiza Park, shaded by trees, not considering

the back side & not comfortable for waiting for so long ideal

for quick chats

Colorful circular fixed seats oriented to have a full view of

different parts of the park

Benches at Park 65 works as waiting area, park is more of

urban playground to different age groups

The Huwaila Four park & Dahl El-Hamam parks

Fixed benches at corners and meeting points Benches looking to each other more for friends and family gatherings

Fixed seating area under canopies, zoning for privacy Theatre fixed space for family events

Aspire park

Fixed sophisticated

benches oriented to

best views are not

used much by people

Groups tend to sit on

the grass or families

bring their own chairs

Katara cultural village

High-back traditional benches aligned

with the esplanade

Coffee shop tables and chairs

on the beach

Benches along the secondary

shaded streets

Tourists using the theatre low-rise

walls for sitting

List of References

http://www.pps.org/reference/wwhyte/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Whyte

http://www.outwalking.net/architecture_and_design/

Whyte, William H.. City : Rediscovering the Center. Philadelphia, PA, USA:

University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 6 March

2015.

https://verdantcities.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/40180658/

http://www.justhere.qa/category/make-it-home/parks-recs/page/2/