among strangers
How Strangers Interact Fourth Year Research Project Danielle Aspitz Danish Institute for Study Abroad Cal Poly University San Luis Obispo
we are never alone
ABOUT ME:
I am a fourth year architecture student at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS). I have been in Copenhagen for one semester already and I chose to embark on this study as part of my second semester courseload. I come from California, and California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. I am working towards a Bachelor of Architecture, and hope to continue these studies into my thesis. My family is Israeli, and I plan to intern in Israel this summer and incorporate Tel Aviv into the study.
contents 3-4
INTRODUCTION
5-6
PUBLIC SPACE: the gradient within
7-8
TRAFALGAR SQUARE, london
10-14
SMALL PARKS: create civic health
13
NORREBROPARKEN, copenhagen
15-16
PEOPLE-DEFINED SPACE: embrace human instincts
17 18 19-20
LITAUENS PLADS, copenhagen SØNDER BOULEVARD, copenhagen PAROCHIALIZATION: provide for an identitiy
21-24 NORREBRO: celebrate the existing
25-26
DRIONNING LOUISES BRO, copenhagen Some of Copenhagen’s primary public spaces
27-28
BISHOP’S SQUARE, london
29-30
CONCLUSIONS
31-32
MOMENTS
intro
is a diverse, experimen-
IInteraction between strangers is a crucial primal instinct which has been further neglected as we have “ad-
tal, relaxed, and comfort-
vanced” into the digital age. Streets and public spaces were once more than simple arteries facilitating the flow, they
able culture. People take
were the organs pumping with public life and activity. The design of Copenhagen is a huge factor attributing to its vi-
financial risks to do what
brant public life which have led to numerous victories as the happiest city in the world. True happiness is a subconscious
they love, because A) the
state, an attitude that resides within healthy, active, social, and conscious people. Copenhagen’s design alone gives
government will take care
people these sensations without their even knowing. The design of transportation routes, public parks, leisure facilities,
of them if they fail and B)
and plazas brings people outside and provides them with necessary exercise, outdoor exposure, and human contact
they know that happiness
creating healthy, social, and active members of the community.
is far more important than
The welfare state is an idea primarily dictating how money is allocated, but the mentality penetrates much fur-
success. Happiness is the
ther to a societal level. From day one, kids in schools are treated as equals to adults. Rules are flexible, up for debate.
light pulling you through
There are many short breaks throughout the day and many field trips throughout the week because young and restless
each day while success is
kids learn best by being active and exploring. “Danes generally don’t like hierarchy and you can sometimes see in Dan-
the hazy glow at the end
ish firms that the boss will also make coffee and wash up,” in Normer og kultur på det danske arejdsmarked (Danish I).
of the tunnel. Which would
Decisions in the firm are generally reached through long meetings where everyone has a voice. Listening to people’s
you rather guarantee?
needs is something Danes are very good at. Copenhagen municipality treats their residents as valuable customers that
deserve to be happy. Their top priority is the Danes’ quality of life. How can anyone be denied the right or accessibil-
different mentality.
ity to happiness? If life were like a flower, happiness is the water that allows it to bloom. Without it the flower wilts to
fend-for-yourself type of
nothing, our society becomes grey, and the air quality (CO2) is compromised for everyone.
nation. We always hear
about the glorious stories
“We will invest in Copenhagen’s quality of life. The good thing about daily life in Copenhagen must be maintained and in some areas improved. Construction of the city’s children, better conditions for culture and leisure, more quality of life for the city’s homeless, focused effort for the socially vulnerable neighborhoods, security by working together, more urban gardens and greening the city are among some of the initiatives. Furthermore, we will work to ensure that the people of Copenhagen are healthier and more active by optimizing the city’s squares and parks.” - Copenhagen Municipality plan 2011 (translated from Danish)
US SOLUTION FOR GROWTH
DK SOLUTION FOR GROWTH
In the US there is It is
Many small spaces are more practical, accomodating and healthy for a city than one large space. If spread evenly throughout, small spaces allow for a wider variety of occupants to gain access and define their character.
that form the collective American Dream. It is rather troubling actually, how addicted to this dream people become. It is just that, a dream. Yes, a handful of successes rises within every generation, but is it fair to run a whole country off of that statistic? Is it fair to
Copenhagen tries to provide equal opportuni-
hold every citizen captive to the fear of not making it? Their are millions that aren’t even fit to compete due to stereotypes,
ties, spaces and communities so people will want
poor healthcare, unsupportive parents, or being raised in bad neighborhoods. By striving for success so frivolously, many
to enjoy public facilities, be social and take an
lose sight of happiness entirely and dedicate their entire life to reaching this fictious dream, only to realize they’ve wasted
active part in civic life. They see every resident
their entire life. That seems to be ok with America, the rich sit comfortably on their thrones, while the rest fight to the dust
as an equal, and they offer the same rights to
over the remaining crumbs.
access, design input, and opportunities to open
a facility for everyone. Each person is capital worth investing in, because healthy, social and The global GINI Index shows the US has a much higher gap between the rich and poor. Denmark believes that everyone deserves to be equal. http://chartsbin.com/view/559
ONE NEIGHBORHOOD ONE PUBLIC SPACE
active people provide higher returns. The result
For some time authors who monitor the accessibility of public space have linked the loss of public space to the more aggressive turn in capitalism beginning around the early 1970s as the postwar consensus was stagnated by inflation and then replaced by a more ruthlessly profit-seeking global capitalism (Zukin 1991; Sorkin 1992; Davis 1990; Castells 1989; Sassen 2001). While business leaders had once considered social welfare policies an effective means to co-opt social movements and keep the labor force literate, healthy, and productive, by the early 1970s, these same corporate leaders began to reconsider this view.
Many in the business community felt these social policies helped cultivate movements that destabilized power hierarchies in the United States (Abramowitz. 2000). “It’s clear to me that the entire structure of our society is being challenged,” argued David Rockefeller in 1971 (quoted in Moody 2007,17). – Control, Exclusion, and Play in Today’s Future City, The Beach Beneath the Streets: Ben Shepard and Greg Smithsmon
for a variety of people creates aa rich and powerful community; New York decided to throw that away. Meanwhile city planners in the US design huge public spaces that are neither accessible nor welcoming to the majority of the community. The planners do not look at the society or it’s problems, they simply lump everyone under the same umbrella, while answering to the elite demands,
New York, as opposed to Denmark, is a fan of power hierar-
for they are the customers. Denmark sees each person as an individual and
chies. Those on top, like David Rockeffeler, could sense their
accommodates a range for each type of person to find their place. By of-
status being “challenged”. Rockeffeler was actually one of
fering many smaller public spaces, rather than one large one (see diagram
the few philanthropists that did invest in public spaces, and still
on opposite page), Denmark offers many subgroups the chance to use and
he was clinging to this “status.” In 1975 when New York was 101 East Harlem Street, one of the most successful public spaces without design or intention, solely by use. -- The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by: William H. Whyte
deep in debt the rich sat around a big table and decided to blame the scapegoats. Did they actually believe that their society could run better by severely hindering their citizens? They made many new policies that disadvantaged the majority of their population, and were surprised by the collapse of it all when their newly formed Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) came tumbling down a number of decades later. The poor were being sucked dry; “Planned Shrinkage” was meant to rid the streets of undesirables, but it also made the streets feel cold and segregated. Policies established a new survival of the fittest mentality and those with societal disadvantages had it quite rough.
We must design cities people want to live in. Cities with character, expression, and places to experience spontaneous life. Notice the exciting layout of Copenhagen, evenly sprinkled with public spaces. Then look at the banality and absence of shared space New York and San Francisco share. -- Layout of the World’s Major Cities, www.doobybrain.com
“Marshall Berman was teaching at City College at the time. ‘[M}any of the elites whose power was supposed to protect us against predators identified with the predators. They polarized the city into us and them,’ Berman remembers. ‘Starr’s idea for dealing with the fiscal crisis was to divide the city’s population into a ‘productive’ majority that should be driven out” (22). Planned shrinkage would ‘strive to eliminate not bad individuals but bad neighborhoods” (Ibid). – Control, Exclusion, and Play in Today’s Future City, Shepard and Smithsimon While New York was investing in nice plazas for the rich and forcing the poor into slums, William Whyte was discovering many unused spaces. The rich don’t need so many plazas, while others felt unwelcome with the new policies. Unused spaces, however, created a discomforting feeling among all. When society becomes so segregated civic life becomes a very limited and exclusive club. It loses the potential to actually respond to human needs. A variety of opportunites
These images were taken from opposing views on Dronning Louises Bro one sunny Friday afternoon in May. This space is always filled with a wide variety of users on a nice day. It is so nice to see that one sub-group, in this case some crazy ravers vibing to a fully equipped Christinia-bike-stereo-system, can take over a portion and the surrounding life persists as usual without a single disruption. This is a sign the space has reached true co-existence through its shared, simultaneous enjoyment.
define the space as their own. Ownership to a space provides care, maintenance, invitation to others, and the feeling of belonging. Denmark’s view of equality allows them to welcome any type of user to own and reinvent the space, while the US often caters all spaces to one certain user group strictly dictating their control of city life and limiting the activity and creativity of its people.
In Harlem, New York, Whyte states in The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, “It is often assumed that children
play in the street because they lack playground space. But many children play in the street because they like to. One of the best play areas we came across was a block on 101st Street in East Harlem. Though we did not know it then, this block had within it all the basic elements of a successful urban place.” The fact that the poorer residents of Harlem, New York can transform their street space by will alone is proof that they have let go of society’s dictatorship and simply taken ownership. Our country needs these people with initiative far more than it needs the successdriven-sheep it is mass-producing. In the 70’s a group called the Situationists, based in Paris, London, and other big cities in Europe were also preaching this idea. They felt once one lets go of society, and any known manifestations of a space, then one can experience it much more fully. “Derivé refers to short meandering walks designed to resist the work- and control-oriented patterns of Georges Haussmans redesign of Paris (Thompson 2004). The point of derive is active engagement between self and space. It changes the way one sees the streets (60). Such forms of play reveal a sense of agency, of control of the way one wants to participate within the world“ (Shepard and Smithsimon). Derivé is a mentality that can be stimulated by good design. The Derivé indulges in their most primal instincts, alert to any sensory stimulation. By embracing this concept, and seeing public space as a space to relax and play everyone can benefit from their own and others’ experience and participation within different spaces. We can learn so much from each other if we allow ourselves to consider different perspectives. We must learn to experience reality without society’s definition narrowing our own ideas.
The success of a public space lies within its use. Spaces in Copenhagen are generally designed with the
intention of “inviting” certain groups but catering to all. The more users a space has the more collective joy it gives people and the more appealing it is to others who gain an experience from passing through. People-watching is a natural human instinct that allows us us to critique and identify with a variety of users and realize that despite our differences, we are all human. A successful space has this human feel to it and the more ownership a sub-group havs the more specific the character, experience and capital the space holds for people. Successful spaces are a valuable asset well worth the investment. They keep citizens healthy, happy, and human.
“Our sensory development is closely tied to the landscape in which we have survived over millions of years. It is only in the last 1000 years that our senses, which developed through a long biological history, have been used in relation to cities. And it is only in the last 5 decades that we have planned the cities from above rather than from the eye level perspective of walking man. To invite people, we should respect and
examine the small, but important, elements that make life in cities flourish.” -Life Between Buildings exhibit trailer (vimeo), a collaboration between the Louisiana and Gehl Architects.
We must design cities that people want to live in and be a part of. Providing for an experientially rich society simply calls for accommodating to people’s needs. We all have so much to give, if we are comfortable being who we are in our city and if we care about the community, but until then we may be holding back a lot of personal, social, and economical potential. “In the words of Zukin: ‘The defining characteristics of urban public space (are] proximity, diversity, and accessibility’ (quoted in Goheen 1998, p, 479),” in In Search of a New Public Domain by Hajer and Rejndorp (89). If a space is conveniently located, holds interesting opportunities, and is inviting to all it will be a success. Copenhagen prioritizes these elements in the design of many small parks and facilities; when everyone can experience these spaces the community can flourish.
America has long since prioritized the elite class, and with that comes their choice to invest in facilitating a car-
traffic society. So much space is allocated to isolating lifestyles that are slowly turning us away from human sensation and toward a fully digital realm. “Sometimes, to go forwards, one has to go back. Back to the scene of the crime. Back to the moment when the situation seemed open,
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
before the gun went off, before the rat race started, “ McKenzie Wark, a voice from the Situationist movement, writes in The Beach Beneath the Street. There has
PRIVATE
SEMI-PRIVATE
SEMI-PUBLIC
PUBLIC
been so much time, money and energy lost in an effort to
Having a stark division, like a fence, between private and public gives off a cold, “us” and “them” vibe and results in more robberies than removing the fence and allowing for a gradient of private to public. The gradient allows for many levels of interaction from casual to intimate and facilitates a sense of community. Having many people on the street acts as a natural form of surveilance that is harder to break.
PUBLIC push our generation forward towards cars, money and “success.” We must re-evaluate our priorities, and examine how smoothly public interactions flowed and how rich civic life once was. The magic in life
A Public space is one in which people move through as the easiest route without a choice or intention to be in the particular space. They may decide to stay, but otherwise they are in no way tied to the space. A public street, A plaza, A line, A bus, metro or train, A waiting space
lies in the small details that brighten the everyday humdrum, and the people that offer us a world of new thoughts and perspectives. “Jan Gehl is known for his books about what he calls the human dimension in urban planning. When car traffic became a factor, cities neglected to prioritize public space, pedestrianism and the role of urban spaces as meeting places for urban dwellers, as he writes in the preface to his book “Cities for people”. Copenhagen is a pioneer in the effort to reclaim the city as a people-friendly, social space, says Jan Gehl. Not mainly because of the city’s many new squares and urban spaces but due to city administration’s deliberate, strategic effort. ‘Today, we want livable cities – cities that are healthy, safe, secure and sustainable. Many of these issues have been on the agenda for years, especially safety. The sustainability debate is gaining ground, and so is the health trend, which is spreading due to the obesity epidemic. So you’re supposed to jog, go to the gym and all that. But the best initiative is really to design the cities in such a way that people get their daily exercise because the city encourages them to walk more, bike more. That can lead to health savings worth several super hospitals.’” -- The Coffee Cup Has Become the Legitimatee Excuse for Spending Time in the City, Jan Gehl Interview by Tom Hermansen
glance/observation
casual interaction
ntimate interaction
SEMI - PUBLIC
A Semi-public space is one in which the users have chosen to be there. They have gone outside their necessary route to walk through or stay in this space for some particular reason. A park, A cafe, A public outdoor concert, An outdoor event or promotion, A bar
glance/observation
casual interaction
ntimate interaction
People have so much to offer. We often lose focus on the purpose of life, but if it isn’t to seek happiness, understand yourself, your needs, the needs of others, and how we can learn and benefit from each other, than we have strayed too far from our origins. We are still animals, and while control works to facilitate aspects of our lives in this present age, too much control only drives us to seek an escape. If our environment offered us these small escapes here and there, opportunities to wonder, imagine, and engage in new possibilities, we could be so much more free, and live so much more fully.
SEMI - PRIVATE
A semi-private space is one in which the users have made a very conscious decision to be there. It is a destination, and often involves some monetary contribution or commitment to be there. A museum, A shopping mall, A library, A gathering or demonstration, A wedding
glance/observation
casual interaction
ntimate interaction
“Everyday is not simply a name that is given to a reality readily available for scrutiny; it is also the name to aspects of life that lie hidden. To invoke an ordinary culture from below is to make the invisible visible, and as such has clear social and political resonances.” -- Questioning Everyday Life: Ben Highmore
PRIVATE
A Private space belongs to a very particular group of people. Outsiders can recieve an invitation to come in, but are otherwise not allowed to use this space. A home or garden, A courtyard, A concert, An invite-only event, A double-date
glance/observation
casual interaction
ntimate interaction
trafalgar square
As I was studying Trafalgar square, a break-dancing circle suddenly emerged. More and more people stopped to check out the action. It appeared people in groups were more comfortable stopping and admiring the moves, while individuals mostly kept walking by, afraid to engage on their own.
STOPPED groups
individuals
CONTINUED groups
individuals
Wednesday 8:00 March 5, 2014
ING LE SITT PEOP
AND LIVE B CERS K DAN
BREA
ERS STON
TORS SPECTA
R OLDE URISTS TO
G YOUN ISTS TOUR
Each minute is defined by choices we make. These decisions define who we are. Confident people are more comfortable making choices that defy social norms. When we are with others we often feel more comfortable with our status; we have approval and can therefore more freely indulge in spontaneous choices. Thrill-seekers make these spontaneous choices even on their own. They love that element of surprise in uncovering something great when least expected. For those who are bored with taking the safe bet spontaneity offers nothing to lose and everything to gain in terms of an exciting alternative!
small parks
Norrebroparken, and the design appears very low key
The design of Copenhagen is a huge factor attributing to its numerous victories as the happiest city in the
and natural. People are attracted to spaces like this that
world. True happiness is a subconscious state, an attitude that cannot be broken. It resides within healthy, active, so-
can cater to any mood, and provide a full escape from the
cial, and conscious people. Copenhagen’s design alone gives people these sensations without their even knowing.
more regulated, organized city life. Here people can truly
The bike routes, public parks and leisure facilities drive people outside and give them necessary amounts of exercise
indulge in the spontaneous mindset, there is so much to
and outdoor exposure making them healthy, active, social and conscious of their selves and the world around them.
see, and it is impossible not to be present within the beau-
Copenhagen prioritizes the design and inclusion of numerous small green and blue recreation spaces
- City of Copenhagen Municipal Plan
throughout the city rather than creating fewer larger parks. “Studies show that if a park is within 300 meters from one’s home that park will be used an average of 2.7 times weekly. If the distance is more than 1000 meters away, it will be used an average of 1 time per week,” as mentioned in class. Accessibility is a major factor to the use of a park; a successful city must have a number of small parks evenly sprinkled throughout. “A person is considered healthy if they use an outdoor space 3 times a week.” This means that each resident that lives near a green/blue space has a much higher chance of being healthy. Health is often underestimated in our modern society, but is probably the main reason why the Danes are so happy. Even in cold breezy Copenhagen people go out and spend time in the parks, and on a sunny day the parks are packed! Danes definitely use their green spaces, and they see every moment that the sun is out as a rare opportunity that must be seized. This mind set along with the ease and variety of choosing a park near you is why Danes are so healthy. Norrebroparken always has at least a few people, and is crowded on a nice day.
We also discussed in class that “there is a statistic correlation between distance to green space and stress
TANEOUS attention as opposed to the FOCUSED attention.” Stimulating spontaneous attention allows the focused attention to rest and the body/mind to recharge. A series of biological-instinctive mechanisms kick in when you are in a more natural environment. The spontaneous brain is free to indulge in any thought or curiousity, and this leads to a number of ordinary and extraordinary activities to happen. The success of Norrebroparken lies in the va-
Clara when questioned at Norrebroparken, “I love the trees and there are always people relaxing.” These small parks are so integrated into the Danes’ lifestyles. Clara gets to see the park at least every day, and if she has some time to spare or if she runs into a friend she is bound to stay and hang out for a bit. Just by choosing the route she takes she is promising herself a healthy and happy life.
By having many small parks in a city, and by having a high proximity within the city, you have many people
moving around the streets and publicly hanging out. Copenhagen has welcomed this movement by creating nicely paved sidewalks that widen to cater to higher traffick on some streets. The bike lanes in Copenhagen are also very accommodating to transporting people from a to b in the most efficient way possible. As discussed in class, “people who live in walkable neighborhoods hold more social capital than car cities because of increased eye contact and comfort in city and around others.” People who live in well-designed, pragmatic neighborhoods also hold more social capital because they enjoy their facilities and therefore care about their city. Social Capital has to do with the
level as well as between time spent in green space and stress level. Time spent in green space stimulates SPON-
tiful space. “It is my favorite part of my commute,” said
amount of time and energy you invest into the city. The more capital you hold, the more connected you are to the city and the more attractive you make the spaces you use. On a nice day people will sit just about anywhere, and often the overly-designed spaces remain less crowded because the space feels less natural to people, (see Sønder Boulevard page 8). People are simple, they want a spot that is intimate, somewhat warm but not too sunny, and they like to be within green, natural spaces to tap into their more primitive instinctive mode.
The more people using the facilities, the more successful they become. “People attract people,” the
ri-
Parochialization does define most parks and public spaces, but this park remains diverse and filled witlh different activities.
ety of spaces and activities that can occur there. The double-curved hedge allows for three levels of intimacy spots: one on either side, and one top, which can all be used simultaneously without disrupting each others’ intimacy. There are also many playing fields for sports, a play structure for kids, barbecue spots, canvases to tag, etc. There are seemingly endless opportunities in T A L K I N G
B A R B E C U I N G
W A T C H I N G / P L A Y I N G
T A G G I N G
legendary Copenhagen archi-
presence of others justifies your own. A society filled with positive, active members is so much richer than one with
tect, urban designer and writer
isolated, disengaged members. Connections are essential to bringing similar minds together, spreading knowledge,
Jan Gehl said. By seeing people
and making people happy. Meeting an inspirational stranger is what we live for. Small parks and public spaces in
one can trust the space, begin
Copenhagen have the same status for people as a group or club. People hanging out regularly in a small park feel
to make relations, and become
that healthy sense of belonging, to the place but more importantly to their community.
more comfortable within the pub-
lic realm. “Americans of all ages,
of people. This is a term the Dutch theorists and urban planners, Hajer and Rejndorp, called “parochialization,” in
all stations in life, and all types of
their article, In Search of a new Public Domain. This term describes how Dronning Louises Bro is primarily dominated
disposition, are forever forming
by hipsters, and is regarded as “public” space by everyone else because they feel this culture is different from their
associations,” observed Alexis de
own, therefore it is a “public” experience. However, “community spaces i.e. parks, squares, sports facilities facilitate
Tocqueville when he visited the US
organized activities, where shared interests are established across prevailing power hierarchies and cultural differ-
in the 1830s. These associations
ence,” Putnam insists. Anything is possible when the spontaneous mind is activated. Those who have let go of their
are critical to our well-being, that
focused concentration, which is usually following society’s rules and norms, are free to let the spontaneous mind guide
of the city and potentially all of mankind, depending on who we happen to meet. It is through meeting people that
them into a more primal mindset. This freedom makes it much easier to engage with strangers and immerse yourself
we learn who we are, what we want, and our place in this world. We learn such valuable information from our con-
in the harmonious park atmosphere.
nections, and can be guided in many valuable directions. The more perspectives you have on life the more whole
your vision and understanding can become. The connections you have define who you are, what you do, the things
sharing the space is a form of interaction. Just being exposed to so many types of people and activities broadens
you are exposed to. The more wide and varied your connections span the more wide and varied your knowledge
your realm of possibilities. Putnam studied how organizations like the church, get so many members to feel involved
and experiences become.
and committed. “It is by creating a “honeycomb structure” of thou-
“The most whimsical yet discomforting bit of evidence of social disengagement in contemporary America
sands of small groups:” he said, “they have the mountain bikers for God
that I have discovered is this: more Americans are bowling today than ever before, but bowling in organized leagues
group, the volleyball players for God, the breast cancer survivors for
has plummeted in the last decade or so,” Richard D. Putnam states in his article, Bowling Alone. It is a number of
God, the spouses of the breast cancer survivors for God, and so on,”
reasons including changing lifestyles, suburban sprawl, digital age and urban design [or lack thereof] that has led
Putnam says. Each person they account for with a group matching his/
to this age of disengaged citizens in the US. Americans are voting less than they used to, becoming less involved
her needs is an entire world of connections, interactions, and knowl-
with religion, volunteer-work, parent-teacher-associations (PTAs), etc. According to Putnam “the rise of solo bowling
edge. They spend two hours a week with each other and become
threatens the livelihood of bowling-lane proprietors.” Amongst others, they don’t make a fraction of what they would
quite close. “Most of these people are seeking meaning in their lives
on solos as expected with a group. No pizza, no drinks, no long conversations filling the arena with joy and laughter.
but they are also seeking friends.” Religion as well as health and
Public life is meant to be shared for people and businesses to flourish. “The simple act of joining and being regularly
status give them the meaning they seek, while new friends reassure
involved in organized groups has a very significant impact on society,” Putnam says. “Interaction enables people to
them of their position and offer them advice and other information.
build communities, to commit themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric.” Being an active member and
The honeycomb structure allows everyone to feel unique, and that their
belonging to something allows you to feel so much more relaxed, committed, and confident in your being there. The
new friends are just like them, which is what we generally look for in
Multiple groups successfuly occupying their own space and subtly interacting with each other.
Most parks, like public spaces, have a very distinct character as they are dominated primarily by one group
Most interactions are between friends, but some interactions between strangers do occur, and even just
SOCIAL CAPITAL In recent years social scientists have framed concerns about the changing character of American society in terms of the concept of “social capital.” By analogy with notions of physical capital and human capital – tools and training that enhance individual productivity – the core idea of social capital theory is that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups. Whereas physical capital refers to physical objects and human capital refers to properties of individuals, social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. In that sense social capital is closely related to what some have called “civic virtue.” The difference is that “social capital” calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a dense network of reciprocal social relations. A society of many virtuous but isolated individuals is not necessarily rich in social capital. – Excerpt from Thinking About Social Change in America by: Robert D. Putnam
norrebroparken
people. We want to find people with similar mindsets so that we don’t have to explain ourselves, we hope they will understand and appreciate us as we are.
If we are to imagine that having many small parks allows for “a honeycomb structure” of parks we can see
that each park does possess a very definite character and this makes it even more attractive both for that user group and others regarding it as a “cultural” experience. Small parks are necessary so everyone can access them
Friday 16.05.14 @ 19:30
regularly, and to accommodate for many different types of users. Every person must feel they are special within the space that it answers to their needs for intimacy, privacy, and people-watching/connection to strangers. We may not admit, but we crave interaction with strangers, the need to see and be seen by others is embedded in our instincts. It has a long history from our nomadic tribe days to just a few decades ago when we would march through town on big cobblestone promenades.
Los Angeles is a city that really suffers from lack of green spaces. The following diagrams show Copenhagen
and Central Los Angeles highlighting the public green spaces (note: there is a big green space in the Los Angeles map that isn’t selected because it is a private cemetery). The selection shows the neighborhoods within a 300m radius from the public spaces. The grey areas are the less healthy parts of each city, because they are further than 300m from any public green space. What is even more troubling than darkness is that most of the green spaces on the Los Angeles map are not entirely public. The largest park belongs to a country club, and some of the small ones are recreational facilities that require a membership. From above Los Angeles does look green, because every ticky tacky house has a large front and back lawn, pristinely manicured, and hardly ever used. America preaches democracy, but is far from reaching co-existence. The walkway draws you through all the activity while the hedge creates it.
Many spheres of activity are created right next to one another along the grassy hedge, subconscious interactions are established through sharing space and enjoying it as intimate,
Hedge demarcating parochial zones Walkway allowing the passersby to experience ‘public domain’ (Hajer & Rejndorp)
Copenhagen
- City of Copenhagen Municipal Plan 2011
Central Los Angeles
- City of Copenhagen Municipal Plan 2011
We must design a healthy and active civic future for them.
UNHEALTHY REGION
300m
people define space
Successful spaces are ones that have enough zones along the gradient of public to private. Of course the sapces are all
public or semi-public but the users define the level of intimacy and parochial dominance. It is most exciting in places where different people with different agendas can slip in and out of what Whyte would call “the street ballet.” This dance is the most exciting and peculiar of performances; anything can happen.
We like simple choices, it is comforting to be able to reach a quick, often instinctive, decision. Complex and pre-scripted envi-
ronments often scare us because our instincts cannot immediately respond, our identity is questioned. We seek natural environments where we feel welcome to express ourselves. A big space can be overwhelming, a small one too cramped, we need to adhere to the human scale.
Safe people enjoy the routine familiarity of doing the same things, talking to the same people. Curious people enjoy re-
“Cities are erected on spiritual columns. Like giant mirrors they reflect the hearts of their residents. If those hearts darken and lose faith, cities will lose their glamour.” -Shams + Tabrizi Fully clad in her hijab, groceries on one hand, and babies on the other, this Arabic mother has stopped to use an exercise machine on her way home. Clearly, this machine has successfully appealed to her needs, and no social norms or barriers are standing between it and her. She feels just as comfortable using this machine as if she were a spandexed exercise freak or a hipster Dane. This is a true sign of democracy, equality and comfort in one’s surroundings.
defining their limits with each act. It is the curious that challenge any and all pre-conceived notions of what is, and revel in what could be. If the natural environment offers enough exciting opportunities for users to define themselves, the present moment, and the space around them then it succeeds to be an adaptive, ever-changing environment that is interesting to both safe and curious users.
The key is for a space to be open and multi-fac-
eted enough to accomodate to a multiplicity of varying needs. “People who are rich are not those with money, but those who can add value to their own activities,� (Urban Livability with Bianca Hemansen). Those who find joy in the most banal situations, can find it anywhere and will always be rich with that giddy feeling of excitement they know they deserve to have!
litauens plads
Every place is a direct reflection of it’s users and surrounding culture. Litauens plads is situ-
ated in Vesterbro which has been greatly gentrified in the past decade, and is now a mix of upscale families, artists, and some leftover remnants of “grundginess” from it’s previous days. There is a corner of intimate connections and varying activity while the rest of the interactions are more spread out. This is similar to the character of Vesterbro which is co- City of Copenhagen Municipal Plan 2011
herent within the sphere of upper scale young, creative adults and more distance between
Personalization creates ownership, people feel it is their space.
other groups. Of course int this situation the users may not directly correlate, but they are reflecting the sense of Vesterbro, which is at times intimate and other times very separated. The personalization of the woven crochet into the fence shows the users care about this space. It gives them ownership, while conveying to others that it is a “hygge” (Danish for cozy) place and well-loved.
The bottom left corner appeared successful, with many overlapping spheres of interaction.
Friday 16.05.14 @ 20:00
High proximity of shared intimate space
Overall the space is very open and more distance is required to seek intimacy. It is not as efficient as norrebroparken, but has a distinctive, calmer feel to it, and is accessible to a different crowd.
sønder boulevard
It’s mainly the privileged segment of the population who spend time in a café over a cup of coffee, isn’t it, the ones with the cultural and economic capital?
“Yes, and Vesterbro is a perfect example. Urban renewal drives the prostitutes out. That’s a well-known phenomenon: When a place is in, the more privileged take over. Holding on to families with children has been a deliberate strategy in Copenhagen, which in the 1980s consisted of low-income senior citizens and students. Therefore, the city put a priority on creating green backyards etc. to make the city more attractive. The city said, we want you to stay, so we’ll give you some pleasant urban spaces, like Sønder Boulevard. That strategy has been very successful; the drawback is that it drives the problems somewhere else, for example to Copenhagen’s northwest district. A few decades ago, we had the opposite situation: The focus was on the suburbs, which were seen as the answer to everything, while Vesterbro had the cheapest real estate in the city. This is a shift in interests similar to what is currently happening in the United States, where the outlying suburbs are also being taken over by the poorest population groups.”
-- The Coffee Cup Has Become the Legitimatee Excuse for Spending Time in the City, Jan Gehl Interview by Tom Hermansen Friday 16.05.14 @ 20:30
People’s needs are quite simple. Overly-designed spaces work well for some, but to others a curb or building will do just fine, so long as they are exposed to the space. The key is exposure, that puts the brain into spontaneous mode and releases the tension from the focused mode. One’s image of a city is defined by the spaces one experiences, so the nicer the spaces, the more highly they view the city.
parochialization
Every public space has an inherent character to it. While we may believe public describes a very wide
variety of personalities and subgroups that comprise the culture, in reality each public space only accommodates one to a few subgroups.“ People increasingly use space a la carte, frequenting those exact events, festivals, schools and shops that conform to their identity and avoiding other places. This means that different groups in society follow different paths through space and time. The public space turns out, in reality, barely to function as a public domain; rather it is a transit zone between enclaves of different variations on ‘our kind of people’.” Hajer & Rejndorp wrote in In Search of a New Public Domain (84). It is rare that we ever intentionally interact with strangers that are far from our own personality. Subconsciously or consciously we gravitate towards people that appear to dress, behave, and interact similarly to us. We are herd animals, we take comfort in knowing we are not alone in our mindset and beliefs. We often trust relations in private situations more because those people have chosen or wound up at the same place and are therefore, at least in the present moment, going through the same things we are. If the situation is one of mutual friends the trust in this person immensely grows, because they have been pre-approved by people we approve of. “Most evident is the discrepancy with the dominant cultural-political ideology of the public space as a ‘place of meeting’. In policy papers, the meeting function of the public space is a central objective. It is a romantic image, partly reinforced by historical· sociological studies in which it is suggested that this ideal existed in the past,” Hajer & Rejndorp (84). Public space is a place where people can see and be seen, but interactions are reserved for friends or friends of friends, and interaction between strangers is left to the brave who are willing to stray from social norms. Yet we gain so much by meeting people that bring out different qualities of ourselves.
Every culture is different, but it is a human instinct to be cautious of unknown situations. Anything can unfold,
and you don’t want to be caught in a vulnerable position. Therefore you seek trust, understanding, and acceptance from the interactions you choose. Although, from my experience, most people have good intentions if understood.
“In addition to distinguishing between the public and the private sphere, the American sociologist Lofland distinguishes so-called parochial spaces (‘998). Although open to the public, these are spaces that evidently constitute the space of a certain group: whoever wanders in as a stranger feels like a guest, often unwanted. The parochialization of public space, the appropriation by certain groups, is seen as one of the most important causes of the decline of the public space as meeting place (e.g. Gadet 1999). However, it is questionable whether the oft-cited real public spaces were not to a certain or even to a large extent parochial spaces, in an urban society that was also segregated then. Demarcations may not always have run along class or race lines, but it is certain that in the past, too, public and semi-public spaces derived their character from the groups that frequented these spaces.” Hajer & Rejndorp (85)
This is not a negative outcome. It is how we choose our favorite spot, the people we feel comfortable amongst, and the experience we feel through a space. The success of a space lies in the comfort of its users. If it accommodates their needs and attracts more similar-minded people to stay and differing types of people to pass through and experience an out-of-body experience. The diagram shows people’s willingness to interact with strangers. The more private the
space the more we trust the users, everyone has made the decision to be there and therefore must have something in common. The least comfortable situation for interaction is an unfamiliar parochial subgroup in a public space, because we feel so removed in our experience that we cannot connect. The most comfortable is a familiar parochial group in a private space. It
WILLINGNESS TO INTERACT WITH STRANGERS
is not to say that interactions between unfamiliar
parochial
groups does not occur, it is just not with the same ease and
FAMILIAR PAROCHIAL GRROUP
comfort. It is often, however, the less comfortable interac-
UN-FAMILIAR PAROCHIAL GRROUP
tions that are the most
surprisingly
PUBLIC
comforting. We realize we can relate on
SEMIPUBLIC
SEMIPRIVATE
PRIVATE
WILLINGNESS TO INTERACT WITH STRANGERS
at least one thing or
The more private a space or situation is the more comfortable we are. We trust the users because they have made similar choices by arriving at the same place. Different paroopinion; strangers chial groups occupy and dominate certain spaces. We feel a cultural experience when FAMILIARWe are never as strange passing through unfamiliar groups, and a natural gravitation toward familiar groups. PAROCHIAL are more likely to interact with strangers within the same parochial group in both public GRROUP as they seem. Just WILLINGNESS TO and private situations than we are with an unfamiliar group in each. INTERACT WITH the fact that you are STRANGERS at the same place at the same point in time is enough to talk about and experience with one another.
UN-FAMILIAR
People often have an inherent fear of the unknown. Yet it is the unknown, spontaneous activities that are PAROCHIAL GRROUP
often the most rewarding. In a spontaneous encounter neither person has any expectations or predispositions so conversation and activity are all pure, instinctive and honest. We are caught off guard and must react quickly; it is a realm of unlimited possibilities because none have been pre-defined. “I’ve heard those stories that emphasize that the pinnacle of urbanity is that one runs the· chance of coming into contact with the unexpected,” said English sociologist Ray Pahl in In Search of a New Public Domain (85). It is the most exciting thing about a city, anything can PUBLIC
happen. A space can be a vacant warehouse one day, a
SEMISEMIPUBLIC market PRIVATE designer’s the next,
PRIVATE
a wild festival the following
night, and a wedding reception the morning after. It is not the space that dictates the possibilities, it is the users, and how they occupy and define their parameters.
The beauty lies in the ‘multiplicity’ of meanings and associations that users give to the space. The infinite possibilities and opportunities that lie in the depths of the unknown void surrounding the planned groups and activities occupying the space. “If the modern city can best be understood as a collection of landscapes, and if the citizen is constantly occupied in keeping his own small network intact with as little friction with other groups as possible, then that does seem to mean the death of any form of public domain,” Hajer & Rejndorp said (85-88). So much is possible when there is friction between groups and activities, when needs and curiosities of various groups overlap. Each interaction teaches us about ourselves, our human capabilities, our personal capacity to change, potential interests we may enjoy, and reactions we receive to our own thoughts and opinions. We can gain so much from moving beyond tolerance and co-existence to acceptance and curiosity in each other.
Curiosity and interaction with strangers is healthy and regenerating. If we were aware and cared about our
entire community we could cater our businesses, our mentality and our actions to embrace, understand and enjoy what each sub-group has to offer.
The paradox is that what many people experience as pleasant public space is in reality often dominated by a relatively homogeneous group, However, these are not the spaces dominated by one’s own group. Any- one reflecting on personal ‘public-domain experiences’ will notice on closer inspection that the key experiences with shared use of space often involve entering the parochial domains of ‘others’, Public domain is thus not so much a place as an experience. One experiences this space as public domain because one does not belong to that specific dominant group. A public space is experienced as more pleasant the more the activities of the dominant group turn out to be variants on one’s own everyday life, and thus foster participation rather than spectatorship.” Hajer & Rejndorp (88)
We seek these experiences, subconsciously or not. We love experiencing different cultures, it is like
travelling within our own city. For a moment we can imagine life from a different perspective and how it differs from our own. These vibrant, exciting spaces are the reason we choose certain routes and the reason we come home with a smile each day. If life is measured in experiences than it is within these successful public spaces that one can feel immortal.
“The core of successful public space thus lies not so much in the shared use of space with others, let alone in the ‘meeting’, but rather in the opportunities that urban proximity offers for a ‘shift’ of perspective: through the experience of otherness one’s own casual view of reality gets some competition from other views and lifestyles, “ Hajer and Rejndorp (89)
Just like a person is confident when they know what they want and who they are a place is more powerful when a user group knows who they are and what they want as well. That group dominates and defines the domain. A city must know its people and accommodate for them. If everyone has a place where they feel comfortable, then they feel they belong, they can meet similar minded people, they may feel more confident which in turn makes them a more valuable asset for their community. We must facilitate these opportunities for strangers to interact and bond, because we live for these interactions, and this sense of belonging.
Copenhagen’s neighborhoods each hold a very distinct character and each gives off a different vibe. (www.europeupclose.com).
norrebro
facades of these buildings. There are a few nice murals,
Norrebro may appear to outsiders as messy. The vast amount of graffiti may seem tied to gang territory.
However to locals this is what makes Norrebro so norrebro! It has so many varied characteristics: grundgy, diverse, artsy, hipster, ghetto, posh. It was once home to many gangs, drug dealers and underprivileged families. Blågårdsgade was a street dominated by drive-by shootings. The businesses on the street were the ones that took action, they asked the families what was needed to make the street a safer place. The families asked if they could close the street to car traffic, thereby eliminating the possibility for drive-by shootings. They also asked for some tables and benches. This alone changed everything for this street. Cafes began to spill outside and public life and safety factors are flourishing.
In 2009, The Differentiated Graffiti Policy was established, it distinguishes anything deemed as “street art”
and “culturally communicative elements” from “tagging.” Street art is not punished or removed from surfaces. In Banana Park local graffiti artists were actually invited to paint the surrounding surfaces. This form of artwork adds so much life to the park and gives locals a personal connection to the space. Norrebro also has a policy that states: all parks must have a blank canvas to invite graffiti. Clearly municipality officials have realized that graffiti is the gateway to street art and both play a big role in Norrebroís vibrant street life. Does street art actually make people feel more comfortable? Does graffiti add to the liveliness and perceived attractiveness of the street?
BLÅGARDSGÅDE
Blågårdsgade carries many remnants from it’s criminally active days. Graffiti fills most allies and many front
but the majority is just simple lettering, and yet it adds so much character and ownership to the space. Jaeggersborsgade is street with similar ambitions but much less acheived street life. The level of shops ranges from medium to high-end hipster with the Coffee Collective and Grød. The street feels like a little island of posh, chic within the rest of grundgy Norrebro. The traffic and parked cars really drive the potential for this street down, they are distracting, dangerous, and block our
This appeared to be the most popular spot, by the mural in the back. It was constantly being reoccupied by new groups, proving that street art does have an effect.
vision for people watching or way finding. There are traces of graffiti on this street too, but gentrification has played a major role in cleaning it up. It does feel different from your typical Norrebro street, and it has developed more of an indoors culture within the shops and cafes rather than on the street in public.
While these initiatives have been made I think they need to be pushed further for this art form and the
Danes creativity to really blossom. By creating more surfaces for young artists to practice their skills Norrebro and itís young generation could both benefit. Norrebroís distinct look and feel must be preserved for the residents to feel at home. The more surfaces the city or neighborhood buildings can provide the more potential for talent to emerge. If cafes and bars realize how attractive outdoor seating next to a beautiful mural or interesting wall can be they might commission street artists to decorate their spaces. However the first two policiies are a positive step
JAEGERSBORGGADE there were many kids on both streets, even more on Blågardsgåde, despite the graffiti
proving that the municipality is very flexible and actually cares about what the people want. The public life on Blågardsgåde is much more vibrant than on Jaegersborggade for a number of reasons. People attract people Jan Gehl says in Life Between Buildings. Blågardsgåde is in a denser area and closer to the city, so naturally it is a more attractive location for people. It also removed car parking and car traffic so the street is very open for many benches, tables, and pedestrians. The buildings on this street have a significant amount of graffiti on them, much more than Jaegersborggade. Do residents of Norrebro have an affinity for graffiti covered spaces or are they simply immune to it? In Blågårdsgade it would appear that people are definitely
this is one of the only graffiti remnants on Jaegersborggade, and some of the only sitters on this day
not put off by the graffiti, especially families with kids. Blågårdsgade had many momís with strollers and some kids even by themselves. If kids are welcome and feel safe on this street than it has definitely come a long way with only these few simple changes. Jaegersborggade feels too clean for Norrebro, it is a bit out of place. In many cases design has the effect of what [Jukes] calls ‘de-sign’, that is, the removal of the signs and meanings of a particular place. This dovetails into our cultural-geographical analysis, which shows that each place runs the risk of ‘disappropriation’, of the replacement of a multiplicity of meanings by that one which is given expression in architecture or layout and is redundantly confirmed by a signpost. What we are searching for is the room that the design can provide for the ëoccupationí of the space with a
multiplicity of meanings. Public domain, in this view, needs not ‘de-sign’ but rather ‘re-sign’: the invitation to occupation by new meanings. In Hajer & Reijndorp, In Search of a New Public Domain (101)
Jaegersborggade is a case like this. By designing a nice, clean cut neighborhood it lost the inherent grundgy, Norrebro atmosphere. It is still used because the shops and services are worthwhile, but the street itself suffers from over-gentrification and ìdisappropriationî of the Norrebro language. People seek this ìmultiplicity of meanings they want the story and the voices that make this community. This character is very visible on Blågardsgåde.
The remaining graffiti acts as a constant reminder to the residents and business owners of this street how far There were so many different types of people in such close proximity, it is amazing what you can= learn from these opportunities by simply observing others
they have come. Many people come just to sit on their own or talk to a friend, the street has not been functionalized, but rather remains open to occupation by new meanings.. This is what makes this street so nice to walk by day
There were many families and kids, which must be a result of the high perceived level of safety the street has gained.
after day, every experience is different.
Citizens create meaningful public space by expressing
Jaegersborggade
their attitudes, asserting their claims and using it for their own purposes writes Peter Goheen (1998, p 479)î referenced in In
staying
moving adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
Friday 21/3 12:30pm
Search of a New Public Domain by Hajer & Reijndorp (89) On Blågardsgåde we can feel these attitudes and the expression of Norrebro. We feel a much more powerful experience on
Saturday 22/3 4:30pm
this street because this form of expression has been granted permission to provoke us. We can feel the Norrebro pride and that of the ecclectic community it holds.
The effect of on Public Space Usage in Norrebro
Blågardsgåde graffiti-covered surface
Sunday 23/3 7:30pm
benches with tables: 19
staying
moving
Friday 21/3 12:30pm
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
adults
kids
Saturday 22/3 4:30pm
Sunday 23/3 7:00pm
benches with tables: 25
dronning louises bro
What makes this bridge so popular? Why are people so drawn to sit here and watch the traffic. Observe the people, bikes, cars, busses.
Not one second is the same. It is so much more exciting than sitting at home and watching TV. “People attract people,” Jan Gehl said in his book, Cities for People. This site begins to bring the public realm into a private one. This space is not solely for traveling through,
Street Hierarchy
it is for staying, it is a destination in itself.
@ Dronning Louises Bro
People come here .
“[Dronning Louises Bro] is like the
lung of Copenhagen” said Mikkel Inumineq a few minutes after we had just met each another on the bridge. This bridge, without even being designed as a spot 5m
to hang out, has become a truly necessary artery to the Copenhageners. Life
0 .45 1.2 intimate personal
flourishes here through the day and night.
social
4m 3.7
public
3.25 m
PUBLIC USED AS SEMI-PUBIC AND SEMI-PRIVATE
9
I moved to live in Norrebro my second semester and it is such a thrill biking through it every day, admiring the people having a nice french press coffee, jamming with the homies, sipping a cold beer, having a crazy dance party from a DJ set up in a Christiania bike, the activity is everpresent. There is always something. It has transformed from a simple blood line to a
people own the space
Ideal Street Design prioritizing an Experience Social Distance measures by Jan Gehl in Cities for People (Ch.2)
major destination that gives breath to its citizens. People increasingly use space ala carte, frequenting those exact events, festivals, schools and shops that conform to their identity and avoiding other places. This means that different groups in society follow different paths through space and time. The public space turns out, in reality, barely to function as a public domain; rather it is a transit zone between enclaves of different variations on ‘our kind of people’. Hajer & Rejndorp (84)
Having central public routes for each social sphere is crucial. As much as we may oppose to it we each
belong to a few very specific groups of people. This bridge has been nicknamed “hipster bridge” by many Danes because that is the vibe it eminates through its frequenters. Each person is different, some like to stay within one or two spheres while others like to float between many groups for the thrill. Through all our encounters in public realms we find ourselves gravitating towards certain crowds in which we see reflections of ourselves, people we can identify with. A city must accomodate for its many diverse users to find their own nich and to cater for these parochial experiences between social groups to occur. Our society is so faceted and by facilitating these nuances we can embrace our own. We can learn so much by meeting strangers, and finding within them a piece of ourselves. Humanity is such a diverse and interesting race if we can learn to see it.
A public space is experienced as more pleasant the more the activities of the dominant group turn out to be variants on one’s own everyday life, and thus foster participation rather than spectatorship. Hajer & Rejndorp (88).
Parochialization can help us meet strangers; upon observation they are just like us, human. When we feel comfortable within a space, and we identify with the users we can more comfortably immerse and connect. At the end of the day we all want to find people that we feel understand who we are and what we are about. We simply seek to be understood. Understanding is a form of approval, we seek these comfortable conversations between similar minds as a form of validation to our existence and our arrival at certain conclusions. We seek this bond, understanding one another, it gives us the strength and courage to keep carving that niche of ours.
“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We could not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on... the wonderful chain of events, working through generations and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable. (Doyle, quoted in Langbauer 1993:94) “ - Everyday Life and Cultural Theory: Ben Highmore
89% hipsters on a good day* (150 to 20)
saturday, May 24, 2014, 16:00
staying hipster other moving hipster other
This bridge proves to be a very successful hang-out spot to many hipster Danes. While primarily dominated by this user-group others enjoy the parochial experience it offers. Ther are also green areas on the edges which provide a little more intimacy while still being connected to the mass of hipsters. The upper, “sunny” side is almost always packed, while the opposing side is used more for pedestrians that prefer to keep a observe at a distance.
Every Moment is Different
bishop’s square we seek a connection THROUGH groups
individuals
AROUND individuals
Tuesday 17:00 March 4, 2014
INDUSTRIAL AREA
groups
BISHOP ’S SQU ARE CO NT.
We enjoy finding commonalities between ourselves and others. A public space is experienced as more pleasant the more the activities of the dominant group turn out to be variants on one’s own everyday life, and thus foster participation rather than spectatorship. Hajer & Rejndorp (88). It is humbling to realize we are all human, and despite apparent differences, we have the same primal instincts. Upon studying people’s desire lines through Bishop’s Square I found that individuals tended to walk through the covered bench structure, while people in groups of two ro more would generally walk around. 85% of those walking through the structure would also slow down, either consciously or subconsicously, and make some eye contact or subtle glance at the sitters surrounding them. Humans crave the sense of intimacy and connection within these subtle interactions. It appears those walking in groups have fulfilled those needs, while individuals are free to indulge in interactions with strangers.
OLD SPITALFIELD’S MARKET
BRICK LANE
BRIDGE LONDON E SQ EXCHANG
UARE
The core of successful public space thus lies not so much in the shared use of space with others, let alone in the ‘meeting’, but rather in the opportunities that urban proximity offers for a ‘shift’ of perspective: through the experience of otherness one’s own casual view of reality gets some competition from other views and lifestyles, Hajer & Rejndorp (89) COUPLES
INDIVIDUALS
conclusion
design solution, more intimate public spaces. Space is a limited commodity and we must ask the right questions, “measure what we care about” as Jan Gehl would say, when critiquing its use. For a long time Times Square, one of
Cities need to re-examine their use of space. Public life plays a key role in our daily lives as well as in the
long term, health, connections, ownership and belonging to a space, cities must invest in successful spaces to ensure a high quality of life. It is all a matter of priorities. Cities should allocate space to people, public life, and opportunities rather than leaving parking lots, awkward allies, and neighborhood dumps scarring neighborhoods with a lack of opportunities and an appearance of neglect. “When we build upon our gifts rather than dwell upon our inadequacies, our strengths grow stronger. This is partly because valuing what exists and building upon it empowers, while assigning blame undermines our efforts because it engages us in denial, deflection, and distraction, contributing to an abnegation of responsibility,” Nan Ellin wrote in The Tao of Urbanism: Integrating Observation with Action. We must see our citizens as gifts, celebrate them, provide for them and nurture them. It is amazing how any flower can grow with the right nutrients. The US must begin to see space as a valuable commodity that must be distributed fairly. By reappropriating spaces that are unused or used inefficiently we can elevate citizens’ life quality whether they are enjoying the created space, just seeing it in use, or benefitting from the efficiency of the reappropriation. A twolaned street in Denmark was at full capacity but was creating bottlenecks due to numerous jay-walkers. Instead of giving the cars more space, the traffic engineers studied the problem and decided to solve it by narrowing the street to one-laner with a big divider in the middle. Now the street functions at a much higher efficiency and the capacity of car traffic has actually increased. The divider allows jay-walkers to pause without interrupting the traffic, while cars have to drive more carefully through, which actually makes them move through faster.
We must observe natural
human behavior and create spaces that allow people to act upon instincts rather than tackle obstacles. Problems are opportunities for creative solutions. If we hold people’s quality of life as the number one “The city is burning tonight (Sous les pavés, la plage!)” Photo by view-askew, mural by Seth Tobocman, Norway. This mural depicts over thecivic people reclaiming factor the city should cater to, than man we will seemachine, that many problems can be resolved with a relatively simple the street as their territory, democracy at its finest, people come first.
New York’s main landmarks, was dominated by car traffic. Gehl Architects found that 11% was people space and 89% was car space, but the experience was meant for people. After much deliberation New York agreed to close Times Square to car traffic. It was a huge success and now many “pearls along the string” of Broadway have been reclaimed as public space (Gehl Architects). It turns out traffic runs more efficiently as Broadway was a redundant street within the grid, and was always a mess of taxis, tourists, angry drivers and pedestrians, now it has a more clear and successful focus: the experience on foot.
By identifying spaces that should be celebrated by foot we can transform the experience of the city into
a much more vibrant one. We need to focus on finding the easiest way to elevate our daily lives. Building more highways will not solve the issue of mass transportation, but rather create more traffic to be resolved. Creating more public spaces will create more opportunities for leisure, health, social interaction, and civic life. When we have engaged, happy citizens civic life runs more smoothly and our potential far exceeds what a more controlled system could produce.
We have no more resources to use now than ever before, but we simply do not use them creatively. This paradox can be traced to one big fault. This fault is over-determination, both of the city’s visual forms and its social functions. The technologies that make experiment possible have been subordinated to a regime of power that wants order and control. Worldwide, urbanists anticipated a ‘control freakery’ of New Labor by a good half-century; in the grip of rigid images and precise delineations, the urban imagination lost vitality. In particular, what is missing in modern urbanism is a sense of time -- not looking backwards nostalgically but forward-looking time: the city understood as process, its imagery changing through use, an urban imagination image formed by anticipation, welcoming surprise. -- The Open City: Richard Sennett
We have been sucked into this forward drive, and now it is time to stop and re-evaluate if we are still heading in the right direction. “The city is a process,” as Sennett said, and we must allow citizens to see and feel that sense of things happening and spaces adapting as use determines. By studying what humans do, what they wish to experience, we can better provide for their needs. Spaces, like Amager Beach Park in Copenhagen, was only 80% designed to allow the users to determine the rest. A kayak facility opened up, as did a croquet field, a skateboard ramp. Spontaneous real-time design by users can be so much more exciting and accomodating than pre-determined designs from above. There is so much to enjoy within a city and if we allow people’s paths to cross and people’s spheres to mix within a public space than we can share a glimpse of the joy in each endeavor. We need to loosen up our controls and allow natural human behavior and instincts to rule. These stories, the processes of the city, are what give meaning to the everyday. It is the details that create a space and the interactions that create a moment.
Cities are ever-growing, and this is the time to live more efficiently and reclaim spaces for people. An ef-
ficient space is multi-purpose; it can be used in many ways by many different people. It is a primitive sense of the term boulevard that describes the type of street that brings people together as a source of meeting, interacting,
and enjoying the city. Cities weren’t always so spread out, and humans weren’t always so isolated. “it is only in the last 5
approach works toward integration, inclusion, and dynamism. Bringing together functions the twentieth- century city separated (living, working, circulating, creating, and recreating), integral urbanism offers a new model that integrates buildings with nature, center with periphery, local character with global forces, and connects the various professions involved with urban growth and development and people of different ethnicities, incomes, ages, and abilities.” -- Wark, The Beach Beneath the Street
decades that we have planned the cities from above rather than from the eye level
We need to begin to live together. We may feel, with the world population growing so rapidly, and the US having such a
perspective of walking man,” as was stat-
cold outlook, that we do not need “others.” Yet, “without people you are nothing,” in Joe Strummer’s words. Each person
ed in Life Between Buildings exhibit trailer
has so much to offer, and each space has the potential to facilitate this interaction. We must seize these opportunities
(vimeo) by a collaboration between the
and design livable cities for happy people!
Louisiana and Gehl Architects. We need to get back down to street level and consider the human experience. Spending six hours a day enclosed in a car commuting to and from work every day may seem normal to some LA dwellers. But has an alternative been considered? If proximity People using a space freely, as they see fit. People define space.
was a city objective, and people could live nearer to their workplace, or if public
transportation took a large number of cars of the road, and better bike lanes took out another large portion that six-hour commute could easily be reduced to, at least, a four-hour one. That is two extra hours each day to enjoy life! Not to mention the added joy the new public transport users and bikers can get from their added daily human interaction and cultural experiences.
We need to see our city as the complex web of activity that it is, and prioritize human life. “The main respon-
sibility of city planning and design should be to develop—insofar as public policy and action can do so—cities that are congenial places for this great range of unofficial plans, ideas and opportunities to flourish, along with the flourishing of the public enterprises.” (Jacobs 1961, 315) The spontaneous mindset is so freeing and necessary to cleanse one’s soul and steer the focused mind away from overload. With spaces dedicated to finding peace of mind and sharing the comfort of being among other humans, people can develop more social relations, share ideas and re-create themselves. Anything is possible as long as citizens are committed both to themselves and their city.
To re-engage Americans in civic life, the city needs to show it cares and accommodates for all. Maintaining
each area’s character is essential, along with finding a way where various programs of use can overlap, different groups’ needs can coincide, and opportunities emerge.
“Integral urbanism aims to create adjacencies of uses and people and to allow relationships among them to develop and flourish. Rather than distill, separate, and control—the ethos of modern urbanism—this
“And it is utterly true that he who cannot find wonder, mystery, awe, the sense of a new world and an undiscovered realm in the places by the Gray’s Inn Road will never find those secrets elsewhere, not in the heart of Africa, not in the fabled hidden cities of Tibet. ‘The matter of our work is everywhere present,’ wrote the old alchemists, and that is the truth. All the wonders lie within a stone’s-throw of King’s Cross Station… I will listen to no objections or criticisms as to the Arts Magna of London, of which I claim to be the inventor, the professor and the whole school. Here I am artist and judge at once, and possess the whole matter of the art within myself. For, let it be quite clearly understood, the Great Art of London has nothing to do with any map or guide-book or antiquarian knowledge, admirable as these things are… But the Great Art is a matter of quite another sphere; and as to maps, for example, if known they must be forgotten… And all historical associations; they too must be laid aside… Of all this the follower of the London Art must purge himself when he sets out on his adventures. For the essence of this art is that it must be an adventure into the unknown, and perhaps it may be found that this, at last, is the matter of all the arts.” - ARTHUR MACHEN in THE ART OF WANDERING
moments
PEACE MAN I was on my way back to school and decided to take a different route. I passed a big plaza and saw many people sprawled out in the sun. Some sat on the statues, some at the outdoor cafe, and many just sat on the ground absorbing their fill of vitamin D. I stepped into the square to take a picture and one man, in his fifties, put up his hand, smiled, and formed the peace sign. I approached him and explained my project and intentions for the photo. He was very excited and began telling me about how he hitch-hiked across America and met the nicest strangers. He even wanted to cross the border to Canada and one truck driver drove him to the border, and since he couldn’t cross the border he called a friend of his on the Canada side that could take him from there and waited with him the whole time. It is amazing how some people are willing to go completely out of their way for a complete stranger. That to me is sheer selflessness, being nice just because. Niceness, however, is never wasted. This man has carried this experience with him for over 30 years, and who knows to how many people he has recounted the experience, and how many people it has affected. If every nice act was passed down as such, maybe our opinion of strangers would be more positive. Maybe our opinion of mankind would be more optimistic. There is good in most people, and if we are able to see and value these characteristics they are contagious and wide spreading.
WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE I was still pretty fresh in Copenhagen, it was either my second or third weekend, and I was supposed to meet a friend at the Reggae Festival. He didn’t have a phone so I was just wandering around. I talked to a few nice people, and was losing hope on my friend, when suddenly this crazy guy approached me. We started talking and I followed him to his group of friends. He told me he goes to AFUK (Acadamy for Untamed Creativity) studying acrobatics and wants to be in a circus one day! The whole gang was quite crazy and I wound up hanging out with them all night! I have kept close with Emil and the guys, and have met most of my closest Danish friends through them. I had been feeling a bit unsure about Copenhagen prior to the festival, and after the great time Emil showed me I was in love with the new underground culture I discovered. I’ve learned so much from him and his friends this year, and my love for Copenhagen is a direct result of our meeting each other.
August 2013
May 2014
WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN I met these lovely people on Dronning Louises Bro one fine day. They are media students and were filming for an advertisement for an assignment called “Wonderful Copenhagen.” They had a little go pro attached to a mini propeller that flew up and panned around the city. They wanted to have it start up close, focusing on the green screen, to say that “you can make a beautiufl scene” and then it would zoom out, fly up and pan around to show that “here reality is more beautiful!” It was such a nice message, and a creative way to capture it. They said they were doing another shoot at Kongens Have next and asked if I wanted to join. “Why, of course1” I replied, thinking this would be perfect for my research! Two of them bought us wine and grapes for the set, but we wound up talking and sipping for hours!
CHIMERA We were just sitting along the Chimera path in Chiraly, Turkey watching the flames sizzle mystically out of the cracks in the rock with awe. A father and his young son had claimed the spot before us, and we were quite a big group of six joining them to admire the small, yet powerful flame. We began to discuss the next day’s plans with our tour guide. When we got to dinner locations my dad began to explain his theory about restaurants. If you are willing to pay a lot you can guarantee the quality will be good, if you go somewhere very cheap you can guarantee simple, decent food, but the middle range is a trap, mediocre food for too much money. After a while the father stood up to leave and put his son on his shoulders. He was very cute and we waved at the boy to get a reaction. The father seemed intrigued and a conversation was aroused. He told us he was from Switzerland and has some family in Israel, he even visited them recently. He said he overheard us discussing restaurants and that he knows of a very good one, in the decent, inexpensive range nearby. He was very convincing and we wound up going there the next night! It was quite good, and we felt adventurous taking a stranger’s advice. We even invited our tour guide and his wife. We may have trusted him more because he had Israeli relatives and we are Israelis, or because he had a son and was very amicable. Either way he had a positive effect on our fate and his advice may even trickle down to future clients of our tour guides. Lucky his boy was so cute and both parties’ curiosities were sparked.