Special Topics: Public Space Evaluation

HYDE PARK SQUARE PUBLIC SPACE EVALUATION

LIN HAN

PUBLIC SPACE: possibilities and potentialities

PLAN6027

Professor: Vikas Mehta

TABLE

1

Introduction

2

Empirical Observation

3

Folk Ethnographies

4

Use and Activities

5

Evaluation Tool

6

Evaluation of Publicness

7

Critical Appraisal

8

Conclusion

1

INTRODUCTION Hyde Park Square is the heart of Hyde Park. The square is just one block off Erie Avenue

bordered by Edwards Road to the west and by Michigan Avenue to the east. The grassy boulevard in the middle of Erie Avenue has been there from the beginning and the Kilgour fountain since 1900.

Every Sunday from May to October, there is farmers’ market in Hyde Park Square from 9am to 1pm.

TYPOLOGY

Square, neighborhood park, business district

01

BACKGROUND

The park itself originally stood at street level but in 1916, a bandstand was constructed on the

east end. In 1926, the square was raised 3 feet and rows of trees were added to both sides of the park. The park today remains raised and lined with trees and shrubs. The four corner buildings were all completed by 1908 and the rest in between by 1935. Graeter’s Ice Cream, the Echo Restaurant, the Arthur’s Restaurant are the 3 longest-lived tenants of the current tenants. Hyde Park Square was intended to encapsulate the shopping and business district and continues to be the main shopping destination in Hyde Park

02

QUALITY OF SPACE Hyde park Square is more like a neighborhood commercial and recreational center. Most of users are from Hyde Park and this place is where they have a drink after work and have a party on weekend. Overall, it is neighborhood-based. The greening of this area looks pretty and attracts tourists and family activities. Middle fountain park provides a place for people to take a relax and chat with each other. Besides, there are several benches on both sides of the road and people use them quite a lot. So infrastructure in this area is sufficient and active. As for safety, I feel a little bit uncomfortable because the entrance of the park is closely adjacent to driveway. Even though there is zebra crossing and yield sign, there are still cars passing fast.

Many people who are the first time to be here come in the middle park and it is most likely that they will stop somewhere in the park to look around. It is such a greenery, peaceful and clean place with beautiful landscaping. I saw a few guys reading the information board in the park regarding to the history of Hyde Park. If people come to visit here on Sunday during 9am to 1 pm by any chance, they will have an opportunity to have a terrific farmers’ market.

03

2

EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION

Active E

These maps show t

categorized as two groups

involves watching rather tha

bushes, fountain and tall tre

Weekday

on the street while avoiding

That is, live music performa

satisfaction in people-watch

own group� . Hyde Park Sq

on benches and talk to each

Types of activities in

dominant activity types are

weekend, people organize s

market brings more types o

Weekend

Event

04

pedestrian. People walk arou

Engagement Activity

Passive Engagement Activity

the dominant activities during different time of weekday and weekend. In addition, those activities are

s—one is passive engagement activity and the other is active engagement activity. Passive engagement

an talking or doing. Middle green space perfectly facilitates such visual contacts with people, because the

ees provide physical separation for people-watching. observers who sit on the benches can watch whoever

g eye contact. On weekday night or Sunday market, there is another attraction that draw visitors’ attention.

ance. Active engagement activity emphasizes interaction between people. “Although some people find

hing, others desire more direct contact with people—whether they are strangers in a site or members of their

quare is such a place where people socialize with their friends, acquaintance and family members like siting

h other, hanging out together on peripheral commercial street.

n Hyde Park Square varies. Activity type on weekday is not as many as that on weekend. On weekdays, the

e strolling and walking dog. People use middle green space mainly for crossing instead of staying. On

specific events on open space and more group activity take place. When it comes to Sunday daytime, farmers’

of activities in Hyde Park Square, since driveways are blocked from automobile and occupied by booths and

und this area and randomly stop at one booth to ask price and maybe have a free taste.

05

3

FOLK ETHNOGRAPHIES

A mom is ta

of her daug Eating ice cream with friends is good choice to relax themselves after whole week work She was walking her dog as well as buying farm product unexpectedly

06

is posing in Graeters’

They are having a wedding ceremony!

aking photo

ghter who

n front of

Construction attracted this man, and he was staring at the painting work Music is their common topic

07

4

USER AND ACTIVITIES

Most of users of middle park are closely related with surrounding environment. The commercial area on both sides of square provide good walking destinations for people to hang out. The following map shows the movement area carried out by group (more than four people) and individual. Group movement area clearly connects the northern square and middle park. During weekday night and weekend, it is common to see different size of families or groups of friends inside this area, specifically on the northern Erie Avenue, because that is where Greater’s store, coffee shop and both causal and fancy restaurants are located. On warm days, you'll find several groups of people walking out of Greater’s store and eating their ice cream on the edge of the fountain. On evening, well-dressed people walk out of fine restaurant and take a rest in the park before they head home.

For individual, the middle park is more like a safety island. When they loiter on one side of avenue, the walking path of middle park provides a good crosswalk for them to commute.

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Group User Movement

Individual User Movement

Weekday

Weekend

Temporary Activity Area

Permanent Activity Area

Event The duration of activities in Hyde Park Square can be generally divided into two categories— temporary and permanent. Temporary activities mainly refer to those that last for a few minutes like wandering through, walking dogs, and running. Permanent activities are those activities that are relatively long lasting, like sitting and watching, eating on the benches. Following maps illustrate where these two types of activities distribute. On weekdays, most of users in this place are passerby.

They might just simply walk or run cross this area. If it is night, probably around 6pm, dog walker become dominant user of this place. But on weekend, people prefer to stay here for longer time. restaurants and their patios offer people good choice to have lunch or dinner and middle fountain area attracts them to take a relax after working for whole weekdays. The pattern of activity distribution on Sunday is quite different from others since farmers’ market draw more people stay here including both farmers and visitors. People tend to spend more time staying in the middle green space, because that is a perfect place to enjoy the food or drinks that they grab from booths and food truck.

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DOMINANT ACTIVITIES

AG

30

Weekday

25 20 15 10 5

w re

in g St an d

rm in g Pe rfo

Sit tin g

Ea tin g

Ta lki ng

W alk in g

do g

nn in g Ru

St ro llin g

0

35

Weekend

30 25

USER DEM

20 15

Age

10

100%

5

Bi kin g

Sit tin g

rm in g Pe rfo

Ta lki ng

do g

W alk in g

pp in g Sh o

St ro llin g

0

All the users are categorized in terms of age, gender and race. It is notable that there is lack of diversity in age groups of user. The dominant users are between 15 to 50, whether it is weekday or weekend. The reason why teenagers or children tend not to be here might be that there is little attraction for them like open and secured space for them to play and no recreational infrastructure. All the kids that I saw were all with their parents or families. Hyde Park Square also demonstrates a more even split between men and women.

10

50%

0 weekday

GE ANALYSIS BY DOMINANT ACTIVITIES walking dog

sitting and eating sitting and talking

walking in and out estaurant or stores strolling <15

15-30

30-50

50-70

70+

MOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

e

Gender

weekend

event

100%

100%

50%

50%

0

0 weekday

weekend event

<15 15-30 30-50 50-70 70+

Race

Female Male

weekday

weekend

event

Caucasion Asian African American

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5

EVALUATION TOOL

Inclusiveness: it is a measurement to show whether the public space is accessible to people in different age groups, race, gender and physical condition as well as whether it is tolerant of wide range of activities.

Meaningful activities: as a neighborhood-wide square, it should serve as a third place for

neighborhood residents to interact and social with each other, that is, meaningful activities. So meaningful activities can indicate if this space is a good family destination and friend gathering place.

Physical configuration: configuration of public space is more about design and layout. Good and human scale design will attract more people to have meaningful activities, like surrounding business

and comfortable furniture. And some neighborhood related symbolic stuff might give people sense of place and sense of belonging.

Management: this dimension can tell us whether the square is well-maintained. Good maintenance and management would promote the use of the place.

Safety: this measurement will investigate if the square is safe when it is dark and if the infrastructure and environment can provide people sense of safety. Traffic safety is important too. Because safety of access of public space will affected by traffic.

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These five dimensions are given different importance, inclusiveness is most important so it occupies 40% of the entire chart. Physical configuration and management is euqally important, as well as meaningful activities and safety, which account 20%, 10% respectively. Each dimension contains a set of evaluation variables which have their own weighting. Based on variables and weighting, they are scored by both subjective and objective evaluation. Finally the outcome can be showed on the color area of the chart. More colored area indicates that public space do better in that dimension. the above two charts represents two extreme situations.

Inclusiveness Variables

Weighting

Score

Presence of people of diverse ages

12

6

Presence of people of diverse race

12

4

Presence of people with diverse physical abilities

8

6

Accessible easily by walking and public transit, parking friendly as well

5

3

Perceived ability to conduct and participate in activities and events in space

3

1

Total

40

20

Percentage

50%

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6

EVALUATION OF PUBLICNESS

Overall, Hyde Park Square is accessible to everyone without restriction and it is well-connected with three main roads in Hyde Park.

There is nice disabled-friendly design on the entrance of the middle park.

However, parking spots are limited around square. although there is street parking on Erie Avenue, they are always occupied. Hyde Park Square is not quite automobile friendly.

On event day, for instance farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market, the road would be blocked away from traffic.

People who drive there need to park somewhere else and then walk there. because of the block of driveway, traffic will be moved to adjacent streets, which causes slight traffic jam.

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Hyde park square is owned by both private sector and public sector since it is composed by middle green space and surrounding commercial uses. Maintenance is mainly governed by private owners like owners of boutiques and stores. They will organize layout or design of the space outside their stores, like setting up tables and chairs. Public sectors work more on the maintenance of public infrastructure like benches and fountain. The user is dominated by public, specifically residents living in Hyde Park.

Since this is a neighborhood place for residents to gather and hang out, it is common to see that people greet to each other when they walk around here. Sometimes, you will see that two strangers start a conversation when they have common topic such as live music or a bottle of wine.

If there is farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market, it facilitates interaction between people, especially between farmers and customers. Besides, more people gather in the green space to enjoy the live performance and food, which promote communication as well.

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7

CRITICAL APPRAISAL

LYNCHâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;GOOD CITY FORM

Vitality: The vitality function of this space is to provide a shopping area and relax space for residents.

People tend to connect their use of green space with surrounding stores or boutiques. Besides, some events are held regularly here to make it more lively.

Sense:The form and spatial design of the square had been decades and it has been the landmark of hyde park neighborhood. The historical elements give residents cultural heritage and related

memory. People tend to organize their important event in this space to make it more meaningful like wedding ceremony.

Fit: There is weekly market during May and October, but it will block the road to fit peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need

like provide space for booths and passengers. The road on both side of middle park create a gap between sidewalk and green space. It limits movement of people to large extent. The size of space does not fit the quantity of activities well.

Access: This space is connected with main roads in Hyde Park without any restriction on users and time. With hadicapped specific ramps, elevated middle space is also accessible by disabled people.

Control: Hyde Park Square is well maintained and controlled by public sector as well as private sectors in terms of public infrastructure, seating area and landscaping,

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GEHLâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;THREE TYPES OF OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES NE

C ES

SARY ACTIVIT

IES

ES

SOC

IA

ES

IV I T I

AC T

IT I

T AC

AL

IV

L

OPTION

Necessary Activities: It refers to the activities which happen or take place every day no matter what kind of weather it is.

Optional Activities: Optional activities are more dependent on weather condition or quality of

space. If the weather is bad, then it is less likely to have optional activities in public space like sitting on the bench and reading.

Social Activities: This kind of activities emphasize the interaction between people

According to previous analysis, we found that most of the activities are necessary activities like strolling, walking to stores or restaurant. The way we improve the quality of public space can be thinking about how to increase more optional activities. As level of optional activity rise, the number of social activities usually increases substantially.

Optional activities

Optional activities Necessary activities

Social activities

Necessary activities Social activities

present

future

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8

CONCLUSION

Hyde Park Square offers people a pleasant and clean space to socialize and relax themselves. Type of activities varies through weekday to weekend. In weekdays, temporary activities are dominant and majority of activities are “necessary activities”.

On weekend, more types of activities take place and people have more innovative way to use this public space, like performance, wedding ceremony. Especially when there is farmers’ market, active engagement activities increase as well as permanent activities. The use of middle park is closely related with peripheral commercial area, but most of the time, people just use it to cross though. The age group and race of user is homogenous—mainly white adult and elder people, which is an epitome of demographics of Hyde Park.

In summary, Hyde Park Square has good physical configuration and management to support public life for residents. However, disadvantages are obvious too, homogenous age group, heavy traffic, and less flexibility. Social activities are highly dependent on events, which are rarely seen on weekday. We should rethink how to increase social interaction between people by physical design or management, instead of just holding events.

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21

PUBLIC SPACE: possibilities and potentialities

PLAN6027

Professor: Vikas Mehta