Chapter two: what are the best sizes and shapes, edges and paths? How does the overall nature, size and shape of a public space, its size, its underpinning arrangement and its interaction with surrounding streets and buildings influence how a public space is used or not used? Why do people sit in or enjoy some spaces, or bits of spaces, and not others? We have found evidence of very varying quality, on these crucial questions. There is certainly more work to do. However, the evidence we can find suggests slightly smaller places, with a reassuring ‘sense of enclosure’ and attractive and busy edges are normally best: (1) Edges really matter. People often cluster by them, particularly when they are more comfortable and complex; (2) However, people also like to be able to get directly from A to B, within a space – often cutting diagonally across it; (3) Corners are crucial, where the ‘direct line’ and the ‘edge effect’ reinforce each other; (4) People need some personal space in a square, but not as much as you might think; and (5) It is probably true, but not yet fully-proven, that more enclosed spaces are more successful than less enclosed spaces.
2.1 Edges really matter The edges of streets and squares attract us. This is partly from experience. (It is where we are used to pavements going, even when a street is pedestrianised). But it is also sensory. There is more to look at (shop fronts, cafés) and (in a square) edges allow us to step back from the masses and watch the world go by. Edges permit us, if we wish, simultaneously to enjoy solitude and to do so in a crowd. Public spaces cannot go on for ever and appear to be weaker when they stretch too far. Big is not always best. At least, that is what the theory says. The tendency of ‘people to gravitate towards the edges in the public spaces of coastlands, forests and restaurants’ has been discussed by many theorists and designers. Most famously, Christopher Alexander wrote that ‘If the edge fails, then the space never becomes lively… The success of urban space depends on what can occur along its boundaries.’21 The phenomenon was first termed ‘the edge effect’ by the sociologist Derk De Jonge in the late 1970s.22 But, is it actually true? If you actually study how people behave, do they cluster at edges?
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