Enhancing Physical Activity Through Imageable Spaces

Enhancing Physical Activity Through Imageable Spaces An Urban Tissue Analysis

Kasheka Chitkara

CD 504: Theories of Urban Design

Fall 2023

Overview

Understanding Placemaking, Physical Activity, and Community as a Symbiotic Relationship Individual Participates in Public Urban Physical Activity

Individual health benefits

Motivates others to participate in healthier behaviors

Creates community cohesion

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“Environmental images are the result of a two-way process between the observer and his environment. The environment suggests distinctions and relations, and the observer-with great adaptability and in the light of his own purposes--selects, organizes, and endows with meaning what he sees” - Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City

Introduction: It should come as no surprise that the promotion of physical activities in urban environments is crucial to the health and wellness of the communities that utilize them. This relationship is symbiotic, as it not only benefits the individual participant but their communities, and the ecology of the city as a whole. Spaces that provide the opportunity to perform physical activities are essential to the community wellbeing, and often motivate residents to participate, improve, and protect their communities. Focusing on activities such as walking and running that are exercises with low barriers to entry, and curating environments to increase the motivation to participate in these activities provide a wide variety of urban benefits Kevin Lynch has witten extensively on the how good designs can influence behavior. In this urban tissue analysis, Lynch’s elments of imageability - paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks - will be assessed in their ability to motivate physical activity in urban landscapes. These frameworks will be used to measure psychological understanding and attachment to a given environment, including any specific spatial qualities of Lynch’s elments that may be strong promoters of physical activity. If high levels of imageability can be associated with physical activity promotion, imageability can be understood not only as a measure of psychological safety, but community wellness as well.

Considerations for Analysis:

Imageability refers to an individual’s ease in gaining familiarity and psychological comfort within their environment.

Running and walking are the activities that will be observed in this analysis, due to their accessibility.

Paths are defined as streets, sidewalks, or any surface used for continuous walking or running. Paths will be evaluated through the intersection of qualities that have proven to make them moreimageable, as well as more likely to be utilized for exercise.

Landmarks are memorable points of reference along a selected route: monuments, public art, notable buildings/sites.

Landmarks will be evaluated for both physical and intrinsic qualities.

Districts include greenspace, blusepace, specific two-dimensional areas with common characteristics. Districts, for the purpose of this exercise, will be specifically evaluated for their inclusion of the presence of natural elements.

Activity is defined as the assumed intention of physical activity. Activity will be used to help assess current success of imageability along with the spatial elements of the toolkit.

Landmarks

• Frequency: how often a landmark is present on a given route.

• Type and Size: what type of landmark it is, and how much space it takes.

• Uniqueness: the ability of the landmark to distinguish itself.

Site

District • Biodiversity: presence of diverse biological elements • Aesthetics: the landscape design of the district • Facade: connectedness, or lack thereof, of the green/bluespace to the rest of the city.

Utilizing the popular activty-tracking app, Strava, data was crowdsourced and a 3.5-mile route was selected based on popularity. Imageability elements were observed based on 5 identified districts, due to the observed elements having commonalities based on the given area.

Riverwalk

Methods

Toolkit

Parkside

Inner City

Lakefront

Paths • Entropy: the level of emotional ease of navigation of streets.

• Distinctness: the ability to differentiate between streets.

• Obstacles: the presence of, or lack thereof, physical obstacles on paths.

• Climate Resilience: design choices made to protect against meteorological elements.

• Social Opportunity: space that has the potential for socializing.

• Signage: any signage that allows for the individual to calibrate location through visual signs.

• Directness: refers to any stops the individual must make on route.

Activity • Demographic: age of participants to determine accessibility • Activity Diversity: diversity in activities performed

Date: Thursday, November 30th, 2023 Time: 12:00 PM Temperature: 50° Weather: Partly Cloudy, 16mph Winds

Museum Campus

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Riverwalk

Paths

District

Paths provided significant ease of navigation with very high levels of entropy and distinctness. Signage and seating were present, and wind impact to activities was reduced due to the low setting of the district.

Landmarks

The Chicago Riverwalk section of this route consisted of significant biodiversity in relation to both its central river, as well as the utilization of aesthetic greenery along the district. In terms of facade, it is somewhat isolated from other green and bluespaces in the city.

Activity

Utilizing landmarks for spatial calibration within the context of the Riverwalk was found to be difficult due to its monotonous design. Notable landmarks included the river’s bridges as markers (rather than unique landmarks), as well as the distinct Marina City buildings.

Observed activities and demographics included predominantly professional nearby workers, mostly walking or eating lunch. A small number of runners were present.

Bridges

Bluespace Greenspace

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Marina City Clear, distinct paths

Inner City

Chicago Theater

Homogenous design

Path obstacles

Paths Paths were windy and the presence of city elements such as pigeons proved to be obstacles during activity. Streets were hard to navigate through due to car and foot traffic, and streets were mostly homogenous.

District The Inner City district of this route lacked biodiversity, but was connected by green and blue space districts on either side. Aesthetics were typical of an inner city district, complete with tall buildings and utilitarian infrastructure.

Landmarks Landmarks were associated with the district.

The route shared space with the Chicago Theater District, and landmarks found included large theater signs.

Activity Activities observed consisted mostly of tourists walking for the purpose of tourism.

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Parkside

Paths Paths were clear and direct with high levels of entropy. Due to significant amounts of greenspace, navigation was somewhat easy, but difficult to calibrate location. Plenty of seating was available throughout the area.

Landmarks Landmarks observed included different elements of the district, as well as significant edges. These consisted of distinct parks and the beginning of the lakefront.

District District was filled with signficiant biodiversity in terms of greenspace.

Aesthetics were typical a well-manicured park, and the area was well connected to bluespace in the city.

Seating

Activity Activities included a high number of leisure walkers of all demographics, including individuals walking with dogs. Runners were also present.

Tennis Courts Chase Promenade Maggie Daley Park Lakefront Start Greenspace Pedestrian Paths

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Lakefront

Bluespace

Yacht Club

Seating

Buckingham Fountain

Paths Greenspace Walkways/Bikeways

Paths were direct and clear, with adequate signage and dedicated activity path markings. The area included plenty of seating. Wind was turbulent, and obstacles included geese and their droppings.

Landmarks Landmarks in the context of this space mostly included route markers because of the directness of the path.

District District was biodiverse and aesthetically pleasing. The area is so vast and functions independently, but is easily accessible from other parts of the city.

Activity Activities observed included a high number of walkers, runners, and bikers.

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Museum

Paths Paths were significantly clear, direct, and distinct. There was a high number of seating options, and the area was very windy.

Landmarks Landmarks observed included the main elements of the district.

District District had significant bluespace, but no other biodiversity. The area is disconnected from the rest of the city, and aesthetics were associated with the purpose the area serves.

Activity There were very few individuals in this area. Only one person was observed; a runner.

Shedd Aquarium Bluespace

Planetarium Seating

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Districts • Original visualization of findings was planned to be organized by toolkit element, however upon completion it was found that districts themselves were key in identifying common imageability characteristics among them.

• Districts were all distinct and diverse, with unique design elements in relation to their functions for each.

• Common elements of districts with high levels of activity included strong entropy, direct paths, seating, and biodiversity.

• However, it was observed that it was not the presence of these elements independently, but the presence of them together, diversely that correlated with higher activity utilization.

Results

Analysis Findings

Diversity • In the example of the Museum district, there are a high number of highly imageable elements.

• However, the district had the least number of individuals in the area, let alone participating in a physical activity.

• The area lacked diversity in these elements. The district was isolated from the rest of the city, the infastructure was monotonous, and there was a complete lack of greenspace in pedestrian areas.

Landmarks • The identification of an urban element as a Landmark was greatly associated with its relationship to other imageability elements.

• For districts with more direct paths, landmarks were used more as markers than for their distinctness.

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Conclusion

Limitations • Site Selection - site was selected utilizing crowdsourced data that may or may not be reflective of large populations in terms of spaces that promote physical activity.

• Observations - observational data gathered was limited by a variety of elements, including time of day and year and weather.

Future Research Future considerations for additional research on this topic would include multi-season assessments of route, imageability comparisons to other routes and their findings, as well as interviews with seasoned runners and individuals in regards to route selection and physical activty.

Conclusion Though internal motivation is a key component in motivating individuals to participate in physical exercise, elements of the built environment can aid in bridging the intention-behavior gap. Imageability elements of spaces can be used as design frameworks for creating urban environments that motivate individuals to run or walk outdoors.

No individual imageability element is solely responsible for this motivation, and it is rather the diverse grouping of these elements and their role within districts that could allow for increased environmental utilization for phyiscal activities. Designers can use Lynch’s imageability guidelines as a foundational framework for building communities that motivate people to live healthier lifestyles, but they must also leverage their skills in focusing on the relationship between these elements in a cityscape, as well as programming districts for multi-purpose utilization to reap the greatest benefits for the people they design for.

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