An Urban Critique

An Urban Critique An analysis of how public spaces work in our cities

By Madhulikaa A.S Aditi Subramanian Jayavartheni.V. K Priyadarshini. A

Table of Contents Table of Contents

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Abstract

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1. Context

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1.1 General Overview

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1.2 New York in the 70s

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2. Introduction

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3. Elements

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3.1 Set 1 of Elements

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3.1.1 Sun

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3.1.2 Wind

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3.1.3 Water

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3.1.4 Trees

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3.1.5 Sittability (benches, ledges)

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3,1.6 Retail shops

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3.1.7 People

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3.2 Set 2 of Elements

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3.2.1 Food

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3.2.2 Steps

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3.2.3 Movable chairs

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3.2.4 Undesirables

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3.3 How do elements come together?

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4. Shift in Scale

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5. Concepts used for understanding cities

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5.1 Placemaking

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5.2 The Bottom Up Approach

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6. Conclusion

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7. Bibliography

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1

Abstract

Why are some plazas popular and some not?

A city is composed of many kinds of public spaces, that are vital to its functioning. The intent of this paper is to show how our outlook of cities have changed through William Whyte’s inputs and observations. We have taken examples of various public plazas, urban spaces and parks in India and tried to understand why they work by dissecting their elements. The paper presents an analysis of the urban fabric with respect to its human interactions. These are compared with the key ideas of the book ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’ while attempting to understand its contextual setting, and see its importance in the current scenario; internationally as well as locally.

This study will lead us to observe various public spaces around us, mainly drawing inferences from our context. It will also include the analysis of other urban design ideas and using them to understand the urban scenario. Our scope will not include the personal spaces in a city, which are confined to people’s houses and other smaller scale indoor spaces like commercial institutions, religious buildings, etc. Larger public areas, or smaller significant ones are the key areas of focus.

Starting from understanding on what really makes a city, we will like to understand on what gives it ​life​ and how to successfully add the ​human touch to the urban fabric.

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1. Context While understanding and analysing the book, what was important was to study the political and socio - economic context of America and New York City. This presents a clearer picture of the formation of certain plazas and parks in the city and the reason behind certain policies and laws which regulated the design of urban spaces in the city.

1.1 General Overview This book, written in the post World War 2 era follows a period of economic boom and expansion in the United States. After the World War, the 1940s to the 1970s was known as the ‘Golden Age of Capitalism’ for countries like the United States, Japan, France and Italy.

This period saw the recognition of labour unions, mass employment and high productivity.

This economic development ended in the early 1970s due to a number of reasons. America was unable to cope with the competitive international market and the changes in the Bretton Woods monetary system. This, coupled with the oil crisis of 1973 led to the recession which lasted till the 1975.

1.2 New York in the 70s The 70s in New York was a period of social and political turmoil. The Economic Recession during 1973 - 1975 was a period of stagnation and led to cuts in law enforcement, compromising on safety and security. President Ford refused to bail the city out of bankruptcy. The city witnessed high crime rates and this led to the flight of the middle class from the city to the suburban areas. Unemployment touched a new low with 500,000 manufacturing jobs being cut, affecting the industrial sector. One fifth of all public workers were laid off in 1975 alone.

Depopulation was evident in the city, with many neighbourhoods like Brooklyn and Bronx emptying out. Arson was a major concern and was accountable for 7 percent of the fires in the city during the 70s. As the Trade Center (the tallest building during 1973) began to loom over the city, apartment buildings were burnt down by landlords who could not afford to maintain them and resorting to collecting insurance instead.

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Tourists in 1975 were handed this ominous brochure that included safety tips and warnings. On the right is the neighbourhood of Bronx which saw a 30 percent decrease in population

An electricity blackout on the 13th and 14th July of 1977 led to citywide looting, vandalism and theft. In the decade, rapes and burglary tripled, while felony assaults and car thefts doubled. The rate of murders increased from 680 to 1690 a year.1 By 1979, 1 million people had moved out of New York creating an abandoned landscape dotted with buildings that had been razed down, and crime infesting the city.

NYC experienced high rates of crime with 1 million people leaving the city

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"Reality Check: is London's murder rate still higher than New York's ...." 14 Jul. 2018, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44807271​. Accessed 4 Aug. 2018.

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2. Introduction To understand what makes a public place successful, it is important to understand that any open space in the heart of the city will not automatically work. There are a basic set of factors, which can change the way people view these places. Whyte aimed to understand why certain plazas worked and some did not. He was puzzled by how open spaces in the heart of New York would be empty throughout the day. The abandoned landscape made him question whether we needed more public spaces, which were being proposed as a result of zoning laws.

He felt we should finish our project implementation and go back to see whether it actually works. He did this through a series of time lapse videos, taken over a period of 10 years in various parts of New York and Chicago. We feel this is a very detailed and accurate observation of the human behaviour and has the power to rubbish all assumptions about the activity of people in public plazas. We have analysed the following plazas and parks in our local, regional and global context, through comparisons and by drawing parallels.

3. Elements Through his study, he has fragmented the public plazas and its success into a list of elements. Through the eyes of an analyst or an urbanist, this is a basic but fundamental study and helps the general public to understand urban ideas. He observes that the amount of sittable space is the most important factor. The other two (shape of plaza and the amount of space) were not completely reliable since both extremities of the factors seem to be successful.

3.1 Set 1 of Elements 3.1.1 Sun In the context of the U.S., people tend to move towards spaces that receive more sunlight. In the presence of the sun, one would have the option of sitting either in the sun, shade or in-between. As Whyte rightly says in the book, “It is then that a space open to the radiant heat of the sun's rays can make the difference between sitting comfortably and not sitting at all.�

However, we understand that this factor is subject to contextual and seasonal change. In India, a mainly tropical country, people tend to move away from the sun in public plazas and prefer more shaded areas.

Cubbon park, Bangalore is an example, the park is open from 6am-8pm and is situated in the heart of the city. In Spite of its location and accessibility the park is crowded only during 5

the non-sunny hours of the day. The trees along the pavement form a shaded corridor for people to move within the park.

People performing yoga in the early morning hours when there is minimum heat.

Source:https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/cubbon-park-bangalore.html

3.1.2 Wind Whyte feels people tend to occupy plazas where is the very minimum or absolutely no wind at all. Due to the advent of skyscrapers, even cities that traditionally weren't windy, became victims to wind drafts.

While this may work out in the US context, we strongly disagree in the Indian context. As mentioned earlier, India being a tropical country, wind would be a very favourable aspect in the success of a public space here, because wind movement helps in removing humidity in coastal areas. But here too moderation is key with regard to amount and force of wind prevalent.

3.1.3 Water

Children playing in Washington Square Park on the 4th of July

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Water is incorporated into the design of a plaza in many ways - waterfalls, waterwalls, rapids, sluiceways, tranquil pools, water tunnels, meandering brook and fountains. According to the author, “Water should be accessible, touchable, splashable.”

He feels that there is no point in providing any kind of water feature if the public is not given access to it. This is interesting because in the Indian context almost all public water bodies are not allowed to be touched or played with by anyone due to security concerns. Allowing for physical access to these water bodies might not work too well in a large plaza, but can work for mini parks.

In Rock garden Chandigarh, the waterfalls attract people in spite of in accessibility, because water is used as a sensory element producing sounds of splash on hitting the rocks as we approach it through the caves. Water can also be used to mask unwanted noise or grey noise but the sound of it will always lure people and to allow for accessibility means greater public interaction.

Waterfall at Rock garden, Chandigarh. Source:http://apnitricity.com/places-to-visit/rock-garden/

3.1.4 Trees Trees bring merits to a plaza in many ways. Apart from its climatic benefits, people, as observed by Whyte, feel “cuddled and nurtured” when they sit under the shade of the tree. A lot of parks we see in our city do not work because of lack of trees.

Public parks, most of them in India are looked at in the aspect of bringing together people based on an activity like walking, playing and jogging. This results in paving huge portions of park without planning trees for shade or removal of trees to provide a lawned space without 7

considering shade from Sun and rain. Sabarmati river is not successful, one of the reasons being whole arena made of concrete making it very hot during most part of the day, without adequate trees to shade the seating it fails the purpose.

3.1.5 Sittability (benches, ledges) As Whyte makes one of his most integral observations, he makes a profound statement about how people tend to sit where there are places to sit. This obvious aspect of the human nature is what he personally felt that benches were not good for sitting as they were isolated from the action of the plazas in most cases. Whereas ledges of appropriate height are one of the most successful spaces. For example the ledge at St. Peter's Church, part of the Citicorp complex is one of the most used sitting places on Lexington Avenue.

The Rock Gardens Chandigarh, has a disadvantage in this regard. The park has a lot of sittable spaces, but the proportion of sittable area to the total area of the park is low. People walk a lot of distance in order to find a seating. Also the seating spaces do not provide much views or experience as opposed to walking trails, which urge people to keep moving rather than taking time to experience various features of the park.

Sitwalls, Ledges and steps at the Seagram Building plaza

3,1.6 Retail shops Retail shops with window displays attract attention. People move in and out of doorways.

This setup is more attractive to a pedestrian than an office/bank at the ground level.

The Sector 17, Chandigarh designed by Le Corbusier provides scope for small retail establishments throughout the public plaza, which serves as pause points for pedestrians.

This is mainly supported by uniform lighting throughout the plaza, which makes it accessible at all times of the day and also provide spaces to gather around. The retail shops also spillover to the plaza in the middle, thereby accommodating various kinds of users.

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Sector 17, Chandigarh.

Source:https://trell.co/experiences/sector-17/city-shopping-plaza-sector-17-chandigarh-ac6fe30346

3.1.7 People

By Whyte’s philosophy, “People attract other people”, although people may claim to dislike being in a crowded place. This was proved by Whyte’s observation of street conversations.

Pedestrians always preferred to start a conversation bang in the middle of the pedestrian flow as it is easier it provides more opportunities to leave, break off or continue the conversation.

This is true in the case of any public place and we have observed that a lot of public parks in our state do not provide that visual connectivity from the streets because they have compound walls or physical boundaries in most cases.

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Effect of set 1 of elements on plazas Effect of set 2 of elements on plazas

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3.2 Set 2 of Elements 3.2.1 Food “Food attracts people who attract more people�

Vendors, snack bars, small outdoor cafes are all people magnets. When people see other people standing in queues and buying food at these places, they too are tempted to do the same.

The Sector 17 in Chandigarh designed by Corbusier. This is highly successful as it has a retail frontage on 3 sides, and is lined by the street on one side. The plaza allows for hawkers to display their wares and for musicians to perform. A water installation forms the focal point of one of the squares. Street food stalls open out into this informal space which turns lively by night. Here we can see many different elements juxtaposed onto one space, but working together and complimenting each other.

Sector 17, Chandigarh

3.2.2 Steps While talking about steps, Whyte says that they work for the reason that they provide flexibility in terms of the size of group it can seat. What is interesting is the observation on the varied user groups that can use this element starting from individuals, couples and groups who turn this into a informal space. find it easy to accommodate themselves on steps. People also lean on a right angled wall and stretch their legs on the steps.

This principle is evidently seen in ghats of Delhi and Varanasi where people congregate for daily activities involving river. This also showcases a lot of spiritual functions in the city. We can see a lot of step wells and temple tanks in India that people gather around in. One of the reasons being, these steps though running along the periphery of a large water body, they

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are broken down into smaller spaces by creating a niche or a platform to house idols and creating level difference within a step.

3.2.3 Movable chairs Whyte talks about the concept of ‘integrated seating here. Addition of components like backrest, armrest maximise sittability. The mobility of a movable chair is its greatest asset according to Whyte This gives the public freedom to move the chair wherever they want, giving them a sense of ownership as well. Hence their whole experience as such enhances.

We feel that this factor isn’t always successful. An analysis of human behaviour shows that fixed seating works because of its inability to be modified and shifted. Benches with backrests form the core of Indian traditional design - from our thinnais on the streets to the fixed seating around the trees in the temple square. These are a combination of the interaction and scale of the streets, the central aspect of the square and most importantly, the ‘immovability’ of the seating.

Source - The Hindu Newspaper, artwork by Surendra

3.2.4 Undesirables As stated by the author, to prevent undesirables from using these open spaces, the designer must make the space more attractive for the common public.

The Sector 17 in Chandigarh designed by Corbusier. This is highly successful as it has a retail frontage on 3 sides, and is lined by the street on one side. The safety of the plaza is not compromised as there is ample visual and physical connectivity along with adequate lighting. The Sabarmati Riverfront Development is not a successful public space because of lack of access, and the absence of a provision for food kiosks. Although it does feature seating and pathways, there is no visual connectivity from the top of the city which leads to lack of usage.

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3.3 How do elements come together?

All these various elements must co-exist for a balance in the public space. Too much of each can render the space unattractive. While looking at urban squares, we noticed there were musicians that brought people, who further

4. Shift in Scale The various places that we have seen, and the cities, are all of different scales. Ranging from mini parks to huge parks in the heart of the city, office plazas and finally the city itself, the size of the public place, its user group and characteristics will change. Whyte felt that the density of people in downtowns of big cities has its own problem but has a strong potential user group of these open spaces in most part of central business districts. Where at least 3000 people an hour pass by a site, with mistakes in design also the place will turn up successful. Smaller cities do not have the density that the bigger cities have that make these public spaces work. Also, may cities have diffused their downtowns by locating new “downtown” developments outside of the downtown, or just far away enough that one element doesn’t support the other.

A small suburb which is getting redesigned cannot be rehabilitated by filling it with huge, modern infrastructure. We feel that there needs to be a connect with the old city, tying strong memories and heritage with more re adaptive spaces. This can be seen in Patrick Geddes ‘conservative surgery’ method where he identifies empty spaces in the old city and changes them into parks, plazas and observatories where people can congregate.

“Each social formation, through each of its material activities, exerts its influence upon the civic whole; and each of its ideas and ideals wins also its place and power.”2

5. ​Concepts used for understanding cities 5.1 Placemaking This book comes as a result of the urban design and city planning ideas that were present before it. The design of futuristic cities imagined with transportation pods and flying cars, as in the case of F.L. Wright’s Broadacre City served as a prelude. Architects like Corbusier, focused on a top down approach which led William Whyte to question the success of newly developed urban spaces. The conclusion of his study was that ​streets were where the growth begins. This approach lets the community stakeholders voice their opinion, because the other way their inputs on places which they inhibit is not considered. Also by this

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"Patrick Geddes Quotes (Author of Cities in Evolution) - Goodreads." https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1465599.Patrick_Geddes​. Accessed 3 Sep. 2018.

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approach, public is directly involved by the response, a mutually transformative relationship is formed between the space and the community.

Placemaking as explained by the Project for Public Spaces

While looking at cities and the urban context, we realised that without participation from the people, there can be no actual growth. The community is who interacts with their surroundings directly. However, more awareness needs to be given to this initiative. In the case of the Gandhi Bazaar redesign and redevelopment, located in Bangalore, the architects displayed their study and analysis in a local park in the area. Over the course of 2 days, they invited the various residents of Basavanagudi, the other users and the vendors of the market to interact and participate in discussions. This allows for a holistic approach and a design which will stay rooted to its fundamental aim.

5.2 The Bottom Up Approach The importance given to the community can also be realised through a term called the ‘Bottom Up Approach’ which was introduced by William Whyte. This method approaches city at a walkable and scalable level. This way, the city grows from places that are used rather than having disciplines, fields and economic capitals as a center to the development. The start of this concept was by Patrick Geddes, a 19th century urbanist who first emphasized on the importance of local to regional to global. Although Le Corbusier, F.L.Wright were

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revolutionary designers, the idea of ‘the city as a machine for living’3 doesn’t appeal to us.

We agree more with Jan Gehl, another contemporary of Whyte, who said, “The Human dimension - neglected, overlooked and phased out.”

By designing cities first for the humans makes it reactionary and confirms to the concept Social Capital where the design should start with an understanding of how a place should be used or how the public would like to use a space. Whyte said that, “People vote with their feet – they use spaces that are easy to use, that are comfortable.

They don’t use the spaces that are not”.

6. Conclusion Whyte’s study is very relevant in today’s world as it is a thorough documentation of a time space activity. While climatic factors are context based, some general factors may be considered as paramount in drawing people to a space. An analyst and a ‘people watcher’, he introduced many key ideas to the field of urbanism that have influenced planners and architects. We understand that the street is where the quintessence of human interaction lies and it is here that cities are born, made and developed through.

Indian cities do not focus on the liveability and useability of public spaces - their qualitative aspects are not taken into account. From the analysis we realise that while our traditional and the modern era of design are inclusive of the human behavioural aspect (Corbusier, Doshi, etc), current day planning looks at cities from a very rigid approach.

What was appealing to us was the sociological aspect of a city - often cities are designed for vehicles, transit and infrastructure without considering the ‘human factor’. Whyte brings a very real and relatable image to the city - of candid human behaviour in relation with its surroundings. He reiterates that design can be simple and work, and need not be complex and we feel this is an important take - away that can be applied to a complex scale like the city. To focus on smaller places, closer to us, that we can relate to - lies at the heart of successful and happy urban spaces.

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"Machines for Living In: Le Corbusier's Pivotal "Five Points of ...." 19 Feb. 2018, https://99percentinvisible.org/article/machines-living-le-cobusiers-pivotal-five-points-architecture/​.

Accessed 3 Sep. 2018.

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7. Bibliography ● ●

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Whyte, W. (1980). The social life of small urban spaces. New York: Project for Public Spaces.

Www1.nyc.gov. (2018). City Planning History - DCP. [online] Available at: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/about/city-planning-history.page [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].

Pps.org. (2018). Why Whyte: More than 40 Years Later His Words Inspire and Inform. [online] Available at: https://www.pps.org/article/why-whyte-more-than-40-years-later-his-words-inspire-an d-inform [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].

All That's Interesting. (2018). 1970s New York Was An Absolutely Terrifying Place: 41 Photos. [online] Available at: https://allthatsinteresting.com/1970s-new-york-photos#6 [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].

Pps.org. (2018). Jane Jacobs. [online] Available at: https://www.pps.org/article/jjacobs-2 [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].

Liu, S. and Liu, S. (2018). History of NYC Zoning & Building Types. [online] KPF Urban Interface. Available at: http://ui.kpf.com/blog/2016/5/20/history-of-nyc-zoning [Accessed 4 Aug. 2018].

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