Draft Final Report
September 2006
September 2006
Space Syntax Limited
The life on an urban dweller is made up of series upon series of everyday pedestrian journeys.The public realm is the setting in which these journeys unfold and, occasionally, in which they pause. People use the public domain to move between private origins and destinations (from a house to an office, for example), between public origins and destinations (from the train station to the shopping mall), or between a mixture of the two. And sometimes people stop – perhaps to rest, ask directions, browse in a market or take refreshment.
The purposes people have for moving and stopping may be necessary or practical (to buy food or re-energise themselves), or they may be optional or recreational (walking for exercise or people-watching). In fact, the presence of the latter – leisure activities – is often taken as a sign of a successful urban area.
The public domain offers opportunities for socialising with others, and high rates of socialising are another traditional sign of success. But of course, the city can also be a place for solitude. In the end, the true success for a city or town lies in the creation and maintenance of a network of spaces that support a variety of uses and users. Knowing about the relative levels of usage for streets, squares, walkways, bridges, and other
spaces helps agencies responsible for creating and maintaining the public domain to better target limited resources. Pedestrian behaviour baseline assessments can assist in this process. These studies are concerned with the routes and public spaces individuals choose to use – either while going about their necessary daily tasks, or while spending their leisure time – and, in the patterns such decisions form, in aggregate.
The purposes people have for moving and stopping may be necessary or practical (to buy food or re-energise themselves), or they may be optional or recreational (walking for exercise or people-watching). In fact, the presence of the latter – leisure activities – is often taken as a sign of a successful urban area.
The public domain offers opportunities for socialising with others, and high rates of socialising are another traditional sign of success. But of course, the city can also be a place for solitude. In the end, the true success for a city or town lies in the creation and maintenance of a network of spaces that support a variety of uses and users. Knowing about the relative levels of usage for streets, squares, walkways, bridges, and other
spaces helps agencies responsible for creating and maintaining the public domain to better target limited resources. Pedestrian behaviour baseline assessments can assist in this process. These studies are concerned with the routes and public spaces individuals choose to use – either while going about their necessary daily tasks, or while spending their leisure time – and, in the patterns such decisions form, in aggregate.
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| Pedestrian in Berkeley, photo by huberton |
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