City Questions

1. Whyte's key points in this chapter were that supply creates demand. A good new space builds its constituency and it gets people into new habits like eating outdoors; induces them to use new paths. He also gives many statistics about people in some of the plazas of New York. About when activity takes place what kind of people are there and a lot of other interesting stuff. The most obvious but overlooked factor in developing a good plaza are the people. You need to draw them in and to do that location is a very important factor in drawing them in. Where people sit and what they sit on also seemed to be a key point in this chapter. During the chapter it talked about the different kinds of seating and what features they all should have. The height of the seating was also a key point. Another key point was how much seating a particular place should actually have. This is very important to think about.

2. The design of urban spaces and the design of consumer products are similar in the fact that the design should be geared to the people that the designers are trying to attract. They both have to sell their product or space by catching a person's attention in a very short time. They are different because products are something the consumer will be able to use and urban spaces are somewhere the person can relax or get things done. Urban spaces can be used for social things like meeting new people while products are usually just for one single person.

3. A checklist used to analyze a public space would be....

• Location, Location, Location. It has to be in a great location.
• The amount of seating around.
• The types of seating ( benches, ledges, chairs, steps)
• The relationship to the street.
• Is the place clean and inviting to others.
• Are people comfortable to be there?