ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the socio-cultural invariant needs that have a bearing on the cognitive perceptions of spatial quality of the urban dweller and distils these into ten urban spatial performance goals (SPGs). Researchers in the urban environment, puzzled as to the reason for the success of some social spaces, and the failure of others to attract and promote social activity despite obviously good attributes, have carried out surveys in order to resolve the problem. Over the course of three years William H. Whyte (1982) conducted a survey of the social life of small urban spaces in downtown New York for the Conservation Foundation. Whyte's survey evaluated the observations of anthropocentric behaviour patterns in New York's small urban spaces and identified elements that were common denominators in the essential functioning and popularity of social spaces. Apparent indifference to the visual quality of the urban environment obscures the subliminal appreciation of the aesthetic appeal of an urban space.
