ABSTRACT
"Life Takes Place on Foot," is the aphorism of Jan Gehl, a Danish architect who is an acute and sympathetic observer of the way that people interact with each other and with their surroundings. Richard Sennett, in The Fall of Public Man, explores how many of these spaces lost their meaning as much of the ritual character of urban life has faded away. Sennett may be correct about the underlying difficulties of achieving real community in public spaces, particularly in a very large city, but there are certainly many design improvements that can make public places both more pleasant and more sociable. Traditional public spaces were not designed for leisure. Market streets and squares were crowded, functional places. Fountains were meeting places because people went there to draw water for their homes. Tall buildings need space around them, and architects began designing plazas to provide an appropriate setting for towers.
