ABSTRACT
A prerequisite for studying urban squares is a model of their potential attributes and some model of the potential affordances of their layouts and the objects they could contain for humans and/or other animate species. The approach and available methods, obtrusive or unobtrusive, technology-based or traditional, and the way they should be deployed depends on the purpose of the study. That purpose may be to enhance designers’ theoretical knowledge of the affordances of different types for various users and/or observers within diverse climatic, cultural, and urban contexts. Alternatively, it may be to develop a brief program for designing a new square or redesigning an existing one. The methods used also depend on whose interests are to be served by the study or even by who is funding it. Sometimes, a square is created to be primarily a work of artistic expression or it may be designed to link a part of a city. It may be specifically designed to enhance the commercial function of an area or to provide a civic space for public life. This chapter presents two case studies illustrating traditional and smart technology-based methods that have been used in studying very different squares.
