ABSTRACT

In working on an update of New York City’s comprehensive plan in the late 1960s, William H. Whyte began pondering the design effectiveness of the city’s plazas, playgrounds, and parks. Because of developers’ growing desire for taller skyscrapers, the city had begun to grant density and height bonuses in exchange for public space amenities at the base of new buildings. Whyte applied for a grant to study plaza use, plaza form, general street life, playgrounds, and parks in New York and other cities. Along with a group of young, energetic research assistants, Whyte’s Street Life Project researched the effectiveness and use of these public spaces over a multiyear period. The team developed innovative methods of observing and mapping physical activity in the public realm, including the use of time-lapse photography, film, unobtrusive observation, behavior mapping, questionnaires, personal interviews, and pedestrian path analysis.