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There Are Numerous Public Open Spaces In Urban Areas, Yet

Decent Essays

There are numerous public open spaces in urban areas, yet surprisingly many of them suffer from people’s under-use rather than overuse of them, even on the most beautiful days. The film focuses on discovering the different elements that, altogether, create successful open spaces in urban areas. This was done through observing what people did and where they sat in those places, and identifying what attracts people to certain open spaces more than others. The first element is ‘sit-able space’. People tend to sit where there are places to sit. More importantly, sit-able spaces need to be comfortable, hospitable, not isolated, not socially awkward (e.g. Small benches), and there needs to be a variety of them to allow people the freedom to …show more content…

The sixth element is ‘triangulation’. This is achieved by having something in open spaces which attracts people, brings them together, and creates and environment which allows for conversations between strangers to occur (e.g. sculptures, mimes, etc.).

This film opened my eyes to many of the different human behavioral patterns and community design elements which I never really noticed or thought about before. It also made me realize how elements as simple as the ones introduced in the film can be crucial for creating a great urban space. For instance, I was very surprised to know that most people in open spaces spend their time looking at what other people are doing, and that most people do not stop and talk in the middle of large spaces, instead they do so at steps, flag poles, edges, and things of the like. I also found it very interesting that men tend to occupy the front row of table seats in open spaces, while women tend to occupy the back row of table seats in open spaces. There were three things in the movie which really stood out to me and made me stop and think. The first thing was that it never occurred to me how cruel it is to put water before people in open spaces, then disallow them from using it. The purpose of open spaces should be to bring enjoyment and comfort to its users. So if there is water in an open space, it should contribute to the enjoyment of people, otherwise its presence is useless. The second thing

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