1 00:00:48,911 --> 00:00:53,146 This is the plaza of the Seagram Building in New York, late morning. 2 00:00:53,146 --> 00:00:58,500 For the timelapse camera, we were testing a hypothesis: the sun, we were pretty sure, 3 00:00:58,500 --> 00:01:02,990 would be the chief factor in determining where people would sit or not sit. 4 00:01:02,990 --> 00:01:09,187 Now, just after twelve, they begin to sit right where the sun is. 5 00:01:09,187 --> 00:01:13,315 I was enormously pleased. What a perfectly splendid correlation! 6 00:01:13,315 --> 00:01:18,680 It was quite misleading as we were to see later, but it was a very encouraging way to start. 7 00:01:20,952 --> 00:01:25,133 We were studying the Seagram Plaza because it was one of the most popular. 8 00:01:25,133 --> 00:01:28,142 Many people didn't think that it would be, but it was, 9 00:01:28,142 --> 00:01:30,951 and we wanted to find out why. 10 00:01:30,951 --> 00:01:36,745 Our research group, the Street Life Project, had been observing other kinds of city spaces. 11 00:01:39,752 --> 00:01:43,058 One was a block off 101st St. in East Harlem. 12 00:01:44,586 --> 00:01:50,914 We didn't know it at the time, but almost every factor that later we were to find 13 00:01:50,914 --> 00:01:55,364 was important for a city space, we could have found out right here. 14 00:01:55,364 --> 00:01:57,911 The clues were right under our noses. 15 00:02:09,416 --> 00:02:13,803 We had studied play areas such as this adventure playground. 16 00:02:13,803 --> 00:02:18,283 It was very good one, too. Wonderfully messy, lots of dirt and mud, 17 00:02:18,283 --> 00:02:20,859 and the water that kids loved so much. 18 00:02:20,859 --> 00:02:24,970 Sometimes it was crowded, and this was a problem that we were very interested in, 19 00:02:24,970 --> 00:02:29,663 because we had started out with great concern over the problem of urban overcrowding. 20 00:02:30,496 --> 00:02:34,517 But, the more we studied this play area and other play areas, 21 00:02:34,517 --> 00:02:38,154 the more we began to realize that the great problem of these spaces 22 00:02:38,154 --> 00:02:40,898 is not overuse, but under use. 23 00:02:40,898 --> 00:02:45,208 Even this playground - a very good one - on a day like now, 24 00:02:45,208 --> 00:02:50,004 which is a beautiful day in July, sometimes is almost completely empty 25 00:02:50,004 --> 00:02:51,860 except for the play director. 26 00:02:53,112 --> 00:02:58,295 When we looked at the center of the city, we found under use was even more apparent. 27 00:02:58,977 --> 00:03:05,266 Most office building plazas were empty most of the time, even at lunch on a beautiful day. 28 00:03:05,266 --> 00:03:07,570 Now, it wasn't meant to be that way. 29 00:03:07,570 --> 00:03:12,978 The city had been giving bonuses - floor space bonuses - to builders for providing plazas. 30 00:03:12,988 --> 00:03:16,374 If the builders did, they could add more floors to their building. 31 00:03:16,374 --> 00:03:17,675 And, so they did. 32 00:03:17,971 --> 00:03:20,830 They built the extra floors, and got all that extra money, 33 00:03:20,830 --> 00:03:24,455 and in return, they gave these empty spaces. 34 00:03:24,455 --> 00:03:27,984 In other cities, whether through the bonus provision or not, 35 00:03:27,984 --> 00:03:32,477 builders seemed to come up with the same kind of dreary, empty spaces. 36 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,933 But, some plazas had lots of people, like the Seagram. 37 00:03:40,933 --> 00:03:46,354 Suppose we could find out what it was that made the good ones work, and the others not. 38 00:03:46,354 --> 00:03:49,260 We put the matter to the planning commission. 39 00:03:49,269 --> 00:03:54,447 They said if we could nail down the answers - back them up with facts - 40 00:03:54,447 --> 00:03:58,047 they would draw up a new zoning resolution for open spaces. 41 00:03:58,047 --> 00:03:59,782 So, we went to work. 42 00:03:59,782 --> 00:04:04,492 We set up cameras for time-lapse coverage of a cross-section of spaces - 43 00:04:04,492 --> 00:04:07,830 about fourteen plazas and three small parks. 44 00:04:07,830 --> 00:04:12,619 But, our main technique was simple, direct observation. 45 00:04:12,619 --> 00:04:17,867 We made up maps for each of the spaces and then we would go around periodically, 46 00:04:17,867 --> 00:04:21,025 and map where the people sat, what they were doing, 47 00:04:21,025 --> 00:04:23,904 what the time of day was, the temperature, and so on. 48 00:04:24,308 --> 00:04:28,649 And, it doesn't take much longer to do this than to make a simple headcount. 49 00:04:28,649 --> 00:04:34,571 But, as you build up the record, a number of patterns begin to appear. 50 00:04:34,571 --> 00:04:39,835 The first thing that strikes you is the extraordinary diversity of activity - 51 00:04:39,835 --> 00:04:44,544 people reading, eating, talking, playing games. 52 00:04:44,544 --> 00:04:48,570 The sociability is really rather important and we found that the proportion of 53 00:04:48,570 --> 00:04:52,282 people in groups can tell you a number of things. 54 00:04:52,282 --> 00:04:56,463 The most used plazas tend to have a higher proportion of people 55 00:04:56,463 --> 00:05:00,365 in twos and threes than the less successful ones. 56 00:05:00,365 --> 00:05:04,985 But, the most sociable plazas also have, in absolute numbers, 57 00:05:04,985 --> 00:05:06,820 the greatest number of individuals. 58 00:05:07,273 --> 00:05:11,560 A busy place, for some reason, seems to be the most congenial kind of place 59 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:17,117 if you wanna be alone, or talk, as this man is, to onseself. 60 00:05:18,197 --> 00:05:23,752 The number one activity is people looking at other people. 61 00:05:23,752 --> 00:05:26,721 But, it is a point that is overlooked in many, many designs. 62 00:05:27,841 --> 00:05:32,522 Here are the girl watchers! Now, they are a bit disdainful. 63 00:05:32,522 --> 00:05:37,280 Sort of looking down their nose as though the girls weren't quite worthy of their talents. 64 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:44,227 But it's all machismo. We have never, ever seen a girl watcher make a pass at a girl. 65 00:05:44,227 --> 00:05:47,344 We've seen very few others do that for that matter. 66 00:05:47,344 --> 00:05:50,277 For some reason, there isn't much mixing. 67 00:05:50,277 --> 00:05:55,200 Those two blondes might as well be several miles away for all the ostensible 68 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,117 attention that's going to be paid to them. 69 00:05:59,777 --> 00:06:03,365 Note the two men circling in the background. 70 00:06:03,365 --> 00:06:07,824 This is a rather characteristic pattern; we call it the 'traveling conversation', 71 00:06:07,824 --> 00:06:14,873 and you will see them move in sort of an orbit, ever circling right out in front of the plaza. 72 00:06:16,469 --> 00:06:20,265 Lovers. If you want to see the lovers, people told us, look in the back. 73 00:06:20,265 --> 00:06:22,846 We did. They weren't there. They're out front. 74 00:06:22,846 --> 00:06:27,041 Most of the lovers that we spotted at Seagrams were usually to be found 75 00:06:27,041 --> 00:06:32,897 in the middle of the pool ledge, one side or the other - the most conspicuous of spots. 76 00:06:32,897 --> 00:06:37,326 This fellow's gonna look at his watch to see if he can spare a bit more time. 77 00:06:40,476 --> 00:06:43,158 Another fine place is the corner. 78 00:06:43,158 --> 00:06:46,817 There's usually an audience there and one gets the feeling that the actors 79 00:06:46,817 --> 00:06:48,833 don't mind this in the slightest. 80 00:06:57,143 --> 00:07:01,720 Let's look now at some of the physical features and how they affect use. 81 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,048 Notice the narrow strip between the pool and the ledge. 82 00:07:05,048 --> 00:07:07,832 The architects purposely made it narrow. 83 00:07:07,832 --> 00:07:12,047 They didn't want people to be tempted to use the ledge and perhaps fall off. 84 00:07:12,047 --> 00:07:15,845 They didn't make it quite narrow enough; one can negotiate it. 85 00:07:15,845 --> 00:07:19,212 A little bit of trouble for older people, which it tends to filter out. 86 00:07:19,212 --> 00:07:22,114 But, the younger people find it a definite challenge. 87 00:07:22,114 --> 00:07:24,801 The ledge has become one of the most popular of spots 88 00:07:24,801 --> 00:07:27,416 and attracts a rather raffish element. 89 00:07:32,606 --> 00:07:35,894 At peak times, the front ledge is the one most heavily used, 90 00:07:35,894 --> 00:07:38,905 especially by younger people who tend to the front. 91 00:07:39,555 --> 00:07:43,459 These elegantly simple steps are a very important feature. 92 00:07:43,459 --> 00:07:47,966 They're low, and they're easy. They're easy to go up and down. 93 00:07:47,966 --> 00:07:53,389 They're also easy to sit on, and the corner has a right angle that's fine for groups. 94 00:07:53,389 --> 00:07:55,138 But, there's a problem. 95 00:07:55,138 --> 00:07:59,448 The corners of the steps are precisely where the main flow 96 00:07:59,448 --> 00:08:02,735 of people to and from the buildings can be found. 97 00:08:02,735 --> 00:08:08,214 Yet, this is where people like to stand, and to sit, and to block the traffic. 98 00:08:08,214 --> 00:08:10,350 There are usually a few feet here and there for passage. 99 00:08:10,350 --> 00:08:15,255 Though, sometimes it does get a little difficult, you have to pick your way very carefully. 100 00:08:15,255 --> 00:08:19,815 But, it's a friendly kind of congestion, and later things do clear up a bit. 101 00:08:21,315 --> 00:08:25,086 Now, we come to another junction: the street corner. 102 00:08:25,086 --> 00:08:29,323 It has a social life of its own and as we saw a little bit earlier 103 00:08:29,323 --> 00:08:33,067 with those two orbiting executives, it connects with the life of the plaza. 104 00:08:34,025 --> 00:08:36,884 The corner is a great place for impromptu conferences. 105 00:08:36,884 --> 00:08:40,574 Especially so at around two o'clock when the lunch groups break up. 106 00:08:48,184 --> 00:08:52,114 When people stop to talk, they don't move off to one side. 107 00:08:52,115 --> 00:08:55,196 They move smack into the middle of the traffic stream. 108 00:08:55,196 --> 00:08:59,175 This corner in front of the city court building has a very high frequency 109 00:08:59,175 --> 00:09:04,398 of such meetings, and the number one spot for them is the geographic center. 110 00:09:04,398 --> 00:09:07,794 Another favorite spot is the front of the steps leading to the subway, 111 00:09:07,794 --> 00:09:10,218 and even at rush hour. 112 00:09:10,218 --> 00:09:14,993 A third is at the corner, directly athwart the north-south pedestrian flow. 113 00:09:16,054 --> 00:09:19,587 And, these heavy flows, of course, are a reason why chance encounters are 114 00:09:19,587 --> 00:09:21,347 such a high probability here. 115 00:09:21,347 --> 00:09:25,965 Why there are so many 'hellos' and 'goodbyes', and particularly protracted goodbyes. 116 00:09:25,965 --> 00:09:31,938 There's another kind of activity we call 'people just standing there alone'. 117 00:09:31,938 --> 00:09:35,117 Life swirls about and they let it all pass by. 118 00:09:35,117 --> 00:09:36,599 They just stand there. 119 00:09:41,682 --> 00:09:45,469 Back to Seagrams. When we plotted the off-peak use, we found that 120 00:09:45,469 --> 00:09:49,298 over the long haul, this rear space is the most favored. 121 00:09:51,468 --> 00:09:54,492 It's the best of both worlds: you can see the show up front, 122 00:09:54,492 --> 00:09:58,403 you're not cut out from it at all, but under those trees you feel protected. 123 00:09:58,418 --> 00:10:01,490 It's a little like being under the awning of a cafe. 124 00:10:07,898 --> 00:10:12,473 As we move from the rear, we see another aspect of the place that's quite fascinating: 125 00:10:12,473 --> 00:10:14,649 the movement of people across it. 126 00:10:14,649 --> 00:10:18,830 Choreography is wonderful, and choreography really is the right word. 127 00:10:18,839 --> 00:10:23,180 The way people move, circle, stop, speed up, colors they wear. 128 00:10:23,180 --> 00:10:26,433 There's a beauty that they must often sense themselves. 129 00:10:26,433 --> 00:10:29,591 You see none of this in architectural photographs - usually quite empty 130 00:10:29,591 --> 00:10:34,273 of people - but visually, this movement is the ultimate test of a design. 131 00:10:37,193 --> 00:10:39,484 And, there's a lot of skill here. 132 00:10:41,765 --> 00:10:45,345 We've tracked people in scores of crossing patterns with a digital timer, 133 00:10:45,345 --> 00:10:46,845 and never do they collide. 134 00:10:46,845 --> 00:10:50,234 A tiny hand signal, a brief ritard, a tenth of a second. 135 00:10:50,234 --> 00:10:52,317 Timing is absolutely superlative. 136 00:10:52,978 --> 00:10:56,732 Think of the computers, the radar it would take to make their equivalent. 137 00:11:00,752 --> 00:11:02,600 Now, what's not taking place? 138 00:11:02,604 --> 00:11:06,484 People don't often stop to talk in the middle of a large space. 139 00:11:11,086 --> 00:11:14,864 They like to find places: steps, edges, flag poles. 140 00:11:16,764 --> 00:11:18,887 Here's a map of a week's activity. 141 00:11:18,898 --> 00:11:23,092 The red squares are where people stop to talk: fifty-one instances in all. 142 00:11:23,092 --> 00:11:25,287 Only a few were in the center. 143 00:11:27,287 --> 00:11:31,886 We come to the question: why do some plazas work and others not? 144 00:11:31,891 --> 00:11:35,763 We rank fifteen plazas by the average number of people sitting, 145 00:11:35,763 --> 00:11:41,501 running somewhere around 170 down to about a handful - 20 or 30. 146 00:11:41,501 --> 00:11:44,583 Now, most of these plazas are comparable in size. 147 00:11:44,583 --> 00:11:46,279 Why then the difference? 148 00:11:46,279 --> 00:11:48,786 Was it the amount of open space? 149 00:11:51,426 --> 00:11:54,284 No, if anything there's a reverse correlation. 150 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,000 What about sittable space? 151 00:11:59,740 --> 00:12:05,006 Here we get a bit closer, and had we ranked these in terms of quality of sitting, 152 00:12:05,006 --> 00:12:06,801 we would have a much clearer relationship. 153 00:12:07,298 --> 00:12:12,173 We checked many other things: elevation, male/female ratio, space, and so on. 154 00:12:12,173 --> 00:12:15,376 Charts in stupefying succession. 155 00:12:15,376 --> 00:12:21,815 But, as we put them all together, one major finding began to shine through. 156 00:12:21,815 --> 00:12:24,044 And, I'll now share it with you. 157 00:12:28,404 --> 00:12:31,491 This might not strike you as an intellectual bombshell, 158 00:12:31,494 --> 00:12:36,805 but, this simple lesson is one that very few cities have ever heeded. 159 00:12:36,805 --> 00:12:38,320 They're tough places to sit in. 160 00:12:41,490 --> 00:12:45,938 And, what's most aggravating are the number of plazas that would be excellent 161 00:12:45,938 --> 00:12:48,304 for sitting if only they weren't so hard. 162 00:12:50,731 --> 00:12:51,911 Or wet. 163 00:12:53,431 --> 00:12:57,516 Or had fussy little railings placed to get you right in the small of the back. 164 00:12:57,516 --> 00:12:59,393 Here, another two inches and you'd be comfortable. 165 00:12:59,393 --> 00:13:04,620 Shrubbery and candid ledges - very useful for keeping people off. 166 00:13:04,620 --> 00:13:09,174 But, we found that people are very adaptable, press down on your heel and you can do it. 167 00:13:09,974 --> 00:13:12,342 Sometimes, you gotta play rough. 168 00:13:18,486 --> 00:13:22,373 But, as we found out, people are very adaptable. 169 00:13:24,169 --> 00:13:27,113 Older people like to sit in the sun here, can't have that. 170 00:13:27,113 --> 00:13:31,667 Management put in these stones, and now the older people don't sit here anymore. 171 00:13:34,877 --> 00:13:40,816 This artifact is a designed object, the purpose of which is to punctuate architectural photographs. 172 00:13:43,881 --> 00:13:48,125 It has some utility has a bench, but is usually placed in isolation. 173 00:13:49,705 --> 00:13:54,145 The dimensions are exquisitely wrong, and not just for physical reasons, 174 00:13:54,145 --> 00:13:55,788 important as they may be. 175 00:13:55,788 --> 00:14:00,342 Small benches are socially awkward. If there's a crowd, people will sit. 176 00:14:00,342 --> 00:14:02,635 But, they're not very relaxed about it. 177 00:14:02,635 --> 00:14:06,475 So, to the first reccomendation: make the place sittable. 178 00:14:06,475 --> 00:14:10,251 The minimum suggested requirement: one linear foot of sitting space 179 00:14:10,251 --> 00:14:12,938 for every 30 square feet of open space. 180 00:14:12,938 --> 00:14:17,348 It's easy to meet. They did it at Seagrams by leaving it sittable. 181 00:14:17,348 --> 00:14:20,863 Inherently, most places are, or should be. 182 00:14:20,863 --> 00:14:24,607 And, for a lesson in this, let's go to St. Mark's Square in Venice. 183 00:14:30,497 --> 00:14:33,445 The chairs of the cafes are what you first notice. 184 00:14:40,335 --> 00:14:43,354 But, look closer and you'll see that there is a great deal of sitting 185 00:14:43,354 --> 00:14:48,292 space built into the plaza - ledges and steps - and not inadvertently either. 186 00:14:48,292 --> 00:14:53,401 Those early urban designers were way ahead of us in providing the simple amenities. 187 00:14:53,401 --> 00:14:58,393 Where the nobles once hatched their intrigue by the imbroglio, as they call it. 188 00:14:58,393 --> 00:15:02,331 There are tourists, but the sitting patterns are much the same. 189 00:15:03,591 --> 00:15:06,978 Make the most of ledges, especially the front row! 190 00:15:11,370 --> 00:15:13,556 And make them, two back sides deep. 191 00:15:13,556 --> 00:15:17,577 The point is not to double the number of sitters, but to give them more choice, 192 00:15:17,577 --> 00:15:21,961 and this is very important for their perception of crowding or not crowding. 193 00:15:22,534 --> 00:15:27,184 Here's an excellent example: note how each surface can do double duty. 194 00:15:27,184 --> 00:15:30,779 Together they provide almost an infinity sitting combinations. 195 00:15:36,117 --> 00:15:39,887 Step ledges are good and they offer lots of choice. 196 00:15:39,892 --> 00:15:42,472 They go very well with grass. Grass that you can sit on. 197 00:15:46,876 --> 00:15:50,737 Planters make good sitting if they're not too high, too many are. 198 00:15:52,377 --> 00:15:54,702 They should be low and they should be hospitable. 199 00:15:57,058 --> 00:16:00,516 Here's a ledge with swings and is equally popular front or back. 200 00:16:03,183 --> 00:16:05,103 A sitting table which revolves. 201 00:16:07,821 --> 00:16:13,421 The most prolifically sittable place is 77 Water St, sometimes known as Swinger's Plaza. 202 00:16:13,421 --> 00:16:16,738 It has chairs, tables, benches, sitting sculpture - 203 00:16:16,738 --> 00:16:21,079 but it's the maze of ledges that make this place work so very well. 204 00:16:22,677 --> 00:16:24,468 And here are some of the swingers. 205 00:16:27,422 --> 00:16:30,398 Question: how many people is too many? 206 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,123 The planning comission was concerned about this. 207 00:16:33,123 --> 00:16:38,989 Plazas were made more inviting might not they attract so many people as to be found. 208 00:16:38,989 --> 00:16:41,804 How can carrying capacity be determined? 209 00:16:41,804 --> 00:16:45,618 To get at these questions we studied ten very intensively used places. 210 00:16:45,618 --> 00:16:48,032 One of them, this ledge at Seagram. 211 00:16:48,032 --> 00:16:52,802 First, we studied spacing. Here, a little before noon, is the beginning of a crowd. 212 00:16:53,540 --> 00:16:56,068 The men, you'll note are sitting quite close together, 213 00:16:56,068 --> 00:16:57,785 even though there's a lot of extra space. 214 00:17:00,663 --> 00:17:04,310 As we saw earlier, the step corner is a very high-traffic area, 215 00:17:04,310 --> 00:17:07,211 and here is where the build up will be concentrated. 216 00:17:07,211 --> 00:17:10,859 As the place fills, the dense areas will get denser, 217 00:17:10,859 --> 00:17:13,863 very much as they do at beaches. 218 00:17:13,863 --> 00:17:16,992 We're going to see a timelapse record of lunchtime at the ledge 219 00:17:16,992 --> 00:17:19,776 from noon until a little bit before two. 220 00:17:23,092 --> 00:17:29,332 Notice the very heavy turnover, but notice also that a remarkable thing is taking place. 221 00:17:29,332 --> 00:17:33,844 Despite the heavy turnover, the number of people is remaining quite constant. 222 00:17:38,114 --> 00:17:43,185 Here's a chart on sort of a piano player roll of where and how long each person sat. 223 00:17:43,632 --> 00:17:46,138 It starts at 9 AM with two people. 224 00:17:50,978 --> 00:17:53,517 From 12 to 2, we get the heavy use. 225 00:17:53,517 --> 00:18:00,250 Note that in the running total at the bottom, the number of people stays between 19 and 21. 226 00:18:00,250 --> 00:18:02,014 Good spacing you might say! 227 00:18:02,267 --> 00:18:04,528 No, that doesn't really explain it. 228 00:18:04,534 --> 00:18:07,617 The spacing is erratic, and even at the peak moments, 229 00:18:07,617 --> 00:18:11,008 there's plenty of room for extra people, even groups of people. 230 00:18:11,008 --> 00:18:12,171 But they don't come. 231 00:18:13,235 --> 00:18:17,885 I think that what we are seeing is the result of an instinctive feel that 232 00:18:17,885 --> 00:18:22,088 people have for the number that's right for a place, the number that's right overall. 233 00:18:22,088 --> 00:18:24,360 That is it's effective capacity. 234 00:18:25,176 --> 00:18:28,685 To put it another way: capacity is self-leveling. 235 00:18:29,653 --> 00:18:33,440 Many people will tell you that the two pleasantest, quietist, 236 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:38,015 least crowded places in New York are Paley Park and Greenacre Park. 237 00:18:38,015 --> 00:18:39,775 They certainly are among the smallest. 238 00:18:39,775 --> 00:18:44,226 Paley is 42 x 100 ft. Greenacre 65 x 100. 239 00:18:51,686 --> 00:18:54,892 At peak times, the density of leading plazas runs up to 240 00:18:54,971 --> 00:18:58,222 about 11 people per thousand square feet. 241 00:18:58,222 --> 00:19:01,550 Paley and Greenacre go almost off the chart. 242 00:19:01,550 --> 00:19:05,539 They are the most crowded by far, and often quite noisy. 243 00:19:06,379 --> 00:19:08,440 In the mind's eye, they are not. 244 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:13,646 One's perception is of quiet, of peace, of choice. 245 00:19:14,356 --> 00:19:18,976 One of the things that we did to try and find out how come this rather interesting 246 00:19:19,106 --> 00:19:25,954 difference between perception and fact, was the daily build up of table use. 247 00:19:26,047 --> 00:19:30,647 Here in this animated chart, you will see black dots are for men, the red for women. 248 00:19:32,885 --> 00:19:38,268 Notice, by the way, the tendency of men to take the front row, and the women, the rear. 249 00:19:41,046 --> 00:19:45,622 Now, as the day goes on, the patterns remain quite consistant. 250 00:19:45,622 --> 00:19:47,872 And, so they do day after day. 251 00:19:50,035 --> 00:19:54,184 But, this Olympian perspective, can be rather misleading. 252 00:19:54,184 --> 00:19:57,256 What we see looking down, is regularity. 253 00:19:58,716 --> 00:20:01,427 Now, this is the truth, but it's only a partial. 254 00:20:02,302 --> 00:20:05,758 Get down to eye level, the way people see the place, 255 00:20:05,758 --> 00:20:11,539 and you don't see regularity. Instead, sort of an amiable miscellany. 256 00:20:11,637 --> 00:20:14,043 People are placed this way and that. 257 00:20:16,813 --> 00:20:19,227 Some people are declarably alone. 258 00:20:19,227 --> 00:20:21,603 Others grouped around tables. 259 00:20:21,973 --> 00:20:24,243 Choices are always opening up. 260 00:20:24,733 --> 00:20:27,208 Now, this is extremely high density right here. 261 00:20:27,208 --> 00:20:32,488 People are very close to each other, and yet the social distances are quite confident. 262 00:20:32,488 --> 00:20:36,914 In this particular case, the social distance might be a little too close. 263 00:20:45,807 --> 00:20:49,380 We come to that wonderful invention: the movable chair. 264 00:20:49,380 --> 00:20:52,655 It's one of the reasons you have such a feeling of choice in places like 265 00:20:52,655 --> 00:20:55,929 Paley or Greenacre, you are doing the deciding. 266 00:20:56,972 --> 00:21:00,225 It's very interesting to watch how people manipulate chairs. 267 00:21:00,225 --> 00:21:03,574 Here you can sort of tell there's going to be a rather aggresive movement. 268 00:21:06,674 --> 00:21:11,632 Now, whatever the purpose of all this rearranging, it does make for a rather pleasant social ritual, 269 00:21:11,667 --> 00:21:15,219 and you will see many variants of this often quite plainly. 270 00:21:15,219 --> 00:21:20,136 Even when there's no apparent functional reason of any kind, people move chairs. 271 00:21:20,722 --> 00:21:21,810 Watch this girl. 272 00:21:25,317 --> 00:21:27,876 Now, she's no more in the sun than she was before. 273 00:21:30,376 --> 00:21:31,787 Watch this fellow. 274 00:21:33,463 --> 00:21:34,988 Very unusual behavior. 275 00:21:35,786 --> 00:21:40,799 This man is starting something. Soon we're gonna have a game of musical chairs. 276 00:21:40,799 --> 00:21:45,119 Just why these men all started to move one can never know, but they did. 277 00:22:02,239 --> 00:22:06,291 Interesting thing, though, is that about four minutes after the beginning of this, 278 00:22:06,291 --> 00:22:09,020 all the chairs were back where they stated from. 279 00:22:10,150 --> 00:22:13,681 Fixed, individual seats don't work very well. 280 00:22:13,681 --> 00:22:17,347 For lovers, loveseats are alright. The distances are quite comfrotable. 281 00:22:17,347 --> 00:22:18,962 But, not for most people. 282 00:22:18,962 --> 00:22:23,904 Furthermore, chairs like this are telling you, "You sit here and you sit there." 283 00:22:25,050 --> 00:22:29,188 The most important thing about a space is its relationship to the street. 284 00:22:29,225 --> 00:22:30,782 Paley is a fine example. 285 00:22:31,431 --> 00:22:36,369 People do speak of it as a refuge, as a place to escape from the city. 286 00:22:36,369 --> 00:22:41,297 This is very wrong. Paley is an intensely urban place. 287 00:22:41,297 --> 00:22:46,662 One of its great assets is the vigorous street life out in front of it and for that matter within it. 288 00:22:46,662 --> 00:22:51,526 As many people will be entering and leaving and touring on the inside of Paley, 289 00:22:51,526 --> 00:22:54,296 as you'll find on many busy sidewalks. 290 00:22:54,303 --> 00:22:57,203 Passersby are important, too. 291 00:22:57,203 --> 00:23:00,883 About half will turn in and look, and about a half of them will smile. 292 00:23:00,889 --> 00:23:04,561 I haven't calculated the smile index, that would be much too solemn. 293 00:23:04,566 --> 00:23:11,297 But, this visual enjoyment, this secondary use is every bit as important as the primary use. 294 00:23:11,297 --> 00:23:16,160 Paley is a sight, a place to show people, to point to with pride, to discuss. 295 00:23:23,510 --> 00:23:26,510 Children seem particularly entranced with Paley. 296 00:23:34,900 --> 00:23:40,122 We've noticed quite intendency for them to run in and accelerate as they come to the steps. 297 00:23:40,742 --> 00:23:45,725 Passersby will often do a double take, and then walk on in. 298 00:23:45,725 --> 00:23:49,687 They are just a few easy steps, you don't have to make a decision. 299 00:23:49,687 --> 00:23:51,429 You're almost drawn in. 300 00:23:59,021 --> 00:24:02,434 And, here with older people you'll sometimes see, as with children, 301 00:24:02,434 --> 00:24:05,431 a slight acceleration as they go up the steps. 302 00:24:13,257 --> 00:24:16,201 The vestibule is a social place in its own right. 303 00:24:16,201 --> 00:24:20,307 Now, those girl-watchers swelling here actually spoke to these girls. 304 00:24:21,937 --> 00:24:23,985 You'll see mothers with their children. 305 00:24:29,467 --> 00:24:36,080 People just standing there, waiting. It's a popular place to meet people. 306 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:40,312 You'll see people meeting for again one hundred percent conversation. 307 00:24:43,540 --> 00:24:47,315 Here's an example of what we call 'reciprocal gestures'. 308 00:24:47,315 --> 00:24:50,963 When two men are getting together in their conversation, 309 00:24:50,963 --> 00:24:53,246 there seems to be a tendency for one person to make the move, 310 00:24:53,246 --> 00:24:58,163 and then after, say six, seven, eight-second pause for the other to reciprocate. 311 00:25:03,983 --> 00:25:04,793 Ah, he did it! 312 00:25:05,664 --> 00:25:09,621 Itinerant musicians have a very keen sense of place. 313 00:25:09,621 --> 00:25:14,890 Here this cello player is setting up at one of the best of them. 314 00:25:22,663 --> 00:25:25,660 We've been looking at places that work with the street. 315 00:25:25,660 --> 00:25:31,526 Now, let's look at a directly contrary approach: the self-contained megastructure. 316 00:25:31,526 --> 00:25:34,234 These are a sort of urban fortress. 317 00:25:34,234 --> 00:25:38,742 Their common denominator is that they take you away from the street. 318 00:25:38,744 --> 00:25:41,688 Here, at Houston Center, you're going up, up, up. 319 00:25:41,688 --> 00:25:45,773 Plazas and the terraces are two or three levels above the street. 320 00:25:48,123 --> 00:25:51,216 From the street you are completely insulated. 321 00:25:51,216 --> 00:25:54,925 You can drive from the suburbs in the morning into that garage there, 322 00:25:54,925 --> 00:25:59,276 walk through the skyways to the office, and spend the whole day without 323 00:25:59,276 --> 00:26:02,380 ever having to set foot in Houston at all. 324 00:26:03,036 --> 00:26:06,230 This is it's streetscape; no stores, no windows. 325 00:26:06,230 --> 00:26:08,660 Not many pedestrians either, for that matter. 326 00:26:08,664 --> 00:26:14,818 Street level is for cars. The one activity is a bank window for people in cars. 327 00:26:16,447 --> 00:26:21,204 Here's Renaissance Center in Detroit. Very striking, many attractions within. 328 00:26:21,204 --> 00:26:24,137 But, what does it say at street level? 329 00:26:24,137 --> 00:26:28,307 Look at that huge berm across its entry, all it's lacking is a portcullis. 330 00:26:28,307 --> 00:26:31,305 Come in and be safe from Detroit, it says. 331 00:26:32,785 --> 00:26:38,559 Downtown Los Angeles: Broadway Plaza. Successful in size. 332 00:26:38,559 --> 00:26:42,470 A few blocks away, Atlantic Richfield plaza, very handsome. 333 00:26:42,864 --> 00:26:44,730 But, what's happened to the street? 334 00:26:44,730 --> 00:26:47,514 Where are the stores? Where are the windows? 335 00:26:48,454 --> 00:26:50,224 Where are the people? 336 00:26:50,305 --> 00:26:57,230 Going down to subterranean levels of shopping in balmy Los Angeles. 337 00:26:58,140 --> 00:27:00,811 In the next block, the Hotel Bonaventure. 338 00:27:02,522 --> 00:27:07,610 Dramatically scaled to the freeway, but not to the pedestrian. 339 00:27:10,220 --> 00:27:12,990 Look at the wall that it turns to the city. 340 00:27:13,033 --> 00:27:18,272 You ever seen a more brutal rejection of the street, or a more unnecessary one? 341 00:27:19,669 --> 00:27:25,034 Ironically, twenty miles away at Disneyland, people pay good money 342 00:27:25,034 --> 00:27:29,750 to enjoy a replica of a regular, old-fashioned street. 343 00:27:29,750 --> 00:27:33,898 Shops and windows and doors at street level. 344 00:27:39,867 --> 00:27:42,736 Lots to appoint about plazas. 345 00:27:42,743 --> 00:27:47,991 Unless there is a compelling reason, don't sink them way down or put them way up. 346 00:27:47,991 --> 00:27:50,710 They get lost, like this elevated plaza in Seattle. 347 00:27:53,070 --> 00:27:57,427 Most sunken plazas are empty--near empty most of the time. 348 00:27:58,572 --> 00:28:01,292 The action is up top on the street. 349 00:28:07,540 --> 00:28:10,921 But, what about Rockefeller Plaza? It's sunken and it's very popular. 350 00:28:10,921 --> 00:28:16,104 So it is, but look at carefully and you'll see that most of the people are up top. 351 00:28:16,104 --> 00:28:21,331 Looking down, it's an amphitheatre and the people down below are the show. 352 00:28:26,448 --> 00:28:28,965 Here's another exception that proves the rule: 353 00:28:28,965 --> 00:28:32,069 This is the plaza of the First National Bank of Chicago. 354 00:28:32,069 --> 00:28:35,226 Sunken, no mistake about that, but very popular. 355 00:28:35,226 --> 00:28:39,599 On a nice day, you'll find well over a thousand people enjoying themselves here. 356 00:28:40,069 --> 00:28:42,405 Well, it does all of the basics quite well. 357 00:28:42,419 --> 00:28:47,699 Lots and lots of sitting space, and it too, functions as as an amphitheatre. 358 00:28:47,699 --> 00:28:54,013 As the place fills up, the steps will become a mezzanine and it will be a show down below. 359 00:28:58,733 --> 00:29:02,276 To understand, let's go back to the corner and follow the passersby. 360 00:29:02,665 --> 00:29:06,356 As they come abreast, you'll see, as we saw at Paley, 361 00:29:06,356 --> 00:29:11,134 lots of visual secondary use, some people pausing to look in and then going on. 362 00:29:11,134 --> 00:29:17,054 Well, there's pausing, sort of drifting down to plaza, and the whole usage begins to build. 363 00:29:17,807 --> 00:29:23,705 Layer by layer, people looking at people looking at other people. 364 00:29:26,774 --> 00:29:30,049 We come to a key person: the undesirable. 365 00:29:30,049 --> 00:29:32,971 It is for fear of him, that spikes are put on ledges 366 00:29:32,971 --> 00:29:35,648 and benches made too short to sleep on. 367 00:29:39,308 --> 00:29:43,789 In actual fact, these people are harmless and sometimes very well-behaved. 368 00:29:48,818 --> 00:29:52,743 Most often, they are to be found in the places where other people are not. 369 00:29:57,353 --> 00:30:00,409 Then, there are the people who do odd things, like Drumsticks, 370 00:30:00,422 --> 00:30:04,855 who happens to be a compulsive cleaner-upper of litter. 371 00:30:04,855 --> 00:30:08,390 In many ways, the odd people do a service for the rest of us. 372 00:30:08,390 --> 00:30:11,299 They reassure us of our own normality. 373 00:30:11,299 --> 00:30:15,091 In well used public places, people are tolerant of the odd ones. 374 00:30:15,091 --> 00:30:18,002 Life goes on with little fuss or trouble. 375 00:30:20,579 --> 00:30:22,851 This is Pershing Square in Los Angeles. 376 00:30:22,851 --> 00:30:28,414 In the morning, you'll see many older men, and some who move to a beat of their own. 377 00:30:28,414 --> 00:30:30,626 But, they don't hurt anybody, it's not unsafe. 378 00:30:30,646 --> 00:30:34,827 And, later in the middle of the day, office workers will come out with their brown bags, 379 00:30:34,827 --> 00:30:37,003 and there will be a nice coexistance. 380 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,688 Here is a pigeon lady. Every square should have one. 381 00:30:44,614 --> 00:30:46,470 Here's a place that is dangerous: 382 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,164 Bryant Park in the middle of New York. 383 00:30:52,417 --> 00:30:56,833 It's green and spacious, and the cops patrol it in pairs as well they should. 384 00:30:56,833 --> 00:31:00,779 Real undesirables--muggers, dope dealers-- have made it their territory. 385 00:31:01,163 --> 00:31:06,069 They've been able to because it had been cut off from the street by fences and walls. 386 00:31:06,069 --> 00:31:11,199 Very pleasant these tree-shaded paths, but you can get a feeling of entrapment in them. 387 00:31:11,199 --> 00:31:15,242 Even a shuffling derelict poses a threat that he wouldn't elsewhere. 388 00:31:15,962 --> 00:31:19,354 To make a place like this work, you must unfence it. 389 00:31:23,277 --> 00:31:26,711 For guarding plazas, television cameras are often favored. 390 00:31:26,711 --> 00:31:29,843 Their usefulness seems to be largely symbolic. 391 00:31:29,843 --> 00:31:31,582 They reassure management. 392 00:31:31,582 --> 00:31:35,793 But, they don't see very much. Nothing beats a human being. 393 00:31:36,614 --> 00:31:40,817 Safe and successful places ususually have a kind of mayor. 394 00:31:42,167 --> 00:31:44,621 Here's one of the best: Joe Hardy of Exxon. 395 00:31:45,126 --> 00:31:49,758 He's good at spotting potential trouble, but what he likes best is helping people. 396 00:31:49,758 --> 00:31:52,826 Two girls for example, who would like to have their picture taken. 397 00:31:54,206 --> 00:31:57,228 And that's one reason why there isn't much trouble. 398 00:32:05,793 --> 00:32:10,561 People do like the sun. They so visibly like it, men, as well as women. 399 00:32:10,561 --> 00:32:16,295 But, we were pretty sure that sunlight would be the major factor in plaza use, 400 00:32:16,295 --> 00:32:19,637 and that a southern exposure would be almost a necessity. 401 00:32:20,967 --> 00:32:23,226 And, for awhile it looked as if we were right. 402 00:32:23,957 --> 00:32:29,847 Our early timelapse, you'll recall, showed a very strong correlation between sitters and sun. 403 00:32:29,847 --> 00:32:36,021 That was in May. As time went on-- June, July, August--the correlation vanished. 404 00:32:36,021 --> 00:32:39,206 People sat anywhere--sun or shade. 405 00:32:39,787 --> 00:32:43,754 Paley gave us another lesson. It lost part of its sun to a new office building. 406 00:32:43,754 --> 00:32:46,549 People came just as many as before. 407 00:32:46,549 --> 00:32:49,354 Sun was clearly not the ruling factor. 408 00:32:50,529 --> 00:32:54,828 Sun is most important in nippy weather, when the rays make the difference 409 00:32:54,828 --> 00:32:57,825 between sitting comfortably, or not sitting. 410 00:32:58,725 --> 00:33:03,803 At Greenacre Park, the upper terrace is warmed by infrared heaters. 411 00:33:03,803 --> 00:33:06,692 Less costly is protection from the wind. 412 00:33:06,692 --> 00:33:10,895 Where it's provided you can have a sort of nice sun theater. 413 00:33:10,895 --> 00:33:16,679 What hurts most is not so much the absence of sun, but of light. 414 00:33:16,679 --> 00:33:20,573 If we can't get the sun directly, perhaps we can borrow it. 415 00:33:23,943 --> 00:33:27,506 Same new buildings that are cutting off the sun from some places, 416 00:33:27,511 --> 00:33:29,602 are reflecting it into others. 417 00:33:29,602 --> 00:33:32,620 As a matter of fact, some of the city's pleasantest lighting effects 418 00:33:32,620 --> 00:33:35,948 are from this kind of bounce light, particularly in the late afternoon. 419 00:33:36,620 --> 00:33:39,777 The new city court building reflects the sun with such a wallop, 420 00:33:39,777 --> 00:33:44,811 that in one receiving block, trees are growing much faster than they did before. 421 00:33:45,924 --> 00:33:52,483 This black, brick building bounces a surprising amount of light, and guess where to: 422 00:33:52,483 --> 00:33:53,560 Paley Park. 423 00:33:53,583 --> 00:33:55,567 It's a very soft pleasant light. 424 00:34:01,441 --> 00:34:04,459 Here's a plaza with a northern exposure that gets lots of light 425 00:34:04,459 --> 00:34:06,902 thanks to the building across the way. 426 00:34:07,482 --> 00:34:12,905 The best light at Seagrams is by reflection, some of it on the second, third, or fourth bounce. 427 00:34:13,455 --> 00:34:16,250 All these effects are quite unplanned, of course, 428 00:34:16,250 --> 00:34:20,217 but they do suggest there are really some fascinating potentials for urban design. 429 00:34:30,101 --> 00:34:33,301 Water is a wonderful amenity in the city, and it's an element 430 00:34:33,301 --> 00:34:36,597 that designers and developers are really doing quite well with. 431 00:34:36,597 --> 00:34:41,684 We're getting water walls, waterfalls, fountains, lots of spray. 432 00:34:41,684 --> 00:34:44,280 Here's a brook running through a lobby. 433 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,800 One of the nicest things about these water works is the sound of them. 434 00:34:52,253 --> 00:34:53,907 Sometimes it's very loud. 435 00:34:54,777 --> 00:34:57,955 This water wall at Paley is about 75 decibels. 436 00:34:57,955 --> 00:35:03,939 But, it's white sound; very raspy, and masks traffic noise from other people's conversations. 437 00:35:04,875 --> 00:35:08,235 Another thing about water is the look and feel of it. 438 00:35:08,235 --> 00:35:12,096 I always felt that the water at Seagrams is particularly liquid, 439 00:35:12,096 --> 00:35:14,624 and I suppose the reason is that it's so very accessible. 440 00:35:14,624 --> 00:35:20,149 You can stick your hand in it, splash about and nobody will rush up to stop you. 441 00:35:20,149 --> 00:35:23,540 You just know that girl has got to put her foot in the water. 442 00:35:28,669 --> 00:35:32,711 Some cities put water before people and then tell them not to use them. 443 00:35:32,711 --> 00:35:33,852 This isn't right. 444 00:35:34,778 --> 00:35:38,670 And, it isn't right to take a grand, old fountain like Chicago's Buckingham, 445 00:35:38,670 --> 00:35:40,378 and put an electric fence around it. 446 00:35:41,154 --> 00:35:45,079 This girl is living dangerously perhaps, but water ought to be used. 447 00:35:46,079 --> 00:35:48,972 This fellow wants to cool his feet, and why not? 448 00:35:54,974 --> 00:35:56,019 Forbidden. 449 00:36:00,161 --> 00:36:03,915 On this Denver bank plaza, there's water that's good to look at, 450 00:36:03,915 --> 00:36:09,696 and there's also water in which people can wade and splash about and no one will fret over it. 451 00:36:09,696 --> 00:36:10,933 Praise to the bank. 452 00:36:13,384 --> 00:36:16,616 This splendid fountain in Portland dares people. 453 00:36:16,616 --> 00:36:20,839 If this were taken in summer, you'd see teenagers clamoring all over it. 454 00:36:20,839 --> 00:36:25,756 It's obviously dangerous. Lawrence Halprin designed it to be obviously dangerous, 455 00:36:25,756 --> 00:36:27,548 and there's been scarcely an accident. 456 00:36:33,049 --> 00:36:34,841 Here's some vicarious water. 457 00:36:34,841 --> 00:36:39,801 This tunnel at McGraw Hills Small Park splashes you if you don't get wet. 458 00:36:39,801 --> 00:36:42,521 It's fun, and has become quite the tourist attraction. 459 00:36:45,868 --> 00:36:50,347 Another thing we're at last doing is opening up access to our waterfront. 460 00:36:50,347 --> 00:36:55,339 This is Jeanette Park on the East River, the park of an office building complex. 461 00:36:59,210 --> 00:37:05,140 This is the South Street Seaport, an excellent example in how simple elements 462 00:37:05,140 --> 00:37:07,420 make a great urban space. 463 00:37:07,420 --> 00:37:14,110 It has all the elements: nice space, places to sit, nice view, and plenty of people. 464 00:37:18,057 --> 00:37:22,602 Louisville has come back to the Ohio River, with this rather elegant Belvedere. 465 00:37:29,242 --> 00:37:31,653 The prize goes to San Antonio. 466 00:37:31,658 --> 00:37:34,186 It took what was little more than a drainage ditch, 467 00:37:34,186 --> 00:37:37,951 and turned it into a river that goes right through the heart of the city. 468 00:37:40,873 --> 00:37:43,976 It's lined with a walkway, cafes, and sitting spaces; 469 00:37:43,976 --> 00:37:46,941 and is a perfectly wonderful example of good enclosure. 470 00:37:46,941 --> 00:37:48,317 You feel very comfortable here. 471 00:37:56,698 --> 00:38:00,762 Trees are so beneficent for a city, it's a wonder we haven't planted more. 472 00:38:00,762 --> 00:38:03,897 And, we have certainly have plenty of good practical reasons to do so-- 473 00:38:03,897 --> 00:38:07,940 microclimate, shade, transpiration, cooling, beauty, so forth. 474 00:38:07,940 --> 00:38:12,740 But now, we have a new reason. What with all the travertine architects are lying about, 475 00:38:12,740 --> 00:38:15,107 the glare index of cities is soaring. 476 00:38:15,107 --> 00:38:18,734 We should make the most this and press for many more trees. 477 00:38:18,734 --> 00:38:24,675 New York's new zoning now requires builders to plant far more in the way of street trees, 478 00:38:24,675 --> 00:38:26,765 and more trees within the plaza itself. 479 00:38:27,444 --> 00:38:31,961 Where possible, they ought to be planted in groves--quite close together. 480 00:38:31,961 --> 00:38:33,961 This produces a fine canopy. 481 00:38:35,301 --> 00:38:39,706 As we noted at Seagram, the places that people liked best 482 00:38:39,706 --> 00:38:43,969 are those which are opened to the action but are slightly recessed, slightly protected. 483 00:38:43,971 --> 00:38:49,155 You get a cavy feeling. Just a few honey locusts overhead will do it. 484 00:38:54,443 --> 00:38:58,016 If you want to see the place with activity, put in food. 485 00:38:58,016 --> 00:39:01,621 At almost every lively plaza, you'll find a pushcart vendor. 486 00:39:05,487 --> 00:39:08,937 This man has been at Seagrams for years at 52nd and Park. 487 00:39:08,939 --> 00:39:12,558 Even in wintertime, when he moves over the steam manhole. 488 00:39:13,275 --> 00:39:17,686 Merchants don't like vendors and they're always trying to get the police to shoo them away. 489 00:39:17,687 --> 00:39:20,989 Some cities don't allow outdoor eating at all. 490 00:39:20,989 --> 00:39:24,248 But, the vendors are providing service that people want; 491 00:39:24,248 --> 00:39:27,109 and they sometimes perform a social function, too. 492 00:39:27,113 --> 00:39:31,809 Often they're the mayors, the rendezvous points, the gossip station, 493 00:39:31,809 --> 00:39:36,726 and here at Charles Center in Baltimore, a word with them is part of the day. 494 00:39:42,146 --> 00:39:44,603 Here's a little study in food dynamics. 495 00:39:44,603 --> 00:39:48,588 At the Exxon Mini Park, the management experimented with a food cart. 496 00:39:48,588 --> 00:39:52,470 It attracted people. Here's one of the first impulse buy. 497 00:40:01,690 --> 00:40:06,529 The activity, in turn, attracted other vendors. More people came to the park. 498 00:40:06,567 --> 00:40:10,556 Encouraged, the management next put in an outdoor cafe. 499 00:40:10,556 --> 00:40:13,458 The optimal leverage in these things is really quite amazing. 500 00:40:13,458 --> 00:40:17,713 All they take is a few simple props: some tables, some chairs. 501 00:40:17,713 --> 00:40:23,270 Put up the umbrellas, bring on the people, and the effect is really quite striking. 502 00:40:23,270 --> 00:40:27,526 It's a shill effect. The people who eat usually attract far more people. 503 00:40:33,958 --> 00:40:36,507 Built-in snack bars are a great draw. 504 00:40:36,507 --> 00:40:40,571 At Paley and Greenacre parks, they provide good food (good coffee, too). 505 00:40:40,571 --> 00:40:44,643 They do it at reasonable prices and they make a modest profit doing it. 506 00:40:44,643 --> 00:40:47,493 New York zoning now favors such facilities. 507 00:40:47,493 --> 00:40:51,633 Food kiosks, fastfood counters used to be classified as obstructions. 508 00:40:51,633 --> 00:40:56,366 Now, they're an amenity. Outdoor cafes are specifically encouraged, 509 00:40:56,366 --> 00:41:01,827 and developers are allowed to use up to 20% of the open space of the plaza for these cafes. 510 00:41:02,710 --> 00:41:06,913 The first cafe after the zoning pass was put up by the city itself. 511 00:41:06,913 --> 00:41:12,459 This windy space next to the municipal building was made into a kind of street festival. 512 00:41:25,415 --> 00:41:27,785 First concessionaires were from Little Italy. 513 00:41:27,785 --> 00:41:31,015 Later it was Chinese food and soul food. 514 00:41:32,683 --> 00:41:36,789 But, the best thing about the cafe has been a shrewd use of space. 515 00:41:36,789 --> 00:41:42,111 The person who organized the cafe, then deputy borough president Jolie Hammer, 516 00:41:42,111 --> 00:41:46,335 laid out the tables and chairs with a tyrant's eye of a good hostess. 517 00:41:46,335 --> 00:41:49,236 She didn't spread them out. She compressed them. 518 00:41:49,236 --> 00:41:51,604 And the walkway was compressed also. 519 00:41:51,604 --> 00:41:56,809 So, when waiting in line or threading your way to a table, you almost have to meet someone. 520 00:41:56,809 --> 00:42:01,427 I've never seen so many people saying hello and goodbye and being introduced. 521 00:42:01,427 --> 00:42:04,958 It's the first time there's been a meeting ground for people from all of the departments. 522 00:42:04,958 --> 00:42:08,968 And, it's splendid for politic, and it's splendid for younger people, too. 523 00:42:08,968 --> 00:42:12,968 I wonder how many marriages can be traced back to this cafe. 524 00:42:15,771 --> 00:42:19,491 Another lesson that was learned was the utility of the simple wastebasket, 525 00:42:19,491 --> 00:42:21,528 or rather, lots and lots of them. 526 00:42:21,528 --> 00:42:26,292 When there aren't enough, people are really quite conscientious in using them. 527 00:42:26,292 --> 00:42:31,008 It was also found important to make concessionaires keep up the cleaning job. 528 00:42:31,010 --> 00:42:34,870 Now, most of them used children to do this, but they did a rather effective job. 529 00:42:41,588 --> 00:42:44,419 We've gone over the basic factors. 530 00:42:44,419 --> 00:42:49,619 But there's one more, and for lack of a better term, I call it 'triangulation'. 531 00:42:49,619 --> 00:42:55,199 By this I mean that characteristic of a public space that can bring people together. 532 00:42:55,825 --> 00:42:58,554 It's usually an external stimulus of some kind. 533 00:42:58,554 --> 00:43:01,637 It could be a physical feature or a happening. Here's a good example: 534 00:43:02,437 --> 00:43:06,097 These people are having a great time. Something is going on. 535 00:43:06,097 --> 00:43:09,357 Strangers are beginning to talk to each other about it. 536 00:43:11,174 --> 00:43:14,432 Two bank robbers have been caught and the police are searching them. 537 00:43:17,312 --> 00:43:19,714 Now, this is a little extreme example. Here's a more typical one. 538 00:43:20,721 --> 00:43:24,987 This mime has attracted a good crowd, and so far no cop. 539 00:43:28,417 --> 00:43:33,035 He makes fun of people. Here he goes up to some junior executives and draws a square. 540 00:43:36,210 --> 00:43:37,511 Everybody laughs. 541 00:43:37,978 --> 00:43:39,642 Ah, here comes the cop. 542 00:43:48,002 --> 00:43:51,166 It's a nice moment. A city kind of moment. 543 00:43:55,147 --> 00:43:58,795 It doesn't make too much difference if the act is skillful or corny. 544 00:44:00,964 --> 00:44:04,516 It will draw a crowd in less than a minute, usually. 545 00:44:04,516 --> 00:44:07,044 Strangers will act as though they were not. 546 00:44:07,044 --> 00:44:11,758 What the performer does best is to provide a connection between them. 547 00:44:18,198 --> 00:44:19,894 What are they looking at? 548 00:44:19,906 --> 00:44:23,692 This, again, is at Seagrams. This time it's the sculpture. 549 00:44:23,692 --> 00:44:27,246 "What in the world will they think of next!" some people will say. 550 00:44:27,246 --> 00:44:31,536 Sculpture by Mark di Suvero, and people certainly react to it. 551 00:44:31,545 --> 00:44:37,096 They argued about it, they went up to touch it. Strangers started talking about it. 552 00:44:38,768 --> 00:44:42,864 This is Debuffet's Four Trees on the Chase Manhattan Plaza. 553 00:44:42,864 --> 00:44:45,007 This sculpture draws people to it! 554 00:44:45,007 --> 00:44:48,058 They like to walk underneath it, to touch it, to look up at it. 555 00:44:48,058 --> 00:44:52,148 They like to stand around it. It does a lot for the rest of the plaza. 556 00:44:52,148 --> 00:44:55,444 The scale is just right for this rather large space. 557 00:44:55,444 --> 00:44:58,266 It is a very sociable element. 558 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:05,573 Here's a very similar combination on the Federal Plaza in Chicago. 559 00:45:06,613 --> 00:45:11,424 Here is a morality tale. This is Louise Nevelson's Night Presences. 560 00:45:11,430 --> 00:45:16,336 When she gave it to the city, it was placed in front of the walkway to the Central Park Zoo. 561 00:45:16,336 --> 00:45:20,933 People sat on it, they ate lunch on it, they looked at it and argued about it. 562 00:45:20,933 --> 00:45:25,082 They touched it almost surreptitiously to see what it was made of--corten steel. 563 00:45:31,412 --> 00:45:35,696 It didn't block the pedestrian flow. In a sort of venturi effect, 564 00:45:35,696 --> 00:45:40,006 it seemed to stimulate the flow, to attract people to it, around it. 565 00:45:50,749 --> 00:45:55,086 No longer. The statue was moved to Upper Park Ave. 566 00:45:55,086 --> 00:45:58,322 Nobody sits on it anymore. Or touches it. 567 00:46:00,775 --> 00:46:04,679 Usefullness is not the only measure of sculpture and street furniture, 568 00:46:04,679 --> 00:46:06,204 but it certainly doesn't hurt. 569 00:46:06,204 --> 00:46:12,849 As this woman is demonstrating, what better use for a glass curtain wall, and why not shelves. 570 00:46:12,849 --> 00:46:15,014 Here's a wall that's a digital clock. 571 00:46:15,014 --> 00:46:18,022 I've never been able to read the time here, but it's a lot of fun to look at. 572 00:46:22,411 --> 00:46:24,330 See if you can figure this one out. 573 00:46:25,139 --> 00:46:31,827 The real sun will show you the clue. It's a painting by Richard Oz. 574 00:46:37,067 --> 00:46:39,178 Here's a nice one up in Boston. 575 00:46:41,770 --> 00:46:47,641 Here's an inspired example of triangulation: St. Peter's, a church with a window to the street. 576 00:46:47,641 --> 00:46:51,465 Passerbys are drawn to it. They talk to each other about what they see. 577 00:46:56,389 --> 00:46:58,916 - Isn't that gorgeous? - That's beautiful! 578 00:46:58,916 --> 00:47:00,890 [woman] Why do the seats face different ways? 579 00:47:00,890 --> 00:47:04,473 [woman] Isn't that something? Look at the organ! 580 00:47:07,830 --> 00:47:11,198 [woman] ...and the minister sits just right in the center there, where it looks like a table. 581 00:47:11,198 --> 00:47:14,198 That's where he stands. It's a very beautiful church. 582 00:47:15,958 --> 00:47:18,774 [woman] I love it! I like it! 583 00:47:21,304 --> 00:47:22,742 [woman] Oh, I love the organ. 584 00:47:24,206 --> 00:47:25,923 [woman] Not my idea of a church. 585 00:47:28,003 --> 00:47:30,051 - It's very little. - Yeah, but it's nice! 586 00:47:32,118 --> 00:47:35,478 [man] I think it's great for the city an the building to have all this. 587 00:47:35,478 --> 00:47:37,590 It brings religion right closer to the people. 588 00:47:37,886 --> 00:47:42,046 [narrator] Our recommendations after many stormy meetings and public hearings, 589 00:47:42,046 --> 00:47:45,342 are incorporated in New York City's new zoning code. 590 00:47:45,342 --> 00:47:49,246 Main points we've noted: sitting space, close linkage to the street, 591 00:47:49,246 --> 00:47:55,427 trees, and food--not made mandatory alas, we lost on that one--but strongly recommended. 592 00:47:55,427 --> 00:47:59,350 Another provision requires that at least 50% of the building's frontage 593 00:47:59,422 --> 00:48:03,624 must be for retail activity, not just for banks or blank walls. 594 00:48:03,624 --> 00:48:09,319 There must be access for the disabled: ramps, easy steps--in effect, better access for everyone. 595 00:48:09,319 --> 00:48:13,191 The plaza must tie closely to the seat, be no more than three feet 596 00:48:13,191 --> 00:48:15,474 beneath street level, or three feet above. 597 00:48:15,933 --> 00:48:19,548 There are stiff maintenance requirements, and the zoning enables and encourages 598 00:48:19,548 --> 00:48:22,247 the rejuvenation of existing plazas. 599 00:48:23,177 --> 00:48:26,698 As a next step, the commission's excellent urban design group came up with 600 00:48:26,710 --> 00:48:29,825 comparable requirements for residential construction. 601 00:48:29,825 --> 00:48:32,843 As a result, small neighborhood parks. 602 00:48:33,630 --> 00:48:36,830 One of the most encouraging things that's been taking place 603 00:48:36,830 --> 00:48:39,593 has been the livening up of existing plazas. 604 00:48:39,593 --> 00:48:44,542 A New York telephone company put in this snack bar and lots of tables and chairs. 605 00:48:44,542 --> 00:48:50,163 They are very well used. So well, indeed, that there's no vacuum anymore for undesirables. 606 00:48:50,163 --> 00:48:53,970 On other existing spaces, cafes have been going up. 607 00:48:53,970 --> 00:48:55,986 The spaces are much the better for it. 608 00:48:57,903 --> 00:49:01,683 More benches are being put out in front of office buildings and stores; 609 00:49:01,684 --> 00:49:05,567 the ones closest to the activity--bus stops, store entrances, other ones 610 00:49:05,567 --> 00:49:09,161 that people like best, older people especially. 611 00:49:09,161 --> 00:49:11,625 The closer to the action, the more they like it. 612 00:49:13,244 --> 00:49:17,425 We're also seeing a spontaneous invigoration of a number of public places. 613 00:49:17,425 --> 00:49:21,841 One is the plaza area around 60th St in Central Park. 614 00:49:21,841 --> 00:49:26,246 It's always been a pleasant place, but now, as office construction has moved up to it, 615 00:49:26,246 --> 00:49:30,107 there's a big, new constituency, and on weekdays, it's jammed. 616 00:49:30,107 --> 00:49:43,685 Vendors of every kind are there--shish kebab, with or without pita, falafel, fruit, lemonade. 617 00:49:44,706 --> 00:49:47,405 There's usually a lot of chitchat back and forth. 618 00:49:57,966 --> 00:50:00,903 "What's that?" "Chinese beef!" he answered. 619 00:50:00,903 --> 00:50:04,729 Now, they're in. It draws more of a crowd, then that draws more people. 620 00:50:04,729 --> 00:50:07,899 He usually has a cycle of about eight minutes on this, 621 00:50:07,899 --> 00:50:11,259 and mostly it's very much of a show. 622 00:50:11,820 --> 00:50:13,473 The beef, by the way, is quite good. 623 00:50:14,250 --> 00:50:18,299 Now, the cops have to give tickets, and so they do rather desultory. 624 00:50:18,299 --> 00:50:20,457 But, mostly it's live and let live. 625 00:50:30,279 --> 00:50:35,388 Frederick Law Olmsted said that Central Park should be a great gathering place 626 00:50:35,388 --> 00:50:39,431 for all kinds of people, and so it is here. 627 00:50:41,061 --> 00:50:44,075 You need a pretty good sized sidewalk for bookstalls, 628 00:50:44,075 --> 00:50:46,825 but they do busy a place up rather nicely. 629 00:50:47,253 --> 00:50:52,085 These particular bookstall's first two years of operation barely broke even. 630 00:50:52,085 --> 00:50:55,039 It takes time to build a market, but now they're doing quite well. 631 00:51:00,519 --> 00:51:04,510 Another great place is the front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 632 00:51:04,510 --> 00:51:08,510 Steps are fine for sitting. As you might expect, the steps right smack 633 00:51:08,510 --> 00:51:11,540 in front of the entrance are the most favored. 634 00:51:11,540 --> 00:51:18,630 But, there are movable chairs as well, and they're out 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 635 00:51:18,630 --> 00:51:21,530 People have been so good at not taking them, that the museum figures 636 00:51:21,530 --> 00:51:25,680 it's cheaper just to leave them out and replace the few that are lost. 637 00:51:29,393 --> 00:51:30,886 The water is to be used. 638 00:51:34,319 --> 00:51:38,351 The museum is quite hospitable to entertainers and venders. 639 00:51:38,351 --> 00:51:41,942 Some of the neighbors are not, and call the cops. 640 00:51:41,942 --> 00:51:45,922 So the chasing of the vendors has become a stocked act in the street theater 641 00:51:45,922 --> 00:51:47,150 out in front of the steps. 642 00:51:53,127 --> 00:51:57,329 The vendors are a very resourceful lot. They will be back. 643 00:52:06,777 --> 00:52:11,886 Question: From city to city are the basic factors pretty much the same? 644 00:52:11,886 --> 00:52:13,550 Answer: Generally, yes. 645 00:52:13,550 --> 00:52:17,507 But, there is one key variable: scale. 646 00:52:17,507 --> 00:52:21,912 This is Philip's Square in Toronto. Very big place, but its proportions 647 00:52:21,912 --> 00:52:23,981 are right for the buildings around it. 648 00:52:23,981 --> 00:52:28,696 Here's another well-scaled place: the park Seattle built over its freeway. 649 00:52:28,696 --> 00:52:35,703 It's quite large, too. But it's experienced on foot as a series of smaller spaces. 650 00:52:37,413 --> 00:52:40,882 Now, we come to a smaller city, Lansing, Michigan. 651 00:52:40,914 --> 00:52:45,969 The best part of its new pedestrian mall is this one square. 652 00:52:45,969 --> 00:52:51,430 Not very big, but quite comfortable in relation to its surroundings. Very pleasant. 653 00:52:52,623 --> 00:52:58,139 The tendency is to overscale. Here is the mall of Riverside, California. 654 00:52:58,665 --> 00:53:01,502 Sometimes it is almost empty. 655 00:53:01,502 --> 00:53:06,163 Cities like Riverside, which are low density to begin with, need to concentrate. 656 00:53:06,163 --> 00:53:11,326 This mall disperses over a fairly large space, activity, and people and stores, 657 00:53:11,326 --> 00:53:16,008 which had they been compressed, might have come together in a critical mass. 658 00:53:19,668 --> 00:53:21,429 Here is a critical mass. 659 00:53:21,429 --> 00:53:28,758 This is Fountain Square, Cincinnati, which covers considerably less space then the mall we just saw. 660 00:53:28,758 --> 00:53:31,368 There are many, many more people in it. 661 00:53:31,368 --> 00:53:34,878 It's probably the best public square in the country. 662 00:53:34,878 --> 00:53:39,798 It has a close relationship with the street, it's well enclosed by the surrounding buildings, 663 00:53:39,798 --> 00:53:43,798 the designers have provided all kinds of choice; different kinds of sitting space, 664 00:53:43,798 --> 00:53:47,798 different kinds of places to eat, it's well programmed with activity. 665 00:53:48,365 --> 00:53:54,197 But, most important of all: they put the space in the very center of town. 666 00:53:54,197 --> 00:53:58,390 Not five or six blocks away, but at the 100% location. 667 00:53:58,390 --> 00:54:01,830 This is why it is such a unifying place. 668 00:54:01,830 --> 00:54:04,870 Cincinnati comes together here. 669 00:54:08,256 --> 00:54:09,834 And, you can touch the water. 670 00:54:11,762 --> 00:54:17,586 A public square that's indoors: the Crystal Court at the IDS Center in Minneapolis. 671 00:54:17,586 --> 00:54:20,722 It's nicely transparent, no black walls here. 672 00:54:20,722 --> 00:54:24,625 It connects well with street, stores, and buildings around it. 673 00:54:24,625 --> 00:54:28,871 On the second level, there are walkways. They've become quite a notable feature, 674 00:54:28,871 --> 00:54:34,950 helped by the fierce Minnesota winter climate and by very heavy pedestrian flows. 675 00:54:35,001 --> 00:54:40,728 Some smaller cities are copying the walkways but without the heavy flows or the weather. 676 00:54:40,728 --> 00:54:45,933 They should look again. This place works because of its fundamentals, 677 00:54:45,933 --> 00:54:48,909 and they are the same for a space with a roof as one without. 678 00:54:48,996 --> 00:54:54,219 Like Fountain Square, this is right smack in the center of town. 679 00:54:54,219 --> 00:54:58,026 It shows in the people. That's why this is such a good place for looking at. 680 00:54:58,026 --> 00:55:02,133 There are all kinds: old people, young people, blue collar, white collar. 681 00:55:02,133 --> 00:55:06,357 You get quite a different feeling here than you do at a suburban shopping center. 682 00:55:07,997 --> 00:55:09,884 Here you are at the crossroads. 683 00:55:12,153 --> 00:55:17,177 In the old city of Boston, next to Nathaniel Hall, ancient market buildings 684 00:55:17,177 --> 00:55:20,814 have been made into the most sucessful market place in the country. 685 00:55:20,814 --> 00:55:26,851 It's a very urban one; there are lots of highly specialized shops, every conceivable kind of food. 686 00:55:26,851 --> 00:55:28,963 The place is crowded, and it's a bit messy. 687 00:55:28,963 --> 00:55:30,637 People sit all over the place. 688 00:55:32,377 --> 00:55:34,329 Notice how they're sitting on the steps, especially. 689 00:55:35,448 --> 00:55:40,109 It's quite energy efficient. These public spaces open out to the outside. 690 00:55:40,109 --> 00:55:44,802 In good weather, these garage-type windows are rolled back to the open air, 691 00:55:44,802 --> 00:55:49,260 and almost always, even in the coldest weather, people will be sitting and eating outdoors. 692 00:55:49,905 --> 00:55:55,579 What we have here is the very opposite of the self-contained mega-structure. 693 00:55:55,579 --> 00:56:00,709 The market is very much a part of downtown, the street is going right through it. 694 00:56:02,229 --> 00:56:08,123 It's only after we had studied many other places, that I realized we could learn all of the lessons 695 00:56:08,123 --> 00:56:10,993 right here on 101st St. 696 00:56:10,993 --> 00:56:16,223 It's an excellently scaled block; comfortably sized space, very nicely enclosed. 697 00:56:16,223 --> 00:56:18,953 Lots of people and food! 698 00:56:21,416 --> 00:56:23,961 Very social activity, too. 699 00:56:23,961 --> 00:56:28,594 Water? Yes, and you can touch it, you can aim it, you can slosh around in it. 700 00:56:33,724 --> 00:56:36,874 Sitting? The best kind of space: slightly elevated. 701 00:56:39,728 --> 00:56:44,698 The lot at the corner is used for games, but the street itself is the number one 702 00:56:44,698 --> 00:56:50,224 area for recreation, including that very popular form: the polishing of the car. 703 00:56:50,224 --> 00:56:54,224 This block has its problems, but it works as a place. 704 00:56:55,341 --> 00:56:59,842 Here we are back in Seagrams. It's a hazy muggy afternoon. 705 00:56:59,842 --> 00:57:02,956 Incidentally, that's the kind that always seem to bring people out, 706 00:57:02,956 --> 00:57:04,737 even moreso then the nippy ones. 707 00:57:05,412 --> 00:57:09,052 A group of music students are giving a little impromptu concert. 708 00:57:09,501 --> 00:57:12,199 Some executives are still conferring. 709 00:57:12,199 --> 00:57:16,909 It's a very nice time, just before 2 'o clock, everybody's about ready to close up. 710 00:57:27,461 --> 00:57:33,018 So, we end our film on plazas, not on the plaza, but on the street itself. 711 00:57:33,018 --> 00:57:34,778 That's where we should. 712 00:57:34,778 --> 00:57:37,658 Street is the river of life for the city. 713 00:57:37,658 --> 00:57:41,722 We come to these places not to escape, but to partake of it.