PUP 420: Theory of Urban Design This final unit builds on the previous two units, insofar as it is not about the aesthetics of design—not the buildings and plazas and streets. But rather, this unit continues our discussion about how our physical environment—the built environment—influences people’s behavior. According to Jan Gehl (a famous planner and architect) in his well- known book Life Between Buildings, there are three types of outdoor activities. Necessary activities, things like going to school, are things we have to do regardless of the quality of the built environment. Optional activities are things like taking a walk or reading a book outside on a bench, etc, and these are highly influenced by the environment. Social activities are any kind of social interaction, usually as a result of one of the other kinds of activities. Public spaces in cities become meaningful and attractive when activities of all types occur in combination and feed off each other. Three Types of Outdoor Activities Social Activities Social activities vary tremendously. This is everything from sitting on your front steps as you watch people walk by… to stopping and chatting with someone you already know… to asking directions from or maybe commenting on the weather to some stranger at the bus stop. These kinds of social activities, including the passive ones, are important for the quality of our public spaces. As planners, architects, and landscape architects, we can help shape the environment to encourage social activities, to encourage those optional activities, and to make the necessary activities more enjoyable. Need for Contact High intensity Close friendships Friends Acquaintances Chance contacts Low intensity Passive contacts Jan Gehl makes the argument that the low end of the intensity scale, where we find passive contacts, is really important. These are the situations where you’re observing people and being observed, but not talking to people or otherwise interacting with them. So this is when you do your homework in a coffee shop, at a table by yourself, but there are other people around. This is a basic need of people—to have these passive contacts—although our individual need will vary, as some of us are more introverted or extroverted. Contact with Neighbors The proper built environment can also lead us to have more contact with people who live near us. These might be minor, incidental contacts—commenting on the weather or whatnot. But it can also lead to a growing trust, where people look out for one another and observe their environments, much like Jane Jacobs’ concept of “eyes on the street.” These contacts can also lead to more significant, less superficial relationships. Need for Stimulation The argument here is that we don’t need dramatic architectural detail if we simply design places where people want to be. That is, it can be the people w ...

1. PUP 420: Theory of
Urban Design
This final unit builds on the previous two units, insofar as it is
not about
the aesthetics of design—not the buildings and plazas and
streets. But
rather, this unit continues our discussion about how our
physical
environment—the built environment—influences people’s
behavior.
According to Jan Gehl (a famous planner and architect) in his
well-
known book Life Between Buildings, there are three types of
outdoor
activities.
Necessary activities, things like going to school, are things we
have to
do regardless of the quality of the built environment. Optional
activities
are things like taking a walk or reading a book outside on a
bench, etc,
and these are highly influenced by the environment. Social
activities are
any kind of social interaction, usually as a result of one of the
other
kinds of activities. Public spaces in cities become meaningful
and

2. attractive when activities of all types occur in combination and
feed off
each other.
Three Types of Outdoor Activities
Social Activities
Social activities vary
tremendously. This is everything
from sitting on your front steps as
you watch people walk by… to
stopping and chatting with
someone you already
know… to asking directions from or maybe commenting on the
weather to some stranger at the bus stop.
These kinds of social activities, including the passive ones, are
important for the quality of our public spaces. As planners,
architects,
and landscape architects, we can help shape the environment to
encourage social activities, to encourage those optional
activities,
and to make the necessary activities more enjoyable.
Need for Contact
High intensity Close friendships
Friends
Acquaintances
Chance contacts
Low intensity Passive contacts
Jan Gehl makes the argument that the low end of the intensity

3. scale,
where we find passive contacts, is really important. These are
the
situations where you’re observing people and being observed,
but not
talking to people or otherwise interacting with them. So this is
when
you do your homework in a coffee shop, at a table by yourself,
but
there are other people around. This is a basic need of people—
to
have these passive contacts—although our individual need will
vary,
as some of us are more introverted or extroverted.
Contact with Neighbors
The proper built environment can also lead us to have more
contact
with people who live near us. These might be minor, incidental
contacts—commenting on the weather or whatnot. But it can
also
lead to a growing trust, where people look out for one another
and
observe their environments, much like Jane Jacobs’ concept of
“eyes
on the street.” These contacts can also lead to more significant,
less
superficial relationships.
Need for Stimulation
The argument here is that we don’t need dramatic architectural
detail if we simply design places where people want to be. That

4. is, it
can be the people who are the attraction, not the buildings.
The experience of people provides
stimulation to our senses—looking at
people, talking to people, hearing
others talk, whistle, laugh. Even
smelling people, for better or worse, is
part of the sensory experience. Jan
Gehl mentions how good cities are
places where people linger, take their
time getting home after work, school, or
an errand, whereas bad cities are
places where people rush to get
through the environment.
People as the Attraction
This is something that we’ve addressed before, but it bears
repeating.
People like being able to see people. People themselves can be
the
attraction. More than anything else, people in public space like
to
watch other people. They’ll take the cafe chairs and rearrange
them to
point out onto the sidewalk unless you bolt them to the ground.
People go where people are. This includes, but isn’t limited to,
what
we call third places (sometimes called third spaces). This is a
term
from the book The Great Good Place (Ray Oldenburg, 1989).
It’s referring to places that aren’t home,

5. and aren’t work, but other places where
you go and interact with people. These
are socially inclusive places. So, these
are coffee shops and bars, bookstores
and hair salons—where there’s some
other reason to be there, but you reap
the social benefits of being there.
People as the Attraction
Key West, Florida Cadiz, Spain
People as an attraction can be something more organized, such
as
street performers or festivals, or it can just be the everyday
people
walking by, or even something mundane like watching as
parking
enforcement writes tickets for cars that haven’t fed the meter.
Conditions for Lively or Lifeless Cities
Oklahoma City Boston
These two pictures are both taken from downtowns. So what
does
Jan Gehl say makes for a lively city? Reasonably close
buildings,
good areas for sitting or standing, places to see people, where
people actually walk. And lifeless cities? These are places
where
it’s difficult or unpleasant to walk, where the buildings are

6. spread out,
and there is nothing to experience outdoors.
What about the weather?
State Street, Madison, Wisconsin
We do have certain limitations posed by the weather. We all
know
that summers in Phoenix are scorching, for example. But we
also
know that winters in Wisconsin are brutally cold and snowy.
This
might discourage some people from being outside, but it doesn’t
mean that you can’t have successful places—lively places—in
harsher climates.
This eight-block segment of
State Street between the
University of Wisconsin and
the Capitol Building is
closed to most cars but is
open to buses, taxis,
emergency vehicles, bikes,
and pedestrians—and is
well used in all seasons.
Are pedestrian malls the answer?
This isn’t to say that we should turn all our streets into
pedestrian
malls. Cars aren’t the problem.
Washington, DC, near “H” St. and

7. Pennsylvania Ave.
However, when we start to
devote too much space to
the car—when we have
large and frequent parking
lots, wide streets with fast
speeds—then it creates an
unpleasant environment.
But if we can put parking
underground and have
narrow streets with a variety
of transportation modes
being supported, then we
can have a lively city even
without pedestrian malls.
Is it an American problem?
Edinburgh, Scotland
We know that older cities, particularly
European cities, have the kind of
scale that’s desirable for making cities
lively. They have narrow streets with
close buildings, and many of them
were extensively built up before cars
came into existence. Instead of being
built for cars, they’ve instead had to
figure out how to accommodate cars.
So you might be tempted to say that
this problem of sprawling, lifeless
cities, is an American problem.

8. Or was the problem functionalism?
Adelaide, Australia
It’s actually a bit more complicated than being an American
problem.
Functionalism, which took root around 1930 and lasted through
the
1960s and ’70s, was a movement in architecture and planning
that
didn’t really take into account the social aspect of cities. In
fact,
functionalism didn’t really care about public spaces at all.
Instead,
there was some thinking that the front lawns of suburban homes
would be superior to having public parks, because that healthy
green
space would be just outside your own door.
But this also resulted in huge towers of
apartments and spread-out buildings,
and contributed to dependence on the
automobile. And this didn’t just happen
in the U.S., but it happened in Australia,
and in parts of Scandinavia, and parts
of other places, like Germany, too.
Is technology the new problem?
We know that we have a problem with lifeless cities, and as
planners
we want to help reform them to make them into lively cities.

9. But now
we have the argument that our technological conveniences—and
specifically our TVs and computers—have stolen something
from our
cities. That is, they’re stealing us away from our cities, and
instead
planting us on our couches at home. Or when we’re out in
public,
we’re on our phones.
Others argue that technology is
simply changing the ways that we
interact—that we have virtual
communities instead of physical
communities. But even if we have
virtual communities, how does that
help our lifeless cities? Have we
grown beyond people watching,
needing to be around others?
Or is technology part of the solution?
Copenhagen, Denmark
Jan Gehl makes a different argument. He believes there’s a
pushback where we’re wanting our lively cities again. And he
says
that with smaller families and better technological develo
pments,
people are working fewer hours in the week and have more free
time. He mentions how Scandinavian workers, who on average
work
shorter hours than Americans do, are the most frequent users of
city

10. spaces.
If we have free time, partially
thanks to technology, and we have
good city spaces, we should be
likely to use those spaces. But it’s
a matter of making sure we have
those desirable conditions for the
kinds of outdoor activities we’ve
been discussing to be able to take
place.
End of Unit 8.
Literacy Narrative & Analysis Essay—WR 121
Tillinghast
Audience: Your audience is college writers. What story can you
show them to convince them of
the value of your reading or writing learning experience?
Outcomes: Please “use scholarship on writing, rhetoric, and
language/
literacy and locate, evaluate, and use sources to support your
writing
goals” and “engage with composing as a means of reconsidering
ideas
and discovering new ones, including evaluating and using

11. teacher and
peer feedback,” to review and revise the essay for well-
supported ideas and clarity.
Context: Describe and analyze an experience, and quote and
analyze a literacy narrative writing
from the course (such as: Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” Malcolm X’s
“Learning to Read,” Junot Díaz’
“Becoming a Writer” or Cisneros’ “On Writing House on Mango
Street”).
Purpose: Communicate why this writing or reading
experience and evidence impacts writing long-term, especially
for those who are learning about the value of writing.
Directions: Write a story of a key learning experience in
reading or writing. Consider retelling this event
or moment of learning in reading or writing that shaped your
literacy identity in a meaningful way. Then,
connect your experience to one of the course readings by citing
and analyzing them.
1. Tell the story of your learning experience in reading or
writing and how it impacts your
learning today.
2. Describe what happened using sensory details (sight, smell,

12. taste, etc.) and dialogue to
help readers experience with you.
3. Analyze the impact of the experience on your learning. If it
didn’t change your learning,
you may need a different experience.
4. Quote and analyze or explain examples from a literacy
narrative or a course essay of a
similar learning moment or learning tool. (Tan, Malcolm X,
Brandt, Cisneros, etc.)
5. Through close reading and analysis of your circumstance,
relate the experience to
other college readers.
Consider borrowing from the following patterns or strategies:
A narrative is writing that tells a true story, often from events
in
your life. A good narrative often includes a change in the
narrator.
Description is the expression of what the five senses experience
in
vivid language.
A description freezes the subject in time, evoking sensory
details so that readers become one
with the writer’s world (Buscemi 233).
Analysis is breaking a complex topic into smaller parts to gain a
better

13. understanding. In analysis, the critic (you) interprets and argues
for a
particular way of understanding a writing or experience.
In planning your essay include a beginning, middle and end.
Often what helps writers tell a story is to consider a problem
and
a solution—in this case, a real one. You want your reader to
identify with the learning. Use vivid details (sensory), even
dialogue, to show what happened, how tension arose, and the
way it was resolved.
Content & the Writing Process: 10 points/
1. Brainstorming, listing and freewrite in class 1/14
2. Polished draft for peer workshop beginning of class 1/16
(Spotlight writers due 1/15)
3. 650–850 word polished essay for a grade to Moodle 1/23
(digital):
▪ double-spaced ▪ with a strong reflection ▪ with a
heading with course number and an intriguing title
▪ Completes a polished draft, which demonstrates evidence of
using several stages of the writing process
(brainstorming, outlining, revision, reorganization, etc.)
Central Idea (answers): 10 points/

14. ▪ What am I saying about this experience and its impact on my
learning?
How have I been changed by this experience?
▪ How will my writing, evidence from a literacy narrative
(Cisneros, X,
Tan, or Díaz) and description support this point? This answer
offers a
plan and sense of the essay’s structure.
▪ Why is this learning technique or strategy important to
consider? Why is this learning
moment important to my identity? How could such an
experience shape others, including my
readers? Answers the: “So what?”
Development and Support: 25 points/
▪ Content: reveals the importance of the learning to the
writer & readers
▪ Shares a significant, personal and valuable story
▪ Strong introduction and conclusion frame and develop a
complex, coherent and engaging learning moment
▪ The evidence (including the quote(s)) relates to the thesis
through use of transitions and key words in topic
sentences
▪ Offer specific examples from your past experience and
explains them to college-level readers

15. ▪ Presents adequate evidence and reasoning for thesis,
including figurative language, dialogue, description,
narration and analysis ▪ Uses sensory details, dialogue,
illustration, figures of speech and other
techniques to show
Paragraph Organization:
▪ Presents engaging progression of the learning ▪ The essay
is organized to meet the needs of readers and the intended
purpose
▪ Purposeful paragraphs cohere topic, utilizing effective
transitions, evidence and supporting details.
Voice, Language and Conventions: 5 points/
▪ Chooses effective engaging and varied word choice and tone
that fits the topic and audience with an appropriate voice
▪ Sentences are complete, varied and used effectively to aid
reader understanding, avoiding awkward
structures
▪ Has grammar-check set and correct agreement (subject/verb,
pronoun antecedent, etc.) and is free of
sentence fragments, comma-splices and run-ons; uses a variety
of punctuation correctly (periods, commas,
quotation marks, semi-colons, etc.)
▪ No distracting errors (ex: lowercase “I,” homonym misuse
(their/there; it’s/its), spelling errors, or vague pronouns)
Review Moodle for rubric and scoring. Tip: Visit the
Writing Center or Tutor for support.

16. Machiah Lee
4/6/2020
Literary Analysis Freewrite
Pr. Tillinghast
When I was in preschool, I lived in Ohio at the time and was
just getting settled in
because I previously moved from Washington where I was
actually born and grew up
for most of my life and later to return before attending Western
Oregon. It was raining
hard that day and the house was smelling like moist clothes and
I just returned home
from school. I walked right in the door to my room and jumped
on my bed to get on the
xbox. The second I hold down the start button on the controller
my mom whos room
was right next to mine happened to walk past my room and
stopped for 5 seconds and
without even turning said “I know you’re not on that game if
you have homework” I

17. respond hysterically but also nervously “No i’m about to go get
started on it right now”. I
turned off the game and headed to the living room where it was
quiet and smelled like a
bunch of flowers smashed together and put into a can of laundry
detergent because of
the candle in the kitchen and the carpet powder that was put on
the ground after my
sister just finished vacuuming. I go to the table and get out my
writing book. This week's
lesson is learning how to write sentences, So I got my pencil out
too and started to
crack down on the homework. When I finished I asked my mom
if she could come
check it for me and then after she had to sign her name on it so
it shows the teacher
that your parents checked your work. She took one look at it
and said “Do it all over
again” I looked at her like you would look at your mom if she
would have told a story
about you when you got in trouble playing in the toilet while
you were a baby to your

18. Machiah Lee
4/6/2020
Literary Analysis Freewrite
Pr. Tillinghast
high school crush while you right there standing next to her. So
I looked at the paper
and I could automatically see what she was talking about. My
handwriting looked like a
dog had a pencil in it’s mouth and just went crazy. I sat down
and did it again. I showed
it to my mom and she told me again, “Go do it all over again.”
i’d fix it up a little and go
right back to her. She’d look at it and then would say again “
Go do it all over again” I
did the process for about a good hour and halfway through that I
was crying because by
the 30th time she’d start yelling at me. After she finally said
it’s good she signed it and
as I processed to lay my tired, wrinkled, and crusty hands on the
paper she looks at me
and says you’re going to write some more. Little did I know
That hour would’ve been the
most fun I had of the day. I felt like I rewrote the bible 12
times. I was dead beat tired as
I finished. I asked my mom “why'd you make me write so
much?” and at the time I was

19. so mad but I couldn't show I had attitude because I would’ve
got a spaken and I was
trying to deal with that pain as well. My face was calm as I
looked into her soul, She
smiled back at me and said “Machiah If you ever wanna be good
in life you need to
have 3 things. One is Putting God first no matter what, Two is
loving your loved one and
being there for them, And three you need to be able to do the
little things great. Weather
that's being a good listener, or knowing to pick your knees up
while you’re running, or
even writing. Having good handwriting could land you that job
that you’ve always
Machiah Lee
4/6/2020
Literary Analysis Freewrite
Pr. Tillinghast
wanted or someone gets you noticed but with positives there's
just as many negatives
so me training you how to learn how to write nice can go a long
way for you be

20. successful in life” After that I always took my time writing
because I felt like that showed
what your character is like and without those skills today I
probably still have bad hand
today and starting of the process of writing with bad
handwriting would hurt my growth.
What if i could read my own handwriting, how would I correct
anything or know if i’m
spelling something right so that was my experience that
impacted me even to this day.
Me adventally showing my mom my handwriting and her
looking proud was a feeling i
could compare when Malcom X was talking about how he read
the dictionary saying “I
woke up the next morning, thinking about those words-
Immensely proud to realize that
not only had I written so much at one time, but I’d written
words i’ve never knew were in
the world.” That same feeling he had was the same as mine, that
feeling proud. I think
this was the key learning experience that I had growing up.

21. PUP 420: Theory of
Urban Design
Paley Park, New York City
Space and Interaction
As planners, architects, and landscape architects, we can help
create
environments that are more vibrant and lively, and that
encourage
social interaction. But this isn’t a guarantee. Just because we
create
places that should be places where people would like to go, this
doesn’t guarantee people will actually go there or behave there
how
we think they will. This is what’s meant by having a
probabilistic
relationship—that people will probably behave in a certain way,
under
certain conditions, but it’s not guaranteed.
St. James’s Park, London
Plus, we’re more likely to be able to
encourage more superficial interactions,
but less likely to make any sort of
impact on deeper relationships, which
tend to be based on things like having a
common background or interests rather
than on the physical environment.
Perceptions of Space

22. Ideally, we would be designing our cities with an understanding
of human perception. Most relevant to planning is what we can
see and hear. We can look at five physical arrangements that
can either promote or inhibit social interaction.
Kamezuka Koen Park, Tokyo
The first of these is walls
versus no walls. If there are
barriers, such as walls, not
a lot of interaction can take
place. This, for example, is
a wall around a children’s
park in Tokyo. How much
interaction do you think
there is between people on
the sidewalk and kids/
people in the park?
Perceptions of Space
Long distances versus short distances: this is simply the
idea that social interaction requires the ability to see and
hear each other.
Central Park, NYC
Perceptions of Space
High speeds versus low speeds: How much opportunity for
social
Fifth Avenue, NYC

23. interaction is there
with other drivers
on the freeway?
How much
opportunity is there
for interaction with
people you pass
while walking
through campus?
Speed of
movement through
a space influences
our experience of
that space.
Perceptions of Space
Multiple levels versus one level: Human vision is mostly
horizontal. We see more of what’s going on around us from
side to side than what we see above us.
Singapore
Sometimes we
build up out of
necessity because
we don’t have
room to expand
outwards. But
people mostly
observe what’s
happening on the
ground floor of tall
buildings.

24. Perceptions of Space
Back-to-back versus face-to-face orientation: People prefer
to be oriented toward other people, where they can observe
activity and interact with others, even if they choose not to
interact.
What Makes a Place Successful?
You can judge the accessibility of a place by its connections to
its
surroundings, both visual and physical. A successful public
space is
easy to get to and get through; it is visible both from a distance
and up
close. The edges of a space are important as well. For instance,
a row
of shops along a street is more interesting and generally safer to
walk
by than a blank wall or empty lot.
Campus Martius, Detroit
To judge the accessibility of a place, you can
ask yourself questions such as these:
Can you see the space from a distance? Is
there a good connection between the space
and the adjacent buildings, or is it
surrounded by blank walls? Can people
easily walk to the place? Do sidewalks lead
to and from the adjacent areas? Can people

25. use a variety of transportation options—bus
train, car, bicycle, etc.—to reach the place?
What Makes a Place Successful?
Whether a space is comfortable and presents itself well are key
to
its success. Comfort includes perceptions about safety,
cleanliness,
and the availability of places to sit—the importance of giving
people
the choice to sit where they want is generally underestimated.
Women in particular are good judges of comfort and image,
because they tend to be more discriminating about the public
spaces they use (for safety reasons).
Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia
In evaluating a place for
comfort, ask yourself… Does
the place make a good first
impression? Are there enough
places to sit? Do people have
a choice to sit in the sun or
shade? Does the area feel
safe? Is it clean?
What Makes a Place Successful?
Activities are the basic building blocks of a place. Having
something to do gives people a reason to go to a place—and
return. When there is nothing to do, a space will be empty and
that generally means that something is wrong. Principles to
keep in mind: The more activities that are going on and that

26. people have an opportunity to participate in, the better.
Salzburg, Austria
Are people of different ages using the
space? Is it used throughout the day,
and by both singles and people in
groups? A space that is used by both
singles and people in groups is better
than one that is just used by people
alone because it means that there are
places for people to sit with friends
and there is more socializing.
What Makes a Place Successful?
Finally… We have the issue of sociability. This is a difficult
quality for
a place to achieve, but once attained it becomes an unmistakable
feature. When people see friends, greet their neighbors, and feel
comfortable interacting with strangers, they tend to feel a
stronger
sense of place or attachment to their community—and to the
place
that fosters these types of social activities. In evaluating a
place, ask
yourself if this is a place where you would choose to meet your
friends. Are people talking to each other? Do people seem to
know
Dupont Circle, Washington, DC
each other by face or by name?
Do people make eye contact
with each other? Are people

27. smiling? Do people use the
place regularly and by choice?
What Makes a Place Fail?
Many public spaces don’t
provide a place to sit.
Because people just want to
be comfortable, they’re often
forced to adapt to the situation
in their own way. Sometimes
they simply give up.
A lack of good places to sit is an equally important issue. For
example, a choice of seats in the sun or shade can make all
the difference in a place’s success, depending on its climate
and location. Allowing people to sit near a playground or
within view of other activities is also crucial.
What Makes a Place Fail?
A lack of activity can kill a place. This includes features people
want or need, such as playgrounds, or places where varying
elements—bus stop, vending cart, outdoor seating—combine
to create a gathering point. Food is often a critical component
of a successful gathering point.
What Makes a Place Fail?
If a place is visually inaccessible, it is more likely to fail. If a
space is to be used, people need to see it and they need to be

28. able to get to it. A dark or narrow entrance keeps people
(especially women) out of the place instead of inviting them in.
This is the old entrance
to Bryant Park in NYC,
before it was
completely redesigned.
With this original
design, you can’t see
the park within from
these steps.
What Makes a Place Fail?
A domination of a space by cars will contribute to a failed
place. There may be a lack of crosswalks, or streets that are
too wide, or lacking sidewalks. A main street is not a freeway.
One should not fear crossing the street so much that the
activity needs to occur in groups. Crossing the street should
be an easy, comfortable activity, even if you have to wait.
What Makes a Place Fail?
Blank walls or dead zones around the edges of a place are a
sign of failure. The area around a space is as important to its
success as the design and management of the space itself.
The blank wall contributes nothing to the activity of the street.
What Makes a Place Fail?
Lastly, bus or train stops located in places where no one wants
to use them are a good recipe for failure. A transit stop located

29. in a busy, active place can not only make that place better, but
also increase transit use.
vs.
End of Unit 7.
PUP 420: Theory of
Urban Design
Piazza Pio II, Pienza, Italy
The concept of a city square has evolved from the Middle
Ages, when it was mainly an Italian concept. The square
spread throughout Europe during the Baroque time period
before being exported to other continents.
Evolution and role of the square
Staroměstské Náměstí, Prague, Czech Republic
The epitome of public and
collective space, the
square gradually became
the expression of
municipal freedom, of
religious power wielded by
the Catholic Church, of
mercantile trade, and of

30. royal celebrations for
monarchs and
government events.
Until the 19th Century, with that century’s vast changes in
social structure and urban fabric, the plaza evolved to the
point of undertaking new functions and renewing the old—
everything from garden squares to places conceived as road
junctions, now flanked by new places for social gathering.
Evolution and role of the square
Crystal Palace, London, England
What kinds of new places
emerged? Shopping
arcades with impressive
glass roofs, and other such
gathering places, competed
with open-air squares for
the traditional role of
providing a place for social
interaction.
In the first half of the 20th Century, especially in Italy, the
square re-established its significance as a civic space and as
a pivotal point for organization of the urban nucleus in newly
built towns.
Evolution and role of the square
Piazza Fontana, Milan, Italy

31. For a while during and after World War II, there wasn’t much
attention paid to the design of squares. But after post-war
reconstruction, we again started to value the idea of
upgrading existing squares to restore their role as a meeting
point and respite from the bustle of daily life as well as from
vehicular traffic.
Evolution and role of the square
Plaça dels Països Catalans,
Barcelona, Spain
Moreover, the creation of
completely new spaces in
the old fabric (such as
Plateau Beaubourg, Paris) or
in run-down areas,
confirmed the desire to
revive the plaza.
In the 1960s, youth counterculture introduced an element of fun
to
squares and streets, which became places of entertainment, open
for
music and theater. In the subsequent decade, urban planning
absorbed
the influence of existing cultural developments and leaned
toward the
refurbishment of run-down and peripheral areas. Here there was
a
parallel and fundamental decision to restore a pedestrian role to

32. historical
squares, which had often been downgraded to parking lots.
Evolution and role of the square
Times Square, NYC
These squares were furnished to encourage
people to linger, and some were beautified
with flowerbeds and lawns to make them
into garden squares. Even today, squares
provide a vital role: they allow the public
expression of social interaction that keeps
the communal spirit and the civic and social
values of the city alive.
Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
Examples…
Now for some examples of the ways that we’ve been building
and
using squares in the past 75 years or so…
Tiananmen Square is a relatively recent construction, having
been
built between 1949 and 1959. It’s a 4.7-million-square-foot
square,
designed in the style of socialist realism.
Through the 1950s and into the 1960s,
Beijing was extensively modified, and
little regard was given to the designs of
the past. Many historic features were
lost during the building of this square,

33. although parts of the Gate of Heavenly
Peace (a monument built in 1417 and
renovated in 1651) did survive and
have become the icon of Tiananmen
Square.
Examples…
This is the Gate of Heavenly Peace (below). The name of
Tiananmen, in English, translates also to the Gate of Heavenly
Peace, because the square is named after the monument. During
the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1900), the whole area was so
seriously
damaged that a decision was made not to rebuild what had been
there before, but instead to leave it open. This was the
beginning of
Tiananmen Square (as a square).
June 4, 1989
Examples…
The square has been
the preferred site of
public and political
events in Beijing. On
October 1st, 1949,
President Mao stood
there as he proclaimed
the birth of the People’s
Republic of China. In
the summer of 1989, it
became synonymous
with governmental

34. repression, when
hundreds of
demonstrating students
were killed.
Mausoleum, Tiananmen Square
Examples…
In daily life, the massive plaza is a meeting place serving
Beijing’s citizens
and the countless tourists who visit. In the center is a
monument from
1958—a 125-foot granite obelisk that commemorates the
People’s Heroes.
The west side of the square has the Great Hall of the People,
which is the
main venue for the Chinese government’s “high society” events.
The last
of the huge buildings dates back to 1976 and is the mausoleum
for the
embalmed body of President Mao. If you include the adjacent
buildings,
then the entire area is more than 16-million square feet.
It’s precisely the immense
size, together with the
monuments, that make the
square a fitting expression
of the vastness of China as
a country.
Examples…

35. The square is
named after a former
Toronto mayor
(Nathan Phillips) and
sits adjacent to both
the new city hall and
the old city hall. The
square is connected
to the new city hall
via a ramp.
Now for a North American example: Nathan Phillips Square,
Toronto, Canada. This square was built in 1957, with additional
construction from 1961-1965, and new construction from around
2008 to 2014.
Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada
Examples…
The curving building on the upper-left side is the current City
Hall—it
looks like two buildings. The largest part of the plot has a
garden and
works of art, and a large pool of water that is intended to reflect
the
building’s curving surfaces.
The reflecting pool is
shallow and was specially
designed to be used as a
skating rink during winter,
when the climate and a
special refrigeration unit

36. ensure it freezes over.
The three areas are
known as the Freedom
Arches, a reference to a
fragment of the Berlin Wall
that was set into the base
of the center structure.
Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Examples…
And for another example:
Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam,
in the Netherlands. It’s a square
that’s close to the central train
station in the heart of Rotterdam.
It’s one of the most important
squares in the city, partially
because of its location.
The square was neglected for
many years, despite its good
position in the city, and it was not
until the early 1990s that it was
targeted by the city council for
renovation. It was constructed, in
its current form, between 1991
and 1997, and it’s relatively small
at 132,000 SF.
Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Examples…

37. The square is meant to be
a meeting place for all the
cultural institutions located
on its edges—an opera
house, a concert hall, and
a large movie theater.
There are also numerous
offices, stores, and
residences near the
square, so it’s well used
both day and night. The
square can be a place to
rest, to meet, to play, or
even to perform—
sometimes certain special
events take place on the
square.
Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Examples…
The square is a rectangle,
and has four enormous red
masts that are actually
lights. The masts bear a
strong resemblance to the
port of Rotterdam’s
hydraulic cranes—so much
so that the square could be
mistaken for an oil rig.
There are also three tall
towers (gray, far right) that
contain ventilation plants
for the large underground

38. parking garage. Observed
as a whole, the towers
create a digital clock that
shows hours, minutes, and
seconds.
Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Examples…
Triangular glass prisms connect the
ground level with the underlying
floors. At the center, the paving is
finished with perforated metal panels
that are lit from below with white, green,
and black fluorescent tubes. Next to
this, also in the center of the square,
are wooden slats laid in a herringbone
design to map out a play area. Along
the west side, resin slabs with metal
leaves have been used, and on the east
side, the sunniest, there’s a continuous
series of wooden benches. Altogether,
the square was meant to take its cues
from Rotterdam’s industrial history and
aesthetic to accentuate a technological
and sensational look.
Point for thought
“The car gobbles up spaces in which people might
meet. Parks, sidewalks, everything goes to the

39. automobile…. Not only do people no longer wish to
walk, but it is not possible for those who do wish to,
to find a place to walk. This not only makes people
flabby but cuts them off from each other…. Yet there
is no inherent incompatibility between man in an
urban setting and the automobile. It’s all a matter of
proper planning.”
-Edward Hall, The Hidden Dimension (1969), pg. 175
End of Unit 6.