B. LIPOVSKÁ, R. ŠTĚPÁNKOVÁ
Clare Cooper Marcus and Francis (1998) and the Danish de-
signer Jan Gehl (2000, 1996) emphasized the need to base ur-
ban design on study of how people actually experience and use
urban environments. Observation was seen as a method “with a
very limited investment of time the investigators can achieve
considerable insight into the actual use of designed places”
(Cooper Marcus & Francis, 1998: 346). A new discipline of
environmental design emerged; devoted to researching how
built environments work for people (Wheeler, 2004) and to
demonstrate their association with particular sites (Bechtel et al.,
1987).
An American urbanist, organizational analyst, journalist and
people-watcher, William H. Whyte (1980), studied human be-
haviour in urban settings. He observed and film analysed plazas,
urban streets, parks and other open spaces in New York City.
Whyte walked the city streets for more than 16 years. As unob-
trusively as possible, he watched people and used time-lapse
photography to chart the meanderings of pedestrians. What
emerged through his intuitive analysis is an extremely human,
often amusing view of what is staggeringly obvious about peo-
ple’s behaviour in public spaces, but seemingly invisible to the
unobservant (PPS, 2001).
In 1984 Francis (1984) presented a method of downtown and
neighbourhood planning which considered the importance of
traffic mapping, parking problems and pedestrian flow mapping.
activity mapping as useful information for planning process
was proved in Davis, California (USA) as a new design solu-
tion based on the activity analyses.
Another urban pioneer observing public spaces and people’s
behaviour is the Danish architect and city planner Jan Gehl. In
his pioneering book Life between Buildings: Using Public
Space Gehl (2000) took a remarkably perceptive look at differ-
ent types of outdoor spaces and their social uses. What is most
needed, he argued, is an increase in optional activities taking
place in the public realm. The number and variety of human
interactions, especially chance meetings in public space, was in
his view the way to a healthier urban community. Analyzing
public spaces within Copenhagen, he found places such as the
Stroget (one of Europe’s pioneering pedestrian streets) and the
Tivoli Gardens particularly conductive to social life (Gehl &
Gemzoe, 1996). Although many of Gehl’s observations may
seem common sense today, they then represented a major de-
parture from modernist urban design practices in which abstract
architectural principles, rather than careful observation of how
people actually use places, often dictated urban form. Behav-
iour observation is also described by Wheeler (2004), as the
one of the methods to provide factual information for improved
urban design. According to Whyte (1980) by observing what
people do, rather than just listening to what they say, is de-
signer able to put an end to some of the deep-seated and de-
structive myths about what people want from their cities and
public spaces. As the Project for Public Spaces (2001) advises,
when you observe a space you learn about how it is actually
used, rather than how you think it is used. Šilhánková et al.
(2006) argues that through the analysis of behaviour mapping it
is possible to determine human activities performed in public
space and what kind of conditions are necessary to prevent and
develop these activities. Based on the results of this analysis it
is possible to design the outdoor furniture such as benches,
trash cans, clocks, advertising posters, etc. and its arrangement
in response to human activities and needs. Recommendations to
analyze human behaviour (movement of pedestrians, the overall
atmosphere of the centres where people meet and the place
where most activity takes place) are mentioned also in the
methodology for assessing public spaces discussed by Chap-
man and Larkham (1992).
Observation of Public Spaces
Gehl’s methodology was first mentioned in his book: Life
between Buildings. This was developed and applied to public
spaces in London (2004) in order to improve the quality of
public spaces and public life. This methodology was designed
by Gehl architects. The purpose of the observations was to de-
termine how and by whom these public spaces are used and
what facilities are provided for its users. Observations of public
spaces were carried out in selected public spaces for 15 minutes
every hour between 10.00 and 22.00. Activities, gender and the
age of people were recorded from one place. The survey loca-
tions were chosen to provide the best possible overview of pe-
destrian traffic and have been determined in the initial public
space analysis. Positions were recorded on prepared maps. Dur-
ing the observation were recorded gender (male, female), age
(age groups: 0 - 6, 7 - 14, 15 - 30, 31 - 64, 65 and over), and
activities (not pre-defined).
The methodology of operational improvement of public
spaces developed by Vladimíra Šilhánková et al. (2006) is
based on the principles of direct observation. This comes from
Gehl’s (2000) methodology, although edited and adapted. It
evaluates the character and functions of public spaces and was
proved in the creation of public spaces in Hradec Králové (CZ).
The first part of the methodology focuses on the assessment of
the character and quality of public spaces. The second focuses
on the behaviour mapping in public spaces. Observations of
selected public spaces were carried out for 20 minutes every
hour. Activities, gender and the age of people were recorded
during the walk from one site of public space to another. Fre-
quency between the observations during the day in one public
area was, on average every hour and depended on its type and
the frequency of use. Šilhánková et al. (2006) use 3 types of
forms where are observations recorded and summed up. During
the observation the following data were recorded: gender, age
(age groups: 0 - 6, 7 - 18, 19 - 60, 61 and over), activities (pre-
defined: sitting, standing, eating, talking, walking with dog,
shopping, looking to the shop windows, and other activities).
Material and Methods
The research described here is part of the work undertaken
for a PhD in Landscape architecture (Lipovská, 2011) which
explored the observation methods and their usage in landscape
planning praxis. In this qualitative study data was obtained
through direct observation in Veľké Zálužie village in Slovakia,
11 kw away from Nitra city—the 5th largest city in Slovakia.
The village has population of 4052 inhabitants.
No specific methodologies assessing the use of rural public
areas—public spaces in villages—have been found. Therefore
methodologies that analyse the quality and usage of public
spaces in cities developed by Gehl (2000) and Šilhánková et al.
(2006) have been used to characterize gender, age and activity
level of community in rural settlement (see Table 1) and their
potential use for landscape planning praxis have been assessed.
These methodologies have been selected because there is a
step-by-step manual of the observation process for the public
spaces of cities that have been studied.
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