Who, What, Where?
It is necessary to ask questions systematically and divide the variety of activities and people into subcategories in order to get specific and useful knowledge about the complex interaction of life and form in public space. This chapter outlines several
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WHO, WHAT, WHERE?
It is necessary to ask questions systematically and divide the variety of activities and people into subcategories in order to get specific and useful knowledge about the complex interaction of life and form in public space. This chapter outlines several general study questions: how many, who, where, what, how long? An example is given showing how each basic question has been studied in various contexts.
The list of questions that can be asked about the interaction between life and form is essentially endless. The questions listed in the paragraph at left are the most basic, and, naturally, can be combined in any way. When asking where people stay, it is usually relevant to ask who they are, how long they are staying or some other combination of questions. It is not possible to draw up a list of fixed questions that can be investigated in all areas or cities. Every city is unique, and observers must use their eyes, other senses and good common sense. Most important is that the context and site determine the methods and tools, and on the whole, how and when the study should be conducted. However, common to all sites and situations is that at the very moment observers fasten their gaze on a group of people or types of activities or otherwise fix their attention on the diversity of activities, groupings, tendencies, etc., it becomes patently clear that the prospect is complex, overlapping and not easy to study. Different types of activities are interwoven: recreation and purposeful activities take place side by side. We can speak of chains of events – and of continuous change. Precisely because the interaction between life and space is so complex and difficult to pin down, it can be useful to ask basic questions in an insistent, journalistic manner, and to ask them again and again. To focus attention on who, what, where and other basic questions can provide general knowledge about behavior in public space and special knowledge of a specific issue in practice. Studying these key questions can provide documentation and understanding of a given pattern of activity or concrete knowledge about who goes where or not in a given place. Thus these elementary questions can be used in practice as well as for more basic research purposes.
Once we begin observing city life and its interaction with physical surroundings, even the most ordinary street corner can provide interesting knowledge about the interplay of city life and form - anywhere in the world. We can systematize our observations by asking basic question like who, what and where. Left: Cordoba, Argentina, where architect Miguel Angel Roca formulated a holistic strategy for an architectural and social urban policy in 1979-80.1 J. Gehl and B. Svarre, How to Study Public Life, DOI 10.5822/978-1-61091-525-0_2, © 2013 Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre
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New Road, Brighton, England How many people are walking and how many are stationary? In Brighton New Road, a public life study helped to determine use before and after improvements were made. The number of pedes
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