Selection of methods, proprioception and analysis strategy
As suggested by Lefebvre (2004), catching the rhythms of a place may require a complete immersion in the rhythm itself with all our senses. In this project we tried many methods of urban analysis and data collection and selected those which would allow us to perform Wunderlich’s place temporality analysis. Traditional architectural methods, like assessing Jane Jacobs’ 4 criteria of mixed uses, varying building ages, short streets and high density (Jacobs, 1961), did not help identity the social activities of the Helsingborg site. The GIS technique was useful for visualization and path-length measures but in general we needed methods that were more observational than analytical or assessment/score-based.
We used 3 main data collection methods; visual (photos/time-lapse), proprioception and sound (recorded using a Zoom H2n recorder). Field notes were made during site visits and a Perecquian approach was used (Perec, 1974) to capture as much detail as possible. Most have experience with and an understanding of these methods. But proprioception is more complex and this warrants a separate section for explanation.
Dance is the art form that connects our emotional responses to movement (Au, 2012) and choreographers try to communicate these emotions through the dancers they work with (Hunter, 2009). This connection was challenged in the 1960s by postmodern choreographers like Yvonne Rainer in order to move away from the idea of dance performances as shows full of crowd-pleasing moves (Au, 2012). Trisha Brown’s Man Walking Down the Side of a Building challenged the idea of where dance should take place but it also contributed to the idea that a dancer is anyone that moves (Au, 2012). Despite this postmodern challenge, most choreographers still try to communicate their emotions through movement, although the form of the actual dance could be extremely diverse.
Swedish dancer/choreographer Anna Asplind has developed the Dancewalk, a sound recording that instructs you to explore a site (see www.annaasplind.se). We have met her to discuss the process of making these walks and her own experience of space. She visits the site many times to explore what is there, how this makes her feel and what movements this stimulates. These movements are ‘pure’ rather than some kind of spectacular dance move and this purity is similar to the Gaga People approach of Ohad Naharin. She also said that interacting with the site in this way reveals the ‘norms’ and how doing something slightly different can attract attention. This is similar to the concept of ‘fear of exposure’ in public places as discussed extensively by Sennett (1992). The overall goal of these dancewalks is to increase our awareness of spaces. Asplind has taken groups of urban planners on these walks (Asplind, 2014), she teaches in landscape architecture at SLU and has noted an increased interest in this type of approach recently. Dancewalks in Malmö are available for Nyhamnen (English) and for Hyllie Torg (Swedish).
To test whether proprioception could contribute to our understanding of public spaces, we contacted two dance students from the Stockholm University of the Arts, School of Dance and Circus. Sara Mörk and Meeri Mäkinen are trained in modern dance and in particular they use improvisation extensively in their work. Given the connection of emotion to movement and based on the meeting with Anna Asplind, we asked the dancers to visit two sites and to improvise movements based on the emotions they felt in each space. The dance in the videos was spontaneous and not choreographed. We have not edited the following clips so these can be considered ‘raw data’ in terms of their experiences.
Ellen Keys Park
Improvisation of two dancers’ experience of Ellen Keys Park, Stockholm
Brunkebergstorg
Improvisation of two dancers’ experience of Brunkebergstorg, Stockholm
Proprioception in a space is often activated by closing your eyes and either thinking about your previous movements or by moving through the space blindfolded (Kochhar-Lindgren, 2006) and in this way it is often viewed as an individual experience. However, there is evidence that watching dance activates mirror neurons which mimic the same movements in the viewer and this transfer of proprioception to others in the same space (Montero, 2006) is very interesting for urban designers working with public spaces.
Jen Gehl (2011) has identified three main categories of activities that occur in public spaces; necessary activities, optional activities and social activities. The optional and social activities may slightly overlap with each other. We conducted this analysis in our study sites on a weekday and a weekend as the activities and users differ according to day of the week, time of the day and even the season on the year. This allowed us to obtain some understanding on social aspects of these places.
Data were analyzed based on responses received by 2019-05-06. By this date a total of 37 responded but 2 responses were duplicates. Therefore analysis was based on 35 respondents, who are not only from Sweden but also from other countries such as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Although this cannot be considered as a representative sample, the survey provided some important insights into public spaces.
According to the respondents, 57.6% associate public spaces with parks and nature, while 13.5% respondents relate it to waterfronts. These two are the maximum number of places indicated by the respondents, and there are some mentions about landmarks in the city and transport networks. Although the UN Charter for Public Spaces (2013) recognises places of educational and cultural values such as museums and libraries as public spaces, only 4 out of 35 respondents had referred to public services (e.g. library) as a public space.
Another important perception revealed through this survey was that people view public spaces as some kind of destination one must go to in order to do something. Answering the question “what do you use public spaces for”, the respondents had indicated different uses. They can be categorised under several main themes such as: recovery and well-being (33.3%), social interactions (25%), recreation (15.2%), solitary interactions (13.8%), daily routines (7%) and transport (5.5%). Interestingly, one of the respondents has stated that s/he does nothing at public spaces. It was observed that recovery aspects are best associated with parks while solitary interactions (i.e. people watching) could occur in any lively city square. There was limited mention of transport and public services, which suggests that most people may not consider a building like a library or a train station as a public space.
When considering the inclusion and exclusion aspects of public spaces, almost half of the respondents stated that they never felt as being excluded from using public spaces. However, many were concerned about perceived safety issues, especially in squares where only men gather. Reluctance to use public spaces were connected to self image and being watched, mainly mentioned by females. It is worthwhile mentioning that, several respondents suggested the importance of comfort and cleanliness. People do not want to be in places that are dirty nor do they choose places that lack comfortable seating. This affects lingering in the space.
The questionnaire also requested people's perceptions of sensory stimuli, other than visual, that aid them in experiencing and use of public spaces. According to the responses, sound is the most important sense after visual sense, which directly affects users’ comfort and lingering in the place. Smell and Proprioception (movement) also received relatively higher number of responses, indicating their importance in experiencing public spaces.
Since the place-temporality method was developed based on observations in London, we did not know whether this could be directly applied to the Swedish context. One issue is population size. Jane Jacobs includes density as a key criteria for lively neighbourhoods in that there needs to be enough people using an area to sustain public life throughout the day (Jacobs, 1961). In London or New York this is never a problem but in Sweden cities have much lower populations. As indicated in the previous section we started by making observations at the sites at several times and weekdays/weekends and found that there was enough activity to perform the analysis.
The initial observations in the 3 sites guided our subsequent use of time-lapse, proprioception and sound recording. For example, behaviour patterns like crossing Henry Dunkers Plats diagonally led us to explore the proprioceptive effects of the pavement lines. Once we found areas of interest within the sites, our data, as reflected in what we show in the videos, was the starting point for the analysis of the space using place-temporality.
Wunderlich (2103) presented overlapping place-rhythms in a graphical format but this form of data visualization did not adequately describe or present our results. Therefore we decided to present the 3 steps of temporal performance, place tonality and sense of time in separate columns of a table and list the identified place-rhythms in rows. Each table represented a single time point and only included the place-rhythms observed at that time point. Therefore, we could have performed the same analysis for every site visit time in order to completely understand the spaces. However, this project was about validating the method so we only presented a single representative analysis for each.
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We used 3 main data collection methods; visual (photos/time-lapse), proprioception and sound (recorded using a Zoom H2n recorder). Field notes were made during site visits and a Perecquian approach was used (Perec, 1974) to capture as much detail as possible. Most have experience with and an understanding of these methods. But proprioception is more complex and this warrants a separate section for explanation.
Proprioception on site
Proprioception is the sense of feeling where the body is and how it moves (Kochhar-Lindgren, 2006). Our vestibular system, via its receptors in joints throughout the body, transmits this information to our brain where it can be integrated with other sensory signals (Montero, 2006) and formed into our perception of a space (Hunter, 2009). This sense is generally considered to be an individual response to a space (Montero, 2006) but also assumes a reconceptualization of space from the level of a large square to a much smaller area around your body where you express yourself or engage in social activities (Lefebvre, 1991).Dance is the art form that connects our emotional responses to movement (Au, 2012) and choreographers try to communicate these emotions through the dancers they work with (Hunter, 2009). This connection was challenged in the 1960s by postmodern choreographers like Yvonne Rainer in order to move away from the idea of dance performances as shows full of crowd-pleasing moves (Au, 2012). Trisha Brown’s Man Walking Down the Side of a Building challenged the idea of where dance should take place but it also contributed to the idea that a dancer is anyone that moves (Au, 2012). Despite this postmodern challenge, most choreographers still try to communicate their emotions through movement, although the form of the actual dance could be extremely diverse.
Swedish dancer/choreographer Anna Asplind has developed the Dancewalk, a sound recording that instructs you to explore a site (see www.annaasplind.se). We have met her to discuss the process of making these walks and her own experience of space. She visits the site many times to explore what is there, how this makes her feel and what movements this stimulates. These movements are ‘pure’ rather than some kind of spectacular dance move and this purity is similar to the Gaga People approach of Ohad Naharin. She also said that interacting with the site in this way reveals the ‘norms’ and how doing something slightly different can attract attention. This is similar to the concept of ‘fear of exposure’ in public places as discussed extensively by Sennett (1992). The overall goal of these dancewalks is to increase our awareness of spaces. Asplind has taken groups of urban planners on these walks (Asplind, 2014), she teaches in landscape architecture at SLU and has noted an increased interest in this type of approach recently. Dancewalks in Malmö are available for Nyhamnen (English) and for Hyllie Torg (Swedish).
To test whether proprioception could contribute to our understanding of public spaces, we contacted two dance students from the Stockholm University of the Arts, School of Dance and Circus. Sara Mörk and Meeri Mäkinen are trained in modern dance and in particular they use improvisation extensively in their work. Given the connection of emotion to movement and based on the meeting with Anna Asplind, we asked the dancers to visit two sites and to improvise movements based on the emotions they felt in each space. The dance in the videos was spontaneous and not choreographed. We have not edited the following clips so these can be considered ‘raw data’ in terms of their experiences.
Ellen Keys Park
Improvisation of two dancers’ experience of Ellen Keys Park, Stockholm
Brunkebergstorg
Improvisation of two dancers’ experience of Brunkebergstorg, Stockholm
Proprioception in a space is often activated by closing your eyes and either thinking about your previous movements or by moving through the space blindfolded (Kochhar-Lindgren, 2006) and in this way it is often viewed as an individual experience. However, there is evidence that watching dance activates mirror neurons which mimic the same movements in the viewer and this transfer of proprioception to others in the same space (Montero, 2006) is very interesting for urban designers working with public spaces.
Analysis of activities in public spaces
Jen Gehl (2011) has identified three main categories of activities that occur in public spaces; necessary activities, optional activities and social activities. The optional and social activities may slightly overlap with each other. We conducted this analysis in our study sites on a weekday and a weekend as the activities and users differ according to day of the week, time of the day and even the season on the year. This allowed us to obtain some understanding on social aspects of these places.
Henry Dunkers Plats
- Friday 10th May 2019: 2.30pm - 3.00pm (Temp: 14c, slight rain)
- Necessary activities
No. of people walking across the place within 10 minutes - 23
(Dog walkers - 6, people with grocery bags - 4, others walk between the waterfront and the road)
- Optional or Social activities
Nothing. No one was sitting on benches or standing at edges.
2) Saturday 11th May 2019: 11.30am - 12.00 (Temp:15c, sunny)
- Necessary activities
No. of people walking across the place within 10 minutes - 32
- Optional or Social activities
45 people were standing in a queue at 11.30 am to enter Stadsteater and 32 more people joined the queue during 30 minutes. They were talking with each other while waiting in the queue to enter the theater.
At 12.00, a lady came on the rooftop of the theater and addressed the people waiting in the queue and welcomed them. One person was standing close to the theater and taking photographs of the crowd.
2 people observing the artworks (sculptures) at the space
Gröningen
- Friday 10th May 2019: 3.30pm - 4.00pm (Temp: 14c, windy, just after rain)
- Necessary activities
No. of people walking across (line marked as 200m) within 10 minutes - 29
(runners - 3)
- Optional or Social activities
Sitting close to water - 4 (individually)
Sitting on wooden benches - 3
2) Saturday 11th May 2019: 1.00pm - 2.00pm (Temp: 15c, sunny)
- Necessary activities
No. of people walking across (line marked as 200m) within 10 minutes - 54
(runners - 6,)
- Optional or Social activities
Sitting close to water - 17
Sitting on wooden spiral benches - 8
Buying ice cream at 3 ice cream stalls - 13
Children on skateboards - 2
No. of children playing in children play area - 11
No. of people watching the children - 7
No. of people Playing at basketball court - 2 teenagers
No. of people at the open gym - 3
No. of people at the open DJ place - 2 children and 1 adult
People’s perceptions of public spaces
This study used a questionnaire survey to explore people’s perceptions of public spaces in order to obtain a better understanding of: what are the places people consider as public spaces, why they use it, what are the senses they think as important in experiencing the space and feeling of been excluded from public spaces.Data were analyzed based on responses received by 2019-05-06. By this date a total of 37 responded but 2 responses were duplicates. Therefore analysis was based on 35 respondents, who are not only from Sweden but also from other countries such as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Although this cannot be considered as a representative sample, the survey provided some important insights into public spaces.
According to the respondents, 57.6% associate public spaces with parks and nature, while 13.5% respondents relate it to waterfronts. These two are the maximum number of places indicated by the respondents, and there are some mentions about landmarks in the city and transport networks. Although the UN Charter for Public Spaces (2013) recognises places of educational and cultural values such as museums and libraries as public spaces, only 4 out of 35 respondents had referred to public services (e.g. library) as a public space.
Another important perception revealed through this survey was that people view public spaces as some kind of destination one must go to in order to do something. Answering the question “what do you use public spaces for”, the respondents had indicated different uses. They can be categorised under several main themes such as: recovery and well-being (33.3%), social interactions (25%), recreation (15.2%), solitary interactions (13.8%), daily routines (7%) and transport (5.5%). Interestingly, one of the respondents has stated that s/he does nothing at public spaces. It was observed that recovery aspects are best associated with parks while solitary interactions (i.e. people watching) could occur in any lively city square. There was limited mention of transport and public services, which suggests that most people may not consider a building like a library or a train station as a public space.
When considering the inclusion and exclusion aspects of public spaces, almost half of the respondents stated that they never felt as being excluded from using public spaces. However, many were concerned about perceived safety issues, especially in squares where only men gather. Reluctance to use public spaces were connected to self image and being watched, mainly mentioned by females. It is worthwhile mentioning that, several respondents suggested the importance of comfort and cleanliness. People do not want to be in places that are dirty nor do they choose places that lack comfortable seating. This affects lingering in the space.
The questionnaire also requested people's perceptions of sensory stimuli, other than visual, that aid them in experiencing and use of public spaces. According to the responses, sound is the most important sense after visual sense, which directly affects users’ comfort and lingering in the place. Smell and Proprioception (movement) also received relatively higher number of responses, indicating their importance in experiencing public spaces.
Strategy for place-temporality analysis
Since the place-temporality method was developed based on observations in London, we did not know whether this could be directly applied to the Swedish context. One issue is population size. Jane Jacobs includes density as a key criteria for lively neighbourhoods in that there needs to be enough people using an area to sustain public life throughout the day (Jacobs, 1961). In London or New York this is never a problem but in Sweden cities have much lower populations. As indicated in the previous section we started by making observations at the sites at several times and weekdays/weekends and found that there was enough activity to perform the analysis.
The initial observations in the 3 sites guided our subsequent use of time-lapse, proprioception and sound recording. For example, behaviour patterns like crossing Henry Dunkers Plats diagonally led us to explore the proprioceptive effects of the pavement lines. Once we found areas of interest within the sites, our data, as reflected in what we show in the videos, was the starting point for the analysis of the space using place-temporality.
Wunderlich (2103) presented overlapping place-rhythms in a graphical format but this form of data visualization did not adequately describe or present our results. Therefore we decided to present the 3 steps of temporal performance, place tonality and sense of time in separate columns of a table and list the identified place-rhythms in rows. Each table represented a single time point and only included the place-rhythms observed at that time point. Therefore, we could have performed the same analysis for every site visit time in order to completely understand the spaces. However, this project was about validating the method so we only presented a single representative analysis for each.
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