VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

It is possible to define adequate public space from the perspective of various fields of study, including architecture, urban design, city planning, infrastructure, geography, and sociology. Can public spaces be evaluated comprehensively? The paper aims to find consensus on both qualitative and quantitative measures of public space. This paper examines how we can capture the meaningful qualities of public space through the research project. The pedagogic matter of the research project possesses the cultural sensibility needed to quantify and evaluate the performance of visible and invisible public spaces. This paper uses three qualitative and quantitative methods to examine public space as an urban form: Configuration, Connectivity, and Accessibility. Geometric and spatial analyses of movement patterns in New York City are outcomes of the project. Throughout the research project, multiple methodologies are used to measure urban spaces. The categories of measures include: metric and topological networks, aggregate density, morphological, cognitive, and observational measures. Based on these categories of measures, the paper addresses the following questions: In what ways is public space represented? How do those representations capture phenomena? Who can benefit from the analyses, and how can they be applied? Where are the gaps in the analyses, and how should the results be interpreted? Through this methodology, the scope of architectural research can be expanded to study urban pattern formation and simulate the city’s growth. It can expand knowledge and implications for urbanistic, social, political, economic, and spatial topics by remediation of existing urban areas and reexamining current urban renewal strategies.