Lively City: Behavioral Studies & Public Space Design

2 units

Working in small groups, students will acquire new perspectives and skills that put people and their needs at the heart of the creative process of re-imagining and transforming cities. Livability, lively cities, public life, and other concepts describing inviting, vibrant, and stimulating urban environments are frequently communicated in new visions for the future of cities today, but they are the most often unrealized components of design projects. This focus on urban life is a direct reaction to the urban realities created in the 20th century, where increases in our standards of living and the associated city building processes have created areas in which large and increasing numbers of people have become isolated from each other, both socially and geographically. Despite our new awareness for the need to plan for a shared and intensified urban life in sustainable cities, we continue to have difficulty understanding exactly what this urban life is, how much of it we truly want and need, and how we can reconcile the often conflicting and simultaneous needs of people for privacy and social stimulation.