Convivial Urban Spaces: Creating Effective Public Places Henry Shaftoe Author: Mark Francis ® Affiliation: @ Department of Environmental Design, University of California, Davis uUsA DOI: 10.1080/13574800903057083 Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year Published in: —) Journal of Urban Design, Volume 14, Issue 3 August 2009 , pages 404 - 405 Eartnscan, London, 2008, £39.95, 208 pp., ISBN-13 978-1-84407-288-7; ISBN-10 1844073882 The literature on public space is now one of the largest and most developed in urban design. Seminal contributions from Wiliam Whyte (1980), Jan Gehl (1987), Clare Cooper Marcus and Carolyn Francis (1997), Helen Wooley (2003), and thers have shown through their research and design work that good public spaces are ones that are well used and accessible to a wide variety of people. Practice has improved and more spaces are being designed to provide for human Use and enjoyment. Yet, significant gaps in our understanding of the public realm of cities remain. For example, why are some public spaces memorable while others easily forgotten? How can understandings of cultural diversity and publicness guide design and management of public open spaces? What physical forms ara the most effective? Haw can designers, planners, and managers best apply the lessons leamed from the now extensive number of published case studies? Into the mix enters Convivial Urban Spaces, a short book by Henry Shaftoe, Senior Lecturer at the University of West of England. At first look it seems much like many others, focused on how to make public space usable. Much of the principles of good public space he points out such as comfort and engagement have already been well documented. Unlike earlier explorations of public space, Shaftoe offers a more personal tale. As someone whose work focuses on safety and security, he knows well the failure of too many public open spaces ta live up to their promise. He purposely departs from the doom and gloom of public space fallure, to focus on what works based on his travel and own studies throughout Britain and beyond. I find this a hopeful book and one that can offer researchers and practitioners alike simple, straightforward principles to employ in public space planning and management. Itis a readable and wol-ilustrated overview of what makes good public spaces, Convivial Urban Spaces is dived into four parts. The first part explores the types of public space common today, including squares, parks and streets, and discusses the policies that have guided their development and use. The second part presents specific principles that make a space ‘convivial’ (defined by the author as “open public locations where citizens. can gather, linger or wander through"). The third and most practical part offers ingredients such as comfort and joy and ses case studies from European cities such as York, Barcelona and Berlin to illustrate them in practice. This is the core of the book and offers several recipes for success. The last part presents a useful ‘how to’ list, something goad to copy and ive to local officials when discussing how best to design public open spaces. Along the way, the author discusses the perennial question if good public places are purposely designed or simply evolve naturally over time. Shaftoe, like others before him, clearly documents the ingredients needed for creating well-used public spaces based on human needs. He presents many of the features necessary to make good open spaces such as movable seating, shelter from the elements and the importance of people watching and providing food. Yet | fear that current practice may not be as warm and cuddly as Shaftoe suggests. We stil know too litle about the meanings that people attach to public spaces as well as the expanding typology of spaces emerging today. The increasing cultural diversity of cities is leading to spaces that are more controlled and specialized and more exclusive than inclusive. Users such as new immigrant groups, teenagers, and the elderly are too often left out of consideration or even purposely designed out. Conflict and struggle over space are more common in cities than ever before. This book raises but does not fully address some of the more important theoretical and applied issues facing public space today. We need to enlarge the research agenda on public space to Understand fully the meaning of open public urban spaces and the role of urban design in shaping their future. Convivial Urban Spaces is a useful and comprehensive primer for understanding the human dimensions of public space. Students and practitioners wil find itan accessible and hopeful account of public space design today. It does not break ‘new ground on the emerging role of public space in cities, but adds another voice to the social requirements for making 004 public spaces. More importantly, it highlights the contributions urban designers and landscape architects can make in shaping the public realm of towns and cities. References 1. Cooper-Marcus, C. and Francis, C. (eds) (1997) People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space Wiley , New York, NY [your library's links] 2. Gehl, J. (1987) The Life Between Buildings Van Nostrand Reinhold , New York, NY {your library's links} 3. Whyte, W. (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces The Conservation Foundation , Washington, DC [your library's links] 4. Wooley, H. (2003) Urban Open Spaces Spon , London [your library's links]