The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

The book and film describe Whyte's analytical process and approach to evaluating and understanding a series of public spaces, mostly small parks, squares and office tower plazas in Manhattan, New York City. The book summarised research undertaken as part of the Street Life Project for the New York City Planning Commission that Whyte had collated since 1969.[1]

The book is set out with the following eleven thematic chapters:

1. The Life of Plazas
2. Sitting Space
3. Sun, Wind, Trees, Water
4. Food
5. The Street
6. The “Undesirables”
7. Effective Capacity
8. Indoor Spaces
9. Concourses and Megastructures
10. Smaller Cities and Places
11. Triangulation

A total of 18 small urban spaces in Manhattan were comparatively analysed.[2] The majority of public spaces were located in Midtown Manhattan. All spaces were built in the post World War II era and a majority are forecourts or public spaces associated with a modern commercial office tower. Paley Park and Greenacre Park were included as they are predominantly paved public spaces in the city with similar patterns of use as the other 16 locations.

The following list shows the original collection name of each site in the first column as used in graphs and charts in the book. Where building names have changed since 1980 this is noted.

In 1980 Whyte also released a documentary film with the same title as the 1980 book.[3] On release the 16mm film could be purchased for $750 or hired for $75 on two reels from the Municipal Art Society of New York.[4][5]

In 1981 a lightly re-edited version was made by Nova for broadcast on PBS, titled "City Spaces, Human Places".[6]

• Project for Public Spaces
• The Organization Man
• Jan Gehl