A sociable place

Abstract

People are sociable creatures. we need social interaction of various sorts, including casual contact with strangers as well as planned meetings with friends and acquaintances. It is the task of the designer to understand these needs and help provide appropriate settings for social contact. This thesis examines one such setting: public outdoor spaces, or gathering places, and attempts to discover design elements which can help these places support social contact and gathering. These elements are presented in the form of design criteria, which are then applied to a short design study. Finally, this thesis proposes that we incorporate more of these places with in smaller cities and neighborhoods, to bolster existing social networks and to provide greater opportunities for meeting and gathering within communities.