Environment-behaviour studies: A synergetic bridge between designers and users of open space

Abstract

This paper critically reflects on a kind and use of knowledge about the users of urban open public spaces in urban planning and design. It shows that designers’ perceptions about usage-spatial relationships are inadequate and many times very different form the actual situations. The findings are based on results from workshops with urban landscape designers and on the basis of observation and behavioural mapping in squares and parks of city centres of two European cities, Edinburgh and Ljubljana. As the behavioural maps graphically express structural relationships between physical qualities of places and their users, they represent a useful tool for improvement of designers’ knowledge and perception about potential and actual use of a place. In this respect they represent a basis for better cooperation and synergy between users and planners or designers, as the knowledge about any possible or expected behavioural patterns in places may lead into effective and responsive design.

Keywords

• public space
• user
• behavioural map