Social behaviour as a basis for design and development of green infrastructure

Abstract

This paper addresses urban open spaces, their uses and users. It is concerned with spatial relationships between usage and the physical structure of open spaces in city centres, and addresses the social dimension of green infrastructures in cities and towns. On the basis of behaviour mapping, it reveals dynamic patterns of place occupancies as informative knowledge for responsive and inclusive design. The paper discusses the uses mapped in parks in two European cities (Ljubljana, Slovenia; Edinburgh, UK) under repeated observation on different days, at different times and under different weather conditions. It shows that occupancy patterns have some spatial logic and that in development, planning and design it is essential to pay more attention to the spatiality of uses, compatibility of uses in places, and comprehensive usage-spatial relationships to produce well used and people-friendly places. The paper is concerned with the practical aspects of the conduciveness of places to use and public responsiveness, and examines how different kinds of spatial structure facilitate use by different publics in different ways; and the extent to which such knowledge and awareness can inform design and decision-making.

Keywords

• behaviour mapping
• usage-spatial relationship
• urban ladscape
• public space
• health