Rethinking a classic technique of assessing the success of urban outdoor spaces

The public realm is a key feature which is transforming cities. What makes outdoor spaces successful? This paper describes the adoption of the anthropological observation method of William 'Holly' Whyte to extend the environmental assessment method used in outdoor comfort studies. Conventional outdoor comfort and environmental assessments do not include human interactions within spaces. In the same vein, human behaviour studies in spaces generally do not consider microclimate conditions. In the investigation of the success of New York City urban spaces, Whyte used the technique of time-lapse filming to construct a chronological chart indicating how people used outside spaces. This classic time-lapse/piano roll technique was the inspiration in analysing the space utilisation of a university lawn courtyard in Melbourne CBD, Australia, to evaluate the impacts of microclimate conditions on spatial usage pattern in small urban spaces. Photographic observations taken for a period of one year were processed and analysed using the program Image J/ MTrackJ to track the users' movements within the open space. The analysis of occupancy rate, where the space users stayed and the dwell time in the open space, have thrown some new light on the influence of 'bespoke' microclimate conditions on comfort, adaptation and preferences.