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Take a Seat!

Although vibrancy implies movement, sometimes all you need is somewhere to sit. Filling an open, public space with plentiful and inviting seating is a low-cost way to create a place where people want to be and not just move through.

Under the leadership of Janette Sadik-Khan, the New York City Department of Transportation has made some radical changes to the city's landscape in the past few years. Public plazas have replaced several large intersections and vehicle thoroughfares, perhaps most notably in Times Square. Instead of wandering nomadically, pedestrians can now sit and relax in settings that previously existed only as part of restaurants. Where sidewalks are typically designed for movement, New York City DOT is taking a more comprehensive approach to designing for pedestrians. This approach to designing “streetscapes” is notable in light of the fact that New York City is not in decline, but is instead expecting one million new residents by 2030. Devoting valuable road space to pedestrian plazas seems counterintuitive to the needs of a growing city, but perhaps therein lays a key to vibrancy.

New York’s public plazas provide a meeting venue with the atmosphere of a sidewalk café and the openness of a public park. However, in contrast to the seating options in a typical park – namely the traditional park bench – these plazas offer tables, chairs, and umbrellas that facilitate comfortable conversation.

This is not to say that other cities need to follow New York’s example comprehensively in order to instill a sense of vibrancy. As a resident of Cambridge, MA, I have found Harvard’s more basic approach to the concept to be just as pleasing. In 2009, the school began populating Harvard Yard with brightly colored tables and chairs to create a common space for students and the public to congregate (http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/chairs-tables-performances-coming-to-the-yard/). This relatively low-cost initiative has not necessarily transformed Harvard Yard to the same extent as Times Square, but it has nonetheless created a vibrant space for the community. 

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