The Street A Quintessential Social Public Space

Received the Environmental Design Research Association's 2014 Place Book Award

Shortlisted for the UDG Francis Tibbalds Book Award 2014

Good cities are places of social encounter. Creating public spaces that encourage social behavior in our cities and neighborhoods is an important goal of city design. One of the cardinal roles of the street, as public space, is to provide a setting for sociability.

How do we make sociable streets? This book shows us how these ordinary public spaces can be planned and designed to become settings that support an array of social behaviors. Through carefully crafted research, The Street systematically examines people's actions and perceptions, develops a comprehensive typology of social behaviors on the neighborhood commercial street and provides a thorough inquiry into the social dimensions of streets.

Vikas Mehta shows that sociability is not a result of the physical environment alone, but is achieved by the relationships between the physical environment, the land uses, their management, and the places to which people assign special meanings.

Scholars and students of urban design, planning, architecture, geography and sociology will find the book a stimulating resource. The material is also directly applicable to practice and should be widely read by professional urban designers, planners, architects, and others involved in the design, planning, and implementation of commercial streets.

Introduction 1. A Ubiquitous Urban Space for People 2. The Street Evolving: A Brief Social History 3. Everyday Social Behavior as a Basis for Design 4. Three Streets 5. Sociable Streets: A Typology of Social Behaviors 6. Needs for Social Behavior on Streets 7. Making Sociable Streets: Guidelines and Application Appendices

Vikas Mehta, PhD, is the Fruth/Gemini Chair, the Ohio Eminent Scholar of Environment/Urban Design and　Associate Professor at the School of Planning, College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.