Post on 26-Dec-2015
description
Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A study of Gillett Square London
London School of Economics and Political Science
MSc City Design and Social Science 2013-2014
SO449 Independent Project
Candidate Number 17313
Word Count 9926
Cover Image A panoramic image of Gillett Square (Hackney D 2011)
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr Guumlnter Gassner for his guidance inestimable help
and challenging insights Without these the project would not be published
I would like to thank people of Gillett Square who were mostly engaged with
my project and helped me out a lot Definitely one of the friendliest places
in London
I would also like to thank my family and girlfriend for their priceless support
cordial care and assistance
Ksenia thanks for inspiring me
v Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Table of contents
Introduction bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 6
Night spaces and 24-hour city concept bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 8
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 16
Methodology bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 26
Observation-based study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Cafeacute culture bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Eating bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 33
Alcohol bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 35
Drugs bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 37
Kids bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 39
Skateboarding bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 41
Transferring bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 43
Event programming bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 47
Implications of the study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 51
Conclusion bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 53
Bibliography bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 55
A guide on visuals bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 57
Appendix A1 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 58
Appendix A2 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 107
Appendix B bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 136
Appendix C bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 138
Appendix D bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 139
6
Introduction
How many times have you been out entertaining yourself having a jolly time
and enjoying what London nights have to offer But imagine what it is like to
be out in the night just observing what is going on In this case a different
perspective will open Night in London is a lawless time when people do in-
sane things go to places they would not normally go to and meet people they
would not ordinarily even look at But after sunrise and when the weekend is
over life resumes its natural course and everything goes back to lsquonormalrsquo
Throughout the centuries night-time has remained lsquouncolonisedrsquo and only a
few found their harbor in the atmosphere of darkness and obscurity With the
evolution of man-made lighting and the explosive development of the global
economy a couple centuries later humanity started its conquest of the night
Shops open 247 businesses offer 24-hour customer services and the roads
are never vacant The night is now ours but what toll has it taken
Urban theory scholars have coined numerous terms to describe the nocturnal
city ldquoNight spacesrdquo ldquothe 24-hour societyrdquo ldquothe night-time economyrdquo and so
on but in reality the night cities remain somewhat undiscovered The same
conditions are to be found with city planning Spaces are usually designed to
accommodate and satisfy the day-time population Despite many restrictive
initiatives to control the night-time economy like alcohol licensing and crime
-targeted policies (including panoptical CCTV coverage in London) planning
documents have little information about activation of specifically night spac-
es Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995) see the origins of neglecting planning for the
night-time city in the lack of understanding of the night culture phenomena
Roberts and Eldridge (2009 p 42) agree with them stating that ldquoPlanning
policy in the UK has been put into position where it has had to lsquocatch uprsquo
with these shifts in urban movementrdquo Only recently British plannersrsquo atti-
tudes have altered though they have not brought impressive outcomes
7 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle The investigation employed observation-based study meth-
ods interviews and photography This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these This paper is also going to ex-
plain the origins of the most fascinating activities While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years
Gillett Square at 4 am
Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
London School of Economics and Political Science
MSc City Design and Social Science 2013-2014
SO449 Independent Project
Candidate Number 17313
Word Count 9926
Cover Image A panoramic image of Gillett Square (Hackney D 2011)
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr Guumlnter Gassner for his guidance inestimable help
and challenging insights Without these the project would not be published
I would like to thank people of Gillett Square who were mostly engaged with
my project and helped me out a lot Definitely one of the friendliest places
in London
I would also like to thank my family and girlfriend for their priceless support
cordial care and assistance
Ksenia thanks for inspiring me
v Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Table of contents
Introduction bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 6
Night spaces and 24-hour city concept bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 8
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 16
Methodology bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 26
Observation-based study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Cafeacute culture bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Eating bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 33
Alcohol bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 35
Drugs bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 37
Kids bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 39
Skateboarding bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 41
Transferring bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 43
Event programming bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 47
Implications of the study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 51
Conclusion bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 53
Bibliography bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 55
A guide on visuals bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 57
Appendix A1 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 58
Appendix A2 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 107
Appendix B bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 136
Appendix C bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 138
Appendix D bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 139
6
Introduction
How many times have you been out entertaining yourself having a jolly time
and enjoying what London nights have to offer But imagine what it is like to
be out in the night just observing what is going on In this case a different
perspective will open Night in London is a lawless time when people do in-
sane things go to places they would not normally go to and meet people they
would not ordinarily even look at But after sunrise and when the weekend is
over life resumes its natural course and everything goes back to lsquonormalrsquo
Throughout the centuries night-time has remained lsquouncolonisedrsquo and only a
few found their harbor in the atmosphere of darkness and obscurity With the
evolution of man-made lighting and the explosive development of the global
economy a couple centuries later humanity started its conquest of the night
Shops open 247 businesses offer 24-hour customer services and the roads
are never vacant The night is now ours but what toll has it taken
Urban theory scholars have coined numerous terms to describe the nocturnal
city ldquoNight spacesrdquo ldquothe 24-hour societyrdquo ldquothe night-time economyrdquo and so
on but in reality the night cities remain somewhat undiscovered The same
conditions are to be found with city planning Spaces are usually designed to
accommodate and satisfy the day-time population Despite many restrictive
initiatives to control the night-time economy like alcohol licensing and crime
-targeted policies (including panoptical CCTV coverage in London) planning
documents have little information about activation of specifically night spac-
es Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995) see the origins of neglecting planning for the
night-time city in the lack of understanding of the night culture phenomena
Roberts and Eldridge (2009 p 42) agree with them stating that ldquoPlanning
policy in the UK has been put into position where it has had to lsquocatch uprsquo
with these shifts in urban movementrdquo Only recently British plannersrsquo atti-
tudes have altered though they have not brought impressive outcomes
7 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle The investigation employed observation-based study meth-
ods interviews and photography This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these This paper is also going to ex-
plain the origins of the most fascinating activities While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years
Gillett Square at 4 am
Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
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Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
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Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
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wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
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Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr Guumlnter Gassner for his guidance inestimable help
and challenging insights Without these the project would not be published
I would like to thank people of Gillett Square who were mostly engaged with
my project and helped me out a lot Definitely one of the friendliest places
in London
I would also like to thank my family and girlfriend for their priceless support
cordial care and assistance
Ksenia thanks for inspiring me
v Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Table of contents
Introduction bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 6
Night spaces and 24-hour city concept bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 8
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 16
Methodology bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 26
Observation-based study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Cafeacute culture bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Eating bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 33
Alcohol bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 35
Drugs bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 37
Kids bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 39
Skateboarding bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 41
Transferring bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 43
Event programming bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 47
Implications of the study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 51
Conclusion bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 53
Bibliography bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 55
A guide on visuals bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 57
Appendix A1 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 58
Appendix A2 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 107
Appendix B bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 136
Appendix C bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 138
Appendix D bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 139
6
Introduction
How many times have you been out entertaining yourself having a jolly time
and enjoying what London nights have to offer But imagine what it is like to
be out in the night just observing what is going on In this case a different
perspective will open Night in London is a lawless time when people do in-
sane things go to places they would not normally go to and meet people they
would not ordinarily even look at But after sunrise and when the weekend is
over life resumes its natural course and everything goes back to lsquonormalrsquo
Throughout the centuries night-time has remained lsquouncolonisedrsquo and only a
few found their harbor in the atmosphere of darkness and obscurity With the
evolution of man-made lighting and the explosive development of the global
economy a couple centuries later humanity started its conquest of the night
Shops open 247 businesses offer 24-hour customer services and the roads
are never vacant The night is now ours but what toll has it taken
Urban theory scholars have coined numerous terms to describe the nocturnal
city ldquoNight spacesrdquo ldquothe 24-hour societyrdquo ldquothe night-time economyrdquo and so
on but in reality the night cities remain somewhat undiscovered The same
conditions are to be found with city planning Spaces are usually designed to
accommodate and satisfy the day-time population Despite many restrictive
initiatives to control the night-time economy like alcohol licensing and crime
-targeted policies (including panoptical CCTV coverage in London) planning
documents have little information about activation of specifically night spac-
es Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995) see the origins of neglecting planning for the
night-time city in the lack of understanding of the night culture phenomena
Roberts and Eldridge (2009 p 42) agree with them stating that ldquoPlanning
policy in the UK has been put into position where it has had to lsquocatch uprsquo
with these shifts in urban movementrdquo Only recently British plannersrsquo atti-
tudes have altered though they have not brought impressive outcomes
7 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle The investigation employed observation-based study meth-
ods interviews and photography This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these This paper is also going to ex-
plain the origins of the most fascinating activities While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years
Gillett Square at 4 am
Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
v Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Table of contents
Introduction bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 6
Night spaces and 24-hour city concept bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 8
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 16
Methodology bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 26
Observation-based study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Cafeacute culture bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 31
Eating bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 33
Alcohol bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 35
Drugs bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 37
Kids bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 39
Skateboarding bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 41
Transferring bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 43
Event programming bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 47
Implications of the study bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 51
Conclusion bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 53
Bibliography bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 55
A guide on visuals bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 57
Appendix A1 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 58
Appendix A2 bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 107
Appendix B bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 136
Appendix C bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 138
Appendix D bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull 139
6
Introduction
How many times have you been out entertaining yourself having a jolly time
and enjoying what London nights have to offer But imagine what it is like to
be out in the night just observing what is going on In this case a different
perspective will open Night in London is a lawless time when people do in-
sane things go to places they would not normally go to and meet people they
would not ordinarily even look at But after sunrise and when the weekend is
over life resumes its natural course and everything goes back to lsquonormalrsquo
Throughout the centuries night-time has remained lsquouncolonisedrsquo and only a
few found their harbor in the atmosphere of darkness and obscurity With the
evolution of man-made lighting and the explosive development of the global
economy a couple centuries later humanity started its conquest of the night
Shops open 247 businesses offer 24-hour customer services and the roads
are never vacant The night is now ours but what toll has it taken
Urban theory scholars have coined numerous terms to describe the nocturnal
city ldquoNight spacesrdquo ldquothe 24-hour societyrdquo ldquothe night-time economyrdquo and so
on but in reality the night cities remain somewhat undiscovered The same
conditions are to be found with city planning Spaces are usually designed to
accommodate and satisfy the day-time population Despite many restrictive
initiatives to control the night-time economy like alcohol licensing and crime
-targeted policies (including panoptical CCTV coverage in London) planning
documents have little information about activation of specifically night spac-
es Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995) see the origins of neglecting planning for the
night-time city in the lack of understanding of the night culture phenomena
Roberts and Eldridge (2009 p 42) agree with them stating that ldquoPlanning
policy in the UK has been put into position where it has had to lsquocatch uprsquo
with these shifts in urban movementrdquo Only recently British plannersrsquo atti-
tudes have altered though they have not brought impressive outcomes
7 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle The investigation employed observation-based study meth-
ods interviews and photography This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these This paper is also going to ex-
plain the origins of the most fascinating activities While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years
Gillett Square at 4 am
Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
6
Introduction
How many times have you been out entertaining yourself having a jolly time
and enjoying what London nights have to offer But imagine what it is like to
be out in the night just observing what is going on In this case a different
perspective will open Night in London is a lawless time when people do in-
sane things go to places they would not normally go to and meet people they
would not ordinarily even look at But after sunrise and when the weekend is
over life resumes its natural course and everything goes back to lsquonormalrsquo
Throughout the centuries night-time has remained lsquouncolonisedrsquo and only a
few found their harbor in the atmosphere of darkness and obscurity With the
evolution of man-made lighting and the explosive development of the global
economy a couple centuries later humanity started its conquest of the night
Shops open 247 businesses offer 24-hour customer services and the roads
are never vacant The night is now ours but what toll has it taken
Urban theory scholars have coined numerous terms to describe the nocturnal
city ldquoNight spacesrdquo ldquothe 24-hour societyrdquo ldquothe night-time economyrdquo and so
on but in reality the night cities remain somewhat undiscovered The same
conditions are to be found with city planning Spaces are usually designed to
accommodate and satisfy the day-time population Despite many restrictive
initiatives to control the night-time economy like alcohol licensing and crime
-targeted policies (including panoptical CCTV coverage in London) planning
documents have little information about activation of specifically night spac-
es Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995) see the origins of neglecting planning for the
night-time city in the lack of understanding of the night culture phenomena
Roberts and Eldridge (2009 p 42) agree with them stating that ldquoPlanning
policy in the UK has been put into position where it has had to lsquocatch uprsquo
with these shifts in urban movementrdquo Only recently British plannersrsquo atti-
tudes have altered though they have not brought impressive outcomes
7 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle The investigation employed observation-based study meth-
ods interviews and photography This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these This paper is also going to ex-
plain the origins of the most fascinating activities While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years
Gillett Square at 4 am
Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
7 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle The investigation employed observation-based study meth-
ods interviews and photography This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these This paper is also going to ex-
plain the origins of the most fascinating activities While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years
Gillett Square at 4 am
Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
8
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city The night-time city is left almost uncovered While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us
The day spaces and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life commuting and obligations La quotidienne ndash the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004) Lefebvre used the
lsquorhythmanalysisrsquo technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridi-
ty of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force For Lefebvre the ideal society is one where every-
day life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden 2004)
Although Lefebvrersquos points are easily understood his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian
But there are another 12 hours The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression freedom and enjoyment and their night urban life is dichot-
omous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness the things con-
cealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil onersquos pleasures (Roberts amp El-
dridge 2009) Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readersrsquo thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos fear and excite-
ment which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OrsquoConnor (1995 pp 132-133) though simpli-
fied ldquo[The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be a time for meeting people you shouldnrsquot for doing things your
parents told you not to that your children are too young to understandrdquo
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
9 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
In his other proclaimed work ldquoThe Production of Spacerdquo Lefebvre writes
Space is divided up into designated (signified specialized) areas and into are-as that are prohibited (to one group or another) It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spac-es The body sex and pleasure are often accorded no existence either men-
tal or social until after dark when the prohibitions that obtain during the day during ldquonormalrdquo activity are lifted In accordance with this division of urban space a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to ldquofestivityrdquo whereas the ldquobusinessrdquo districts are left emp-ty and dead Then in a brightly illuminated night the dayrsquos prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions
(Lefebvre 1991 pp 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual
mundane and restricted day space and transgressive spaces at night mdash those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the per-
son utilizes them The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and po-
tentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to ldquocounter-spacesrdquo (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre) because they ldquoevoke joy and stimulate out-of-
ordinaryrdquo (Williams 2008 p 520)
An extensive range of individuals whose lives interests and potential profits
are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces Melbin (1978 p 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy The
first group are the night agents ndash those who see the night to be the most com-
fortable for them to loiter around without being accompanied by the day
crowd The second group are late-night workers and services ndash those who
serve and lsquomaintainrsquo the night crowd The third group is the impetus of vast
Night spaces
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
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wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
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Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
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England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
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Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
10
night industry mdash the consumers those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day
The majority of these groupsrsquo representatives create a crowd that Richard
Florida (2002) termed ldquothe creative classrdquo Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014 Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces The demands of this class include the ca-
pacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted The
consumers mdash mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of dis-
posable income mdash make up the majority of the night crowd Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory mdash an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems Of course the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic consumerist character (Lovatt amp OConnor
1995) where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose and London is
beyond doubt one of those places
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space How-
ever the space can only be examined in an antipodal case if it is illuminat-
ed Indeed the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces The concept of light becomes crucial at this point The variety of us-
es the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity It is also critical when an individual decides where to go and
then experiences or visually appraises the space Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts amp
Eldridge 2009 Schivelbusch 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt amp OConnor 1995) Williams (2008) ex-
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
11 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion be-
tween the industries on a global scale and hence some industries having to
move production into the night or even to become non-stop thus reshaping
the world to function as ldquothe 24 hour societyrdquo The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept
Gillett Square at midnight
A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs thus they flee the downtown after working hours Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge more
workforces are located in the cities people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared mdash there was just not
enough time to exploit them As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s ldquoAfter hours the City [of London] is the most mournful place in Eng-
landrdquo (p 146)
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories The night according to his logic
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
lsquoterritoryrsquo brimming with new resources possibilities and opportunities mdash the
resource of time in the first place Kreitzman writing on the verge of the
new millennium mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas and a regulatory and polic-
ing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999 p 137)
The lsquo24-hour cityrsquo initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent un-
derused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night The earliest
European movements driven by the general public were accompanied by the
slogan ldquoReclaim the Nightrdquo (Bianchini 1995) The movements promoted cul-
tural revisionism town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
13 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
jority and as demand for the save entertaining diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up the policy-makers and town planners followed
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and
Barcelona Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Acade-
my of Fine Art School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl In a sense be-
ing pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl amp Svarre 2013) Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12 over the next decade (Roberts amp Eldridge
2009) The results in the long run are even more dramatic Not only was pe-
destrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen
but also urbanites changed their way of life As Gehl claims himself as much
as one third of peoplersquos time in the summer is spent outside in the Copen-
hagenrsquos splendid public spaces (2006)
Night-time Barcelona
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona Be-
ing as a multi-layered complex set of reforms in economic cultural and so-
cial spheres the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuild-
ing and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe Conscious public space planning and de-
sign are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant compact
and comfortable city No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies amp Mummery 2006 Kreitzman 1999 Rob-
erts amp Eldridge 2009) in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl
In Britain the deep expansion to the night was seen as a lsquocure-allrsquo for town
centre regeneration The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness By 1995 cities like Man-
chester Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize ur-
ban night-life more housing in the city centre nocturnal entertainment pro-
grammes improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006) The expansion of commercial activities and uses principally re-
ferred to as lsquoevening economyrsquo or lsquonight-time economyrsquo followed The ex-
pansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas The consumerist character of those areas
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues produced a lot of contro-
versy in the beginning of the 2000s
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
15 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of success They came from two different sources On one side were residents groups which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attract-
ing ever larger crowds and that with a relaxation of licensing laws these crowds were staying longer into the night Residents complained of noise
social disorder and crime ltgt From a different perspective came academic researchers investigating youth cultures and door security They noted that rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations These cor-porations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily
(Roberts amp Turner 2005 p 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed lsquotown centre regenerationrsquo
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by ldquomono-culture of entertainment venues based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth marketrdquo (Davies amp Mum-
mery 2006 p 10) Let us admit it when one says lsquonightlifersquo the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out The whole 24-hour city concept has ena-
bled a boost in drinking times but made no impressive impact on revitalisa-
tion of the urban night (Jayne et al 2006) consequences that were predict-
ed by Jacobs 40 years earlier She had proposed a set of planning and govern-
ing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield 2006)
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption but it has also
become less safe than before Violent crime levels in the lsquonewrsquo night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues
public drinking and anti-social behaviour violence and public safety at night
(Roberts amp Eldridge 2009) Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid gen-
eral fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
16
Nowadays with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment local authorities should imple-
ment measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses This has already proved inopportune The lsquourban renaissancersquo through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously deso-
late areas is an important point in the planning officialsrsquo agenda and some-
times it can be characterised as effective
Dalston and Gillett Square site profile
Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London While being one of the most de-
prived boroughs throughout the centuries Hackney and Dalston ward in par-
ticular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the mo-
ment The reasons are
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
17 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Proximity to Central London Dalston (yellow) is
an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Au-
thorityrsquos (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through at-
tracting new residents businesses and invest-
ment
Culturalcreative industries development The
majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential office
and retail developments Here culturalcreative
industries that replaced the industry stand out
Not only they significantly contribute to the econ-
omy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area (Dalston AAP 2013) Moreover the
value of culturalcreative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide national and inter-
national levels (Making Space in Dalston 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity In addi-
tion to Dalstonrsquos proximity to Central London
Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the ar-
earsquos social and economic regeneration making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
18
These and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site
Large share of young residents The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on culturalcreative industries attracts young people from all over London
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall (Dalston Ward Profile 2014) It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1]
Age Band Hackney Persons Hackney Share London Persons London Share
20-24 21700 9 630000 8
25-29 33800 14 833000 10
30-34 30100 12 796900 10
35-39 21300 9 664000 8
Table 1 Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and rede-
velopment projects target the middle-class white young professionals and
keeping that in mind the young population in Dalston is not only huge it is
supposed to be increasing
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
19 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Young residents of Dalston A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night Indeed for the majority of peo-
ple night-time is associated with youth and freedom Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legiti-
mate A study of night-time economy in Hackney (Hackney Night-time Econo-
my Evidence based study 2005) showed that about 50 of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
20
Developed night-time economy The current dynamics and pace of night-
time economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with a lively mix of food and drink establishments offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs bars and clubs It is important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with exist-
ing facilities lthellipgt is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters
(Dalston AAP 2013 p 51)
Indeed a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston Moreover a developed night-time economy is a prin-
cipal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night
The particular sites for the lsquoexciting and vibrantrsquo evening economy are
Kingsland High Street [1] as an lsquoexistingrsquo night space and 3 lsquopotentialrsquo night
spaces Gillett Square [2] Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4] The pilot site visit enabled the most lsquoactiversquo night spaces to be identi-
fied Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busi-
est location (not actually lsquopotentialrsquo but rather established night space) and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street an area that was deemed to be inferi-
or using the criteria above
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
21 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Dalston night-time economy
(ldquoDalston AAPrdquo 2013)
1 3
4
2
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstonersquos Londons Architecture and Urbanism Unit led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey 2005) Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006 Associated with jazz music
and entertainment housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant bor-
oughs Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
22
Memories of Gillett Street
Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
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Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
23 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been asso-
ciated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste
drugs prostitution poverty and squatters were on everyonersquos lips This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Rid-
ley Road Market mdash a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams 2010) With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out
The proposal also included a new public space mdash Gillett Square
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish Hackney
Council Hackney Co-operative Developments Transport for London a few
landlords and several local businesses owners including Vortex Jazz Club are
among the members of the Partnership It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorpo-
rates the best design and the best architecture practices in London With par-
ticipation from HawkinsBrown black market pods were installed in 2002 the
lsquofluorescentrsquo Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams 2010) The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington which created the design
proposals for the lighting seating as well
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label a contemporary jazz record label occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left] an extended thin ledge which I will refer to as lsquoa
benchrsquo [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees located just few
meters away from the centre of the square I will refer to this one lsquoa podi-
umrsquo [2] On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use This
will be later referred as lsquothe stairsrsquo [3] There is a car park to the north ndash ap-
proximately a half of the former parking lot The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left]
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field
Setting up the pods
A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
25 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
recreational
infrastructural and utilities
offices
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site mdash land-use map
The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
X
residential (single family town houses)
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
retail and commercial
institutional and public facilities
1
2
3
The layout of the square
Seating surfaces are marked by numbers
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
26
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world
In the classic book on city planning Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village New York City taking into
account both the night and the day She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop lsquosidewalk balletrsquo which had been broken down into several en-
treacutees representing particular times of the day According to Jacobs the bal-
let reached its lsquocrescendorsquo in the evening when the majority of her neigh-
bours poured out of their homes Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day mdash an aspect quite relevant to the present study
William Hollingsworth Whyte Jacobsrsquos mentor in accordance to her ideas
about human scale research started a project in New York City called lsquoThe
Street Life Projectrsquo mdash a pioneering urbanitesrsquo behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book ldquoThe social life of small urban spac-
esrdquo (1980) and a documentary of the same name His findings manuals
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people The present project uses Whytersquos manner of research mdash observation-
based study It gives an impression of the simplest most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl amp
Birgitte Svarrersquos book ldquoHow to study public liferdquo (2013) giving a sufficient lsquodo
it yourselfrsquo guide on how to actually study the life of the city Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities This project will not utilize all of these activi-
ties but will use those relevant to the daynight dichotomy types of re-
search
Methodology
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
27 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Mapping The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were what they were doing This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted The colour the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person mdash his age gender and ac-
tivity Most of the time at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people thus making it easier to map them Although sometimes
when it was not enough light or some people blocked the sight the re-
searcher walked around the square to map out all of the people sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1]
Two points of observation
These vantage points allowed almost 360deg observation
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
28
Counting Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the
space is a rather simple though a very effective type of quantitative re-
search of public life People were counted twice during a one hour cycle At
first when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken the square
crowd was atomized into several groups by gender age and main activity
(standing or sitting) Next after all of the counting and calculations the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B] which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space crossing the imaginary lines where the gateways to the space were
located The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour dur-
ing a 15-minute period This piece of data was useful in analysing the trans-
ferstaying-in state of the square [see Transferring]
Gateways to the space
People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
29 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space the variety of uses and users are relatively
different
Tracing This is a effective tool to register motion both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space The researcher began tracing peo-
plersquos movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes Tracing ena-
bled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring] Moreover it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay Furthermore tracing
makes it possible to identify the lsquopoints of attractionrsquo that are active during a
particular hour [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures Photographing is the simplest way to document activities
and people The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane sta-
tistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space
Research journal Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to
document the events activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss The journal includes notable
cases significant oddities and other relevant information which the re-
searcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D]
Interviews Some of the users of the space the service workers the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C]
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
30
playground an urban skate park a beer garden and so on The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the lsquoproperrsquo use of the square
throughout the day and how it is being used differently in reality thus cri-
tiquing the modern way of space planning
Gillett Square cafeacute culture
People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
31 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Observation-based study
Cafeacute Culture1 Noonmdash11pm
Coffee and protected observation 2pmmdash1am
1 Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday in yellowmdash on a weekend
2 Interview with Marcos
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them Coffee keeps us alert attentive and awake
What is more drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the cafeacute culture In terms of urban theory a cafeacute provides a number of func-
tions Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated they are also suit-
able settings to talk to a friend socialize work or fritter some time away A
cafeacute is a perfect example of a third place mdash a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)]
The cafeacute culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods The cafeacute offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites Kaffas owner Marcos founded his first cof-
fee shop in Londons Camden Canal Market in 2004 but after four years his
cafeacute burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which at that time was only an evolving public space
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffas counter Kaffa
Coffee has become one of the pavement cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory As well as the them Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlook-
ers visible too off course if they want it
Kaffas clients usually come in pairs or in small groups and the relative ma-
jority of them seem to be Marcos frequent customers or even friends as he
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
32
often warmly greets them Of course some of the people come alone to en-
joy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffas welcoming atmos-
phere and begin to talk with complete strangers Ask for a cigarette for ex-
ample At this moment a new conversation starts
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa This is probably be-
cause the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dis-
pose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing The owner himself for the
majority of time is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers
friends It is reasonable to assume that Marcoss friendly attitude to his cli-
ents is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen
Eating on Gillett Square
A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
33 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Eating 6ammdash8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own 2pmmdash3am
Eating is among the most important ndash physiological ndash needs according to the
Maslows hierarchy of needs and apparently people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space and in order to make a place success-
ful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating restaurants street food vendors etc (1980)
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) mdash a small independent Caribbean street food retail-
er occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma There is also the Vortex Jazz Club mdash a pub-style concert
venue offering drinks and food in the afternoon
People eat their own food in the square Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else observing the street life enjoy-
ing the sun andor fresh air change the molestful tablecloth and cut-
lery ambience into something unusual etc Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case cus-
tomers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated They use all the available seating space choosing
the most suitable for them according to the suns position the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
34
as so on If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space
Even service workers like dustmen for whom the square is a workplace ra-
ther than a space for leisure use the square for their own comfort Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drink-
ers left on the ground the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating drinking coffee having conversations and
checking their smartphones
Yet it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to ac-
commodate those who want to eat except those buying food directly on the
square The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors
Drinking on Gillett Square
A man is finishing his can of beer
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
35 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Alcohol 10ammdash3am
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities 5pmmdash4am
As it has already been mentioned alcohol infused nightlife was one of funda-
mental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research com-
munity lsquoBinge Britainrsquo has become another problem if not more serious than
the neglected town centres The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alco-
hol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night but still alcohol managed to spark off the former miserable spaces
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street though forbidden [see
image on the left] In general if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just re-
main standing The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people The latter are
usually formed outside of the space
There are three licensed venues located on the square mdash Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located near-
by Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store the majority
of which are purchased at Kingsland Wine 77 Kingsland High Street
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity talking
and socializing is their principal concern for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
36
it comes to alcohol I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour though usually harmless for the social order The
small frequent drinkers lsquopartyrsquo does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest con-
sideration possible However they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section
Given the huge amount of drinkers their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times the
space turns into a party space very easily Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and as mapping has in-
dicated the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square
Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
37 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Drugs 5pmmdash3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities 5pmmdash3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces the activities akin
is a quite complicated one Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour or instead identify these activities with
breaching even more valuable societal order Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour they are
also quite destructive towards society Because of this the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social ills lthellipgt Marked as impure immoral polluted dangerous corrupt and conta-
gious drug users are often seen described and feared as diseased lthellipgt The physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to create the illusion of orderly sanitised public space lthellipgt a purification at-
tempt
(England 2008 p 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and intriguingly enough these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public This was a bizarre finding due to a presump-
tion that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers working independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night drug deal-
ing becomes quite apparent for everyone Speaking about my personal experi-
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
38
Gillett Square as a playground
A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times Supposedly my age and
offbeat lsquoobserverrsquo demeanour attracted the pushers Some of them corre-
sponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheel-
chair
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and ser-
vice workers of the square They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but when it comes to Class A drugs everybody claimed being
intolerant to those
Heavy drugs create high crime level around the square Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
street musician 35
These people [drug users] just waste
their lives I feel sorry for them
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club 30
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
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wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
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Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
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57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
39 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Kids 1pmmdash3pm 7pmmdash11pm
The space as a playground 2pmmdash9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes children are likely to be more disadvan-
taged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spacesrsquo
users Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look and how it
should be used (2004) so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there They do not demand a lot For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square
Of course they come to the square because they are out of choice mdash their
parents usually bring them along I have not seen a lot of kids who are al-
ready teenagers the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around Parents take their little kids along to the
square because in this case the kids would be supervised So they will be
safe For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern
Secondly the square though not being a playground can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming A local architecture practice called
muf architectureart as a part of bigger Making Space in Dalston strategy
installed an orange container onto the square Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container Besides Ping-Pong tables
gazebos and ground chess the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground Apart from the toys in
the container kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten
Nevertheless some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
40
but not during the night The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends All of the kids
in the square usually play together
Among 3-4 little habitueacutes of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here For example in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos ndash the owner of Kaffa Coffee ndash playing with his son and daughter
For those kids the square is like the second home the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression
Chart 1 The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance
Two men appreciate skaterrsquos skills on Gillett Square
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
41 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Skateboarding 7pmmdash2am
The square as an urban skatepark 5pmmdash2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers anarchic young misbe-
haviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers Nevertheless skateboarding is now an
integral part of urban life The desire to drive out skateboarding caused sev-
eral adjustments both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this destructive idiocy The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs which were meant to prevent grinding the restrictive public no-
tices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated or even prosecut-
ed and the barriers like fences metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places Having these in mind skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons As a respondent indicated
skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here Moreover when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users What is more there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people There are at
least two reasons for that firstly given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected secondly skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport mdash it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated skaters need an audience
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it though some of the complaints are
that the endless ollies produce too much noise and disturbance The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for them-
selves
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them While one or two skaters
perform tricks the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usu-
ally turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations sometimes changing
their location to the stairs They leave the space among the last
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
43 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Transferring 6ammdash1230pm
Square as a transit space 6ammdash1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space However some
people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets For instance Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street and both spaces have a somewhat syner-
gic effect on each other While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street it also provides an escape (it becomes a
release space) from relatively narrow element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street (Making Space in Dalston 2009 p 57) Other appar-
ent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby
Some of the people therefore who are actually in the space seem to be ex-
cluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else As a matter of fact the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit The faster the pace
mdash the more a person is alienated from the space Alternatively the slower
the pace mdash the more time a person spends in the space and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square All types of transiting peo-
ple can be seen on Gillett Square from an old lady out for her groceries who
given her tempo has some time to greet her acquaintances to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out tracing and counting mdash qualitative and quantita-
tive research activities consequently Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space while count-
ing provided numerical data
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1] The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space though the absolute majority of them were passers-by
Two datasets combined mdash the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment mdash made it possible to deter-
mine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter three types of
character were defined predominantly transfer space [a] mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 730am on Thursday)
Two main routes through the space
[1]
[2]
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
45 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it The horizontal bands from bot-
tom to top start at the levels 0 025 and 055
Chart 2 The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of peo-
ple entering the square
[a]
[b]
[c]
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
46
Packed up space
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top) London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
47 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Jan Gehls manual How to study public life (2013) declares that public cele-
brations forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people Moreover
the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics ie gender age
social group ethnicity etc compared to the everyday users of the space
Therefore Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study Taking this into consideration the given study of Gillett
Squares public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the sum-
mer
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website
The Partnership runs a wide range of events dancing celebrations public
screenings contemporary music concerts street food feasts and so on The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a num-
ber of reasons First of all it is the amount of open space that the square of-
fers Moreover for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized Secondly it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney neigh-
bouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people Last but not least it is the locals attitude to the events As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
Event programming 2pmmdash8pm
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life 2pmmdash11pm
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
48
of fact the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary au-
dience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight
drawing the largest number of people possible The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants The diverse residents base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough Through screenings dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population One of those events the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was for the 6th time providing a perspective on Dalstons culture through
music performances by bands from Europe Africa and the Caribbean In addi-
tion what these events also do is space branding As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area Gillett Square becomes associated with the fes-
tive spirit of music art and parties for the lsquonewcomersrsquo and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back
Nonetheless the life of the square is something constantly on-going so the
established activities already explained earlier are still there These include
socialising public drinking drug dealing and use eating music-related activ-
ities like listening to it dancing and singing
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment
events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Squares
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration creativity and
equality
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
49 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Weekday activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
50
Weekend activities
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
51 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data The mapping results concluded that
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space People tend to sit when they come here It was
no surprise but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested
Charts 3 and 4 The distribution between the males and females on the square dur-
ing weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a mens space in a sense that at all
times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page] The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there mdash a man and a woman
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people The
preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other de-
veloped into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activi-
tiesservices for them
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle based on the observation
study diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section] What is more the
way activities cluster can be seen with the help of blob diagrams which su-
perimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm
Unfortunately the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squarersquos life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014 there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example)
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
53 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was in theory a decent practice in the begin-
ning of third millennium Planners however did not take into account that
lsquoconsumerrsquo uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking mdash
one of the activities that due to a supposedly destructive nature is majorly
seen as a morally wrong practice
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others not only during
the night but also during the day
Secondly there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities
like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area
Thirdly not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages social
groups and ethnicities the space should also attract them all The program-
ming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events amp activities which
are accessible participatory and of good quality
Clarissa Carlyon Hackney Co-operative Developments
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
54
What is more important related to the theme of this very research project
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space
Perhaps the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space to critique the current plan-
ning approaches and space managing initiatives
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come though some of its indica-
tions are already visible There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day and clearly further re-
search and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vi-
brant inviting accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
55 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Bibliography
Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-
kinsBrown Birkhaumluser GmbH
Bianchini F (1995) Night cultures night economies Planning Practice and Re-
search 10 (2) 121-126
Borden I (2001) Skateboarding space and the city architecture the body and per-
formative critique Oxford England New York Berg
Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf
Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http
wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsdalston-ward-profilepdf
Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic
Trust London
Davison G et al (2012) ldquoKeeping Dalston Differentrdquo Defending Place-Identity in East London Planning Theory amp Practice 13 (1) 47-69 doi
101080146493572012649909
Elden S (2004) Understanding Henri Lefebvre London New York Continuum
Elsley S (2004) Childrens experience of public space Children amp Society 18 (2)
155-164 doi 101002CHI822
England M (2008) Stay Out of Drug Areas Drugs Othering and Regulation of Public Space in Seattle Washington Space and Polity 12 (2) 197-213 doi
10108013562570802173281
Florida R L (2002) The rise of the creative class and how its transforming work
leisure community and everyday life Basic books
Gehl J et al (2006) New City Life The Danish Architectural Press
Gehl J amp Svarre B (2013) How to Study Public Life Washington Island Press
Glancey J (2005) Plastic utopia The Guardian Retrieved July 2014 from http
theguardiancomartanddesign2005apr04architecturecommunities
Hackney Night-time Economy Evidence based study (2005) (pp 101) London Bor-
ough of Hackney
Hadfield P (2006) Bar wars contesting the night in contemporary British cities Ox-
ford Oxford Oxford University Press
Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities New York New York
Random House
Jayne M et al (2006) Drunk and disorderly alcohol urban life and public space Progress in Human Geography 30 (4) 451-468 doi http
dxdoiorg1011910309132506ph618oa
Kreitzman L (1999) The 24 Hour society London Profile Books
Lefebvre H (1991) The Production of Space Oxford OX UK Cambridge Mass
USA Blackwell
Lovatt A amp OConnor J (1995) Cities and the Night-time Economy Planning Prac-
tice and Research 10 (2) 127-133
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
56
Making Space in Dalston (2009) muf architectureart JampL Gibbons LLP
Melbin M (1978) Night as frontier American Sociological Review 43 (1) 3-22
Oldenburg R (1999) The Great Good Place Cafes Coffee Shops Bookstores Bars Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (3rd ed) Marlowe amp
Company
Roberts M amp Eldridge A (2009) Planning the Night-time City New York
Routledge
Roberts M amp Turner C (2005) Conflicts of Liveability in the 24-hour City Learn-ing from 48 Hours in the Life of Londons Soho Journal of Urban Design 10 (2) 171-
193
Schivelbusch W (1988) Disenchanted Night The Industrialization of Light in the
Nineteenth Century The University of California Press
Whyte W H (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Washington DC Con-
servation Foundation
Williams R (2008) Night Spaces Darkness Deterritorialization and Social Control
Space and Culture 11 (4) 514-532
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
57 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below
Page 13 Night-time Barcelona copy atNight project (year NA)
Retrieved May 2014 from httpwwwatnightws
cartographiesphpU_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17 (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station copy Andrew Garnett (2010) Retrieved July 2014 from
httpwwweastlondonlinescouk201104london-marks-the-first-
anniversary-of-the-east-london-line
Page 22 All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives J Newman and
unknown authour (1981 year NA)
Page 24 Setting up the pods copy HawkinsBrown (2002) Retrieved July
2014 from httpwwwhawkinsbrowncomprojectsgillett-square
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
58
Appendix A1mdash Mapping
The maps are in chronological order 24 for a weekday (pp 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp 83-107)
Legend
For person sitting mdash shaded symbol person standing mdash only outline
Bluemdashmale redmdashwoman
Shape kidmdashtriangle adultmdashsquare or elderly personmdashcross
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
59 Night Project
Weekday Midnight
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
60
Weekday 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
61 Night Project
Weekday 2am
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
62
Weekday 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
63 Night Project
Weekday 4am
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
64
Weekday 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
65 Night Project
Weekday 6am
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
66
Weekday 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
67 Night Project
Weekday 8am
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
68
Weekday 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
69 Night Project
Weekday 10am
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
70
Weekday 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
71 Night Project
Weekday Noon
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
72
Weekday 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
73 Night Project
Weekday 2pm
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
74
Weekday 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
75 Night Project
Weekday 4pm
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
76
Weekday 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
77 Night Project
Weekday 6pm
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
78
Weekday 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
79 Night Project
Weekday 8pm
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
80
Weekday 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
81 Night Project
Weekday 10pm
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
82
Weekday 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
83 Night Project
Weekend Midnight
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
84
Weekend 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
85 Night Project
Weekend 2am
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
86
Weekend 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
87 Night Project
Weekend 4am
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
88
Weekend 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
89 Night Project
Weekend 6am
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
90
Weekend 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
91 Night Project
Weekend 8am
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
92
Weekend 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
93 Night Project
Weekend 10am
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
94
Weekend 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
95 Night Project
Weekend Noon
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
96
Weekend 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
97 Night Project
Weekend 2pm
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
98
Weekend 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
99 Night Project
Weekend 4pm
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
100
Weekend 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
101 Night Project
Weekend 6pm
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
102
Weekend 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
103 Night Project
Weekend 8pm
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
104
Weekend 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
105 Night Project
Weekend 10pm
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
106
Weekend 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2mdash Tracing [extracts]
The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space All maps
have a reference of time and weather
Legend
Black or blue linemdashmovement
Black or blue dotmdasha stop in movement
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
108
Weekday 030
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
109 Night Project
Weekday 130
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
110
Weekday 330
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
111 Night Project
Weekday 430
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
112
Weekday 530
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
113 Night Project
Weekday 630
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
114
Weekday 730
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
115 Night Project
Weekday 830
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
116
Weekday 930
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
117 Night Project
Weekday 1030
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
118
Weekday 1130
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
119 Night Project
Weekday 1230
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
120
Weekday 1430
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
121 Night Project
Weekday 1530
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
122
Weekday 1630
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
123 Night Project
Weekday 1730
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
124
Weekday 2030
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
125 Night Project
Weekday 2130
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
126
Weekday 2230
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
127 Night Project
Weekday 2330
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
128
Weekend 430
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
129 Night Project
Weekend 530
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
130
Weekend 630
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
131 Night Project
Weekend 730
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
132
Weekend 1530
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
133 Night Project
Weekend 1630
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
134
Weekend 1730
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
135 Night Project
Weekend 1830
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
136
Appendix Bmdash Study data summary
These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study
1 Weekday
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 54 33 21 20 34 54 0 0 29
100 19 15 4 1 18 19 0 0 16
200 14 11 3 7 7 14 0 0 12
300 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 4
400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
700 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 18
800 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 25
900 4 2 2 1 3 4 0 0 94
1000 7 5 2 0 7 6 1 0 87
1100 16 12 4 7 9 16 0 0 62
1200 18 16 2 3 15 18 0 0 121
1300 37 27 7 14 23 34 3 0 110
1400 32 22 6 14 18 28 4 0 103
1500 36 29 5 5 31 34 2 0 111
1600 32 27 5 5 27 32 0 0 136
1700 48 42 6 14 34 48 0 0 122
1800 54 43 11 19 35 54 0 0 123
1900 58 41 12 15 43 53 3 0 143
2000 76 48 24 42 34 71 4 1 94
2100 61 40 19 18 43 59 2 0 72
2200 73 53 17 27 46 70 3 0 60
2300 53 33 17 20 33 50 3 0 54
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
137 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
2 Weekend
Hours Number
of people Man Women Standing Sitting Adults Kids Elderly Counts
000 63 42 21 39 24 63 0 0 112
100 71 40 31 32 39 71 0 0 86
200 25 16 9 13 12 25 0 0 40
300 29 22 7 13 16 29 0 0 31
400 13 12 1 6 7 13 0 0 10
500 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 5
600 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 9
700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
1000 4 3 1 4 0 4 0 0 25
1100 5 4 1 1 4 5 0 0 50
1200 7 5 2 1 5 7 0 0 68
1300 14 10 4 2 12 14 0 0 61
1400 24 15 6 7 17 21 3 0 71
1500 29 21 6 7 22 27 2 0 47
1600 36 22 9 9 27 31 5 0 74
1700 42 31 4 14 28 35 7 0 97
1800 52 31 15 14 38 46 6 0 128
1900 74 43 28 18 56 71 3 0 109
2000 56 41 14 16 40 55 1 0 122
2100 70 45 24 23 47 69 1 0 89
2200 85 59 26 25 60 85 0 0 97
2300 132 75 57 35 97 132 0 0 119
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
138
Appendix Cmdash List of interviewees
Name Age Role Ethnicity
Clarissa
Carlyon
- Gillett Square
creative producer
-
Marcos 41 Kaffa Coffee owner Ethiopian
Mary Frac 24 User of the square fashion designer Italian
Toye Omogeni 35 User of the square street musician Black African
- 30 Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club Black British
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
139 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary
19 July 2014 Saturday
Aspects For the whole day the square accommodated the outdoor festival (live music street foods drinks dance workshops screenings) The event attracted myriads of people especial-ly in the night-time which means that the everyday pattern of square use was distorted
Activities Live music drinking consuming street food watching perfor-mances (dancing acrobatics music) short films (short docu-mentaries) on a large screen
Interesting facts
-
20 July 2014 Saturday
1500 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square Some of them are drinking and chilling some talk to friends and play with kids Majority of them are in couples and groups Only the few are alone ndash looking totally like alcoholics People drink relax and mess around a little bit There are no elderly people and few kids The absolute majority are the adults The most used part of the square is the podium One possible reason for that is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun 1515 Counting 47 1516 People sit on the edges of the podium turned back to the centre The cafes are closed still though some of the shops are already open Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags Few stop to greet their friends 1547 The number of kids increased (they are running around shouting en-joying the weather and their weekend) The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop The number of drinking people has decreased (6) 1615 Counting 74 1655 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium to play some table games (turned out later ndash dominos) Two police officers appeared on the square They seem not to bother any-body despite of some people drinking They have been quickly approached by an old man shouting something really loud Suddenly lots of kids ap-peared Those are older that the previous group They do only run around the square they ride the skateboards BMXs 1717 Counting 97 1726 The rain started At first nobody was really bothered by the rain But
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
140
few hours later the square was empty 1815 Counting 53 1922 Counting 29
21 July 2014 Monday
1420 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the lunchtime I am observing the space at the coffee shop ndash the location which provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the space People have coffee and cigarettes enjoying the sun Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside seating area and the podium obviously 1449 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started playing it It feels like he doesnt only enjoy playing but wants to share his guitar skills with other people on the square He doesnt beg show off or any-thing The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150 The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating The podium is half empty 1509 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything They spend at least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes The absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples I can only spot 2-3 people who came here alone 1515 Counting 111 1553 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear back-packs This is when the school day is over Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop They share the tables even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chit-chatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl) 1555 The two guys started to fire the grill UPD turned out they were only cleaning it to then dismantle the grill 1617 Counting 136 In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off ndash kind of sunbathing in the city where is no beaches The weather is great indeed 1625 The bar opens the outdoor tables are being put out Not many people sit outside 1645 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the shops At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy the evening they rarely talk to each other At least 3 large groups are at the bench and the podium There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags ndash some of them go through the square other head to the parking lot A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds which they brought with them (3 boys with the father)
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
141 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
1719 Counting 122 1824 Counting 123 The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium 1920 Counting 143
22 July 2014 Tuesday
915 Very few people are on the square while a lot pass through Counting 94 Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed The people that are already here are drinking a man plays with his dog He seems to be a car park supervisor Another girl enjoys the sunshine The peo-ple who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own business and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station or bus stops 1017 Counting 87 The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up Some of the people come to check if Marcoss coffee shop is already opened They seem to turn sad when discovering it is still closed 1054 Some people are already coming to have their lunch A woman cant really control her 4 kids they just having fun running and messing around 2 women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation They both severely criticise drinking people claiming that the square would be better if there was more room for families with kids 1118 Counting 62 There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it doesnt look so dirty They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers wont smell the waste and they did it The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes Bothers nearly everyone here 1217 Counting 121 1318 Counting 110 Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoy-ing the sunshine There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there is an event today There is a whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental health education art therapy It will also include hip-hop performances and free nail bar
26 July 2014 Saturday
348 Ok so there are a lot of drinking people obviously on a Friday night The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour All the people here are in groups almost nobody is alone here At this time the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs 413 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away to try a more congested space to sit And then he left The space now is com-
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
142
pletely empty 424 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate A group of her friends (3) they were just standing there waiting for her and then left 440 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time They were expecting to find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs the late drinkers left here 630 The dustmen appeared They start to take care of the square which is really messy 1826 The weekend continues Not too many people are drinking compared to the night Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other People are still coming here and hang out in the groups And it is boiling hot today The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today 1935 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by the fence which separates the car park from the square At this moment skat-ers and BMX riders appear 2311 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground because there is no space left to sit ndash the existing sitting spaces are full
14 August 2014 Thursday
315 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space smoking cig-arettes drinking tea and talking One went to get some more drinks and came back 328 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space As the man walked out another guy started the engine and left the square 336 The tea-drinking couple left taking all the rubbish with them 341 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland High They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries 345 A man parked his car in the car park He got out and started to clean his teeth with a toothbrush not sure where this is going 400 Everyone has left my sight there is no one on the square right now 545 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to top-up her Oyster card 634 Some people just passing through probably in hurry to catch an Over-ground train Rubbish car just came The dustman is having a cigarette be-fore starting to sweep the square Two more dustmen later joined him They are having a quick breakfast ndash coffees sodas and pastry They occupied on side of the podium ndash eating checking their smartphones listening to the music and talking quietly 653 The dustmen started sweeping the ground The amount of people in-creased significantly They are passing quickly through the square not stay-ing any minute longer All of them are going in the direction of High Street 809 A couple habitueacutes (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium with beers and a dog
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside
143 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
816 A rubbish truck is here once again probably to empty the bins One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench His colleagues
later joined him The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog the
man on the podium owns The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space
17 August 2014 Sunday
900 The dustmen have already been here ndash the square is clean enough though absolutely empty 1010 The music is playing from Babel Label pod very calm and quiet 1032 There are two guys here One is checking his phone sitting on a bench another having a beer and a cigarette listening to his walkman ndash located himself on the podium 1105 The car park is slowly filling up A man takes a seat at the podium to have a coffee which he brought with him Another man takes a seat there to roll a cigarette and finish a beer Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly through the space with McDonalds take-away paper bags 1123 The crowd intensifies There are 4 people now having beer on the podi-um 1144 Some musicians cluster around Vortex As it becomes clear lately they attending a music workshop There are about 8-9 of them waiting for some-body to open a door for them talking loudly and laughing 1153 Sunny at last
1217 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up they bring out the tables and other fur-
niture outside