City by William Whyte

1. In this chapter, Whyte discusses the effective layout of major shopping streets and how different features attract or repel pedestrians. His main example that he uses throughout the chapter is Lexington Avenue in New York. He also discusses several places in Japan, which he says are much better designed and more effective than those in America. One point that he raises is the importance of the size of the sidewalk. He says that on side streets, the side walk should be about 15 feet wide while on the main street it should be about 25 feet wide. The sidewalk should be just wide enough that at the time when most pedestrians are walking, the path is a little bit crowded. This causes people to slow down and look at the stores, which is another point Whyte raises. Store entrances and windows have to be attractive to pedestrians. Whyte lists several things that appeal to peoples’ senses ranging from sound to light to smell. Window-shopping is also a major way of having people slow down and look at a store. Many times, sales for the day are advertised along with merchandise. Extremely expensive products also tend to catch the eye of people even though only a very small percentage of people could afford the merchandise. Whyte says that there is a correlation between the number of lookers and buyers, so this proves that this is an important feature. Whyte also says that having a variety of stores on several floors of the same building helps to add to the appeal of a street. Stores on the second floor have to adopt different advertisement tactics such as hanging banners and having people stand outside encouraging pedestrians to look upstairs. A busy street with lots going on is attractive to pedestrians going for a stroll because then they have a lot to see and do. Other factors that contribute to a well-planned street include simple amenities such as benches garbage cans. Streets need to have a certain appeal that makes one think nothing was actually planned at that there is a natural flow.

2. Whyte’s chapter is far less organized and structured than Norman. While Whyte provides many good examples, he does not categorize them like Norman does making it difficult to discern the main points Whyte is trying to convey. Norman, at the great convenience of the reader, clearly emphasizes the importance of visceral, behavioral, and reflective design, and then he provides examples for each of these types of design. Despite this though, there are still common themes between the chapters by the two authors. Whyte talked about the importance of a store’s appearance to pedestrians and how it must capture their attention. This could be done by a variety of means such as sounds and lights. Norman would classify this as the visceral design of a store. The initial response a pedestrian feels about a store can make the difference between whether he or she enters the store or not. Whyte’s point about the width of the sidewalk is similar to Norman’s behavioral design. The purpose of a sidewalk is to provide a place for pedestrians to walk freely and explore stores. Sidewalks that are too narrow or too wide can be very dysfunctional then. As Whyte says, a sidewalk should be about 15 feet wide or 25 feet on a main street. This is to ensure that there is a little bit of crowding during the busiest hours. Crowding is good for the stores because it forces people to slow down and look at the windows. Whyte’s discussion on trash cans also provide a good example of behavioral design. Lastly, Whyte talks about the feelings customers get from walking around. Pedestrians can have a very good experience simply by admiring all that is going on in a big street like 5^th Avenue. This is very similar to Norman’s reflective design concepts. One of the main differences in the two authors’ chapters is that Norman provides a much more general analysis of design. His concepts provide a framework in which to analyze a variety of designs. He discusses the fundamental concepts of design. Whyte on the other hand is applying these fundamentals to a very specific topic.

3. From Whyte’s chapter, one can derive several criteria for analyzing an urban area:

a. Functionality of sidewalk – is it wide enough? Does it provide good vision of stores? Are there too many obstructions in the sidewalk such as trashcans, benches, or trees?

b. Busyness of street – is there enough to capture the interest of a pedestrian? Can people wander for a while and always have something to keep them interested?

c. Store displays – do stores have good window displays that catch the eye of pedestrians? People need to slow down in order to look at something, so does the store make it worth the slowing down?

d. Trash cans – are they well designed and placed appropriately? Streets should be tidy, so trash cans need to be designed so that people actually use them.