People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space

people places Second Edition Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space edited by Clare Cooper Marcus and Carolyn Francis A resurgence in the use of public space continues throughout North America and many other parts of the world. Neighborhoods have become more outspoken in their demands for appropriate park designs; corporations have witnessed the value of providing outdoor spaces for employee lunch-hour use; the rising demand for child care has prompted increased awareness of the importance of developmentally appropriate play and learning environments; and increased attention is being focused on the specific outdoor space needs for the elderly, college students, and hospital patients and staff. Now available in an updated, expanded second edition, People Places is a fully illustrated, award-winning book that offers research-based guidelines and recommendations for creating more usable and enjoyable public open spaces of all kinds. People Places analyzes and summarizes existing research on how urban open spaces are actually used, offering design professionals and students alike an easily understood, easily applied guide to creating people-friendly places. Seven types of urban open space are discussed: urban plazas, neighborhood parks, miniparks and vest-pocket parks, campus outdoor spaces, outdoor spaces in housing for the elderly, child-care outdoor spaces, and hospital outdoor spaces. People Places contains a chapter-by-chapter review of the literature, illustrative case studies, and design guidelines specific to each type of space. People Places has a number of features that can be easily incorporated into the design process:
* Clear, readable translations of existing research on people's use of outdoor spaces.
* Performance-based design recommendations that specify key relationships between design and use.
* Design review checklists that help readers plan and critique designs.
* A clearly organized, concise format equally useful to the design practitioner and the design student.
The newly revised edition of People Places also includes:
* Discussion of accessibility issues, including ADA regulations and the concept of universal design; and of design responses aimed at crime reduction.
* Procedures for conducting post-occupancy evaluations of designed outdoor spaces.
* Updated and new information on each type of outdoor space, with special attention to hospitals, child care facilities, and campus outdoor spaces where specific advances have occurred since 1990.
* A completely new color-photo section and 50 new black and white illustrations.
Winner of the Merit Award in Communication from the American Society of Landscape Architects, People Places is an essential working tool for landscape architects and architects, city planners, urban designers, neighborhood groups, and anyone else concerned with the quality of urban open space.