143
Public life in a 24-hour cycle: A study of Gillett Square, London

Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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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.

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Page 1: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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and challenging insights Without these the project would not be published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

Page 2: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet 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

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wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf

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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

Page 3: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 4: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 5: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 6: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 7: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 8: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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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Abrahams T (Ed) (2010) Ideas Exchange The Collaborative Studio of Haw-

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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

Page 9: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 10: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 11: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 12: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 13: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 14: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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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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

Page 15: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 16: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 17: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 18: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 19: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 20: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 21: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 22: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 23: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 24: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 25: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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-

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

Page 26: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 27: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 28: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 29: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 30: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 31: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 32: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 33: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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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Dalston Area Action Plan (2013) Retrieved June 2014 from http

wwwhackneygovukAssetsDocumentsDalston-AAP-feb2013pdf

Dalston Ward Profile (2014) Retrieved June 2014 from http

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Davies P amp Mummery H (2006) NightVision town centres for all The Civic

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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

Page 34: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 35: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 36: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 37: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 38: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 39: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 40: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 41: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 42: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 43: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 44: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 45: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 46: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 47: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 48: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 49: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 50: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 51: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 52: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 53: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 54: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 55: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 56: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 57: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 58: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 59: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 60: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 61: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 62: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 63: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 64: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 65: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 66: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 67: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 68: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 69: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 70: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 71: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 72: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 73: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 74: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 75: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 76: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 77: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 78: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 79: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 80: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 81: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 82: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 83: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 84: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 85: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 86: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 87: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 88: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 89: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 90: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 91: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 92: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 93: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 94: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 95: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 96: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 97: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 98: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 99: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 100: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 101: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 102: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 103: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 104: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 105: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 106: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 107: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 108: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 109: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 110: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 111: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 112: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 113: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 114: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 115: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 116: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 117: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 118: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 119: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 120: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 121: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 122: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 123: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 124: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 125: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 126: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 127: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 128: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 129: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 130: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 131: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 132: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 133: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 134: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 135: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 136: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 137: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 138: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 139: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 140: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 141: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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

Page 142: Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A study of Gillet Square, London

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