Public Streets for Multicultural Use: Exploring the Relationship between Cultural Background, Built Environment, and Social Behaviour

Abstract

Public space is the domain of interest for urban planners and designers and the most important type of public space is streets. Public spaces, and particularly busy streets in urban centres, provide opportunities for people to meet, often by chance. As cities become increasingly multi-cultural in population the use and nature of public space reflects this. The best public spaces cater to the needs of all who use them and in multicultural societies this also means they must meet the expectations of people from different cultures. Many scholars have challenged the tendency for streets to be conceived of as movement channels, often at the expense of their use as social space. Streets have traditionally catered to a broad array of activities including walking, cycling and standing. Streets that facilitate such activities are preferred by the public. Streets in multicultural societies are also where people from different ethnic backgrounds find opportunities to interact. When public spaces are successful, they will increase opportunities to participate in communal activities. Spatial design is a critical success factor for streets; a goal for urban designers must be to create spaces where people from different social and cultural backgrounds value the public spaces they have access to. As cities become more multicultural the challenge is to design and manage spaces that appeal to the breadth of cultures that are represented in the population. Such public spaces are described in the literature as being more public. However, there is presently little information to help planners and designers to realise streets that appeal to people having different socio-cultural backgrounds. The research aims to identify those characteristics that will promote and maintain cultural diversity in the context of neighbourhood commercial streets in New Zealand’s multi-cultural society. The research is undertaken in two stages. “Stage One” makes use of ethnographic fieldwork as a basic method, complimented by structured field observations using a behavioural mapping procedure, and surveys of users of the streets. This stage provides data on specific streets and their usage through three case studies. Stage Two” utilises online surveys that generated data in relation to street visualizations. This stage seeks to understand what design characteristics and furniture arrangements are associated with stationary, social and gathering activities of people and to define design characteristics of footpath spaces preferred by each cultural group and all groups collectively. The main conclusion from this research is that retail activities remain the main concern of people in multi-cultural streets. Management and higher level planning of retail activities on the streets could encourage and motivate possible tenants in order to enrich the retail assortment of the street and provide a means for social and cultural diversity. In addition to business activities, spatial design characteristics are found to have an influence on people’s behaviour and activity. The findings of this research suggest that retail and business activities, together with the design and skilful management of the public areas, could support a broader range of static and social activities among people of various cultural backgrounds. The thesis makes recommendations for urban planners and designers based on the findings of the research.

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