Description

Iniated by Carr in 1977, with others, published in 1992 as “Public Space” Cambridge University Press: History, usage and the social basis for design and management of public space with 31 Case Studies, including Rockefeller Park. This research was foundational to Carr’s and the firm’s user centered approach to placemaking.

"Steve Carr led a team, including a landscape architect, an environmental psychologist, a public space administrator and student assistants, in research into the nature of public life, the history of public space, how people actually use and value public space and how to design it to best serve its future users. The research included case studies, reported in the book, of more than 30 public spaces of widely ranging types and locations. In addition, the book reviews the lessons from many research studies by others on the social and political dimensions of public space: needs and rights, meanings and connections. It concludes with a guide to the user-based design process for public space that Carr first developed at MIT, and includes a detailed report on how CLHS used this process in designing North Park (now Rockefeller Park) in Manhattan’s Battery Park City."