Street Seating for Vital Places

Abstract

Urban public spaces are crucial to both cities and their citizens, offering places to meet, spend time outdoors, rest, and engage in various activities. Street seating like benches and chairs are seen as key elements in designing good public places. Nevertheless, the impact of spatial elements on the use of public places has been mostly assessed from the qualitative perspective. This research aimed to quantify the impact of street seating on a vitality measure for public spaces by studying 39 European public places, filmed during four different timeslots. Using object detection algorithms, a vitality score was calculated based on pedestrian trajectories. Seating attributes – including variety, edge effect, and socio-petal configurations – were collected and correlated with the vitality scores. Place characteristics, such as size, weather, and the presence of cafés or fountains, were also gathered to control for external factors. Resulting from the correlation and multiple linear regression analysis, no significant impact of street seating on the place vitality could be observed. Seating attributes with a weak positive correlation were the edge effect, the variety of seating and socio petal seating configurations. The results highlight the need for holistic approaches to public space design and call for refined vitality metrics that consider user experience and place pleasantness. The research also demonstrated the scalability and effectiveness of automated, trajectory-based vitality assessment, offering a promising tool for future urban studies.