Typologies and Evaluation of Outdoor Public Spaces at Street Level of Tall Buildings in Chicago

Abstract

Outdoor public spaces are key to human interactions, promoting public life in cities. The constant increase in world population has led to increased tall urban conditions making the study of outdoor public spaces around tall buildings very popular. This paper outlines typologies for outdoor public spaces occurring at street level of tall buildings in downtown Chicago, the birthplace of skyscrapers and an ideal case study for an American city. The study uses online data archives, Google Maps, and on-site surveys as research techniques for the analysis. The result depicts around 50% of all the tall buildings in Chicago foster public life at its street level through public spaces. The other key finding is the outline of seven typologies based on their position around the tall building. Further, a comparative analysis is conducted using one example of each typology based on three criteria adopted from ‘Project for Public Spaces,’ namely (1) Accessibility; (2) Design and Comfort, and (3) Users and Activities.