Plaza - Zachary

The plaza outside of the Brooklyn Public Library is beautiful. Around the edges are low walls and ledges that are the perfect height for sitting on. After noon it is mostly shaded, but the day I went was warm and I found the shade to be very pleasant. Probably as a result, I saw a diversity of people engaged in all sorts of activities. Several people stand, pace, or sit and talk on phones. People sit on or lean against the outer walls of the plaza and watch the street. At any given time at least one man stands next to the doors to the library. Several mothers play with their children. Two women stop to eat lunch.
One thing that I noticed about the plaza is that people gravitate towards the edges. This struck me because Whyte writes that: "People didn't move out of the main pedestrian flow. They stayed in it or moved into it, and the great bulk of the conversations were smack in the center of the flow". Not a single person sat on the steps to the library. Only two people stood in the flow of traffic, one of them smoked a cigarette and the other talked on a phone, both of which tend to lend themselves to pacing.
Whyte writes that "[t]he area where the street and plaza or open space meet is a key to success or failure. Ideally, the transition should be such that it's hard to tell where on ends and the other begins." The Brooklyn Public Library plaza is a pleasant one, I think, almost entirely as a result of its wonderful relation to the street. The three staircases that lead up to the library are inviting. They have low steps and offer plaza-goers a nice view of one of the entrances to Prospect Park, traffic passing by, and the Civil War monuments across the street. They blend in with the street such that it makes sense to walk through the plaza as a shortcut around the corner (something I saw several people do). Even though the street is readily visible, the low walls and planters that form the outer edge of the plaza provide some shelter from the street.
Another key aspect mentioned by Whyte ("What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.") that makes this plaza a nice one is that the library itself draws a constant stream of people going in and out, providing people sitting in the plaza with something interesting to watch. In fact, I noticed several plaza-goers doing nothing but watching other people. One man, however, seemed disturbed by the idea of people-watching. When he noticed me counting people in the plaza he stood up, mean-mugged me, and walked away.
Two mysteries presented themselves to me during my stay at the plaza. First, there was an incredibly high turnover. By my estimation, 80 percent or more of people stayed no more than ten minutes. The rest stayed no more than fifteen. I saw several entire generations of people come and go in my hour-long observation. Why no one stays longer is unclear. It might, however, have something to do with the number of lone individuals that I observed. The demographics of the plaza are distinctly tilted towards lone women, weirdly contradicting Whyte's observation that a successful plaza tends to have women and groups. By this standard, it is entirely unclear whether this is a successful plaza or not (although the constant presence of at least some people seems to indicate that it is a success).
Second, distinctly more people sat on the right side of the plaza (if one had one's back to the doors to the library). This is inexplicable. The only guess I can venture is that the right side offers a better view of traffic and people at the nearby monuments.
Three other features of note. First, the plaza has no food or water and very few trees. These features would very likely improve its attendance (it never reached maximum occupancy). Second, there were two security cameras that were ultimately not very intrusive given how high up they were (they are pictured below). Third, I went to Prospect Park immediately afterward and found, relative to the space, vastly more people. I think competition with the park probably decreases the use of the plaza.