1. Private and public space near to one another.

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8 Design Principles Used In Creating Social Spaces

Lawrenceburg Civic Park, Lawrenceburg Indiana

For this blog I would like to look at some studies that inform and discuss principles designers use to help create social space where people connect relationally.  These spaces can be urban or rural, dense or sparce.  I am looking for principles that bridge the gap between all these types of spaces much like the principles of good buildings found in the “Timeless Way of Building” and other books.

In the previous blogs I attempt to analyze spaces and designs using principles that I have in my mind and this is an attempt to put those principles down on paper from sources that discuss these principles related to design.  

The US Surgeon General has issued an advisory where he discusses the needs and issues of social connection from a personal help perspective and some of the factors that affect social connection in design and communities.  His advisory is applicable to this study and is listed below.

I have 3 articles that I reviewed that I will discuss here in this and a few subsequent blogs by pulling out the principles they suggest as principles to create social spaces.  The articles are listed below.

The first principle is:  

Private and public space near to one another.  

Some people call this shared space.  This is a space where people can meet or are even forced to meet because of proximity to one another.  

The placement of elements in a design can either provide more private space for individuals or cause individuals to rub shoulders and casually meet and greet one another daily.  

Often Mixed-use developments and multiple types of housing types help to create these public private connections for social space.  

The distance from a persons door or porch to the public space nearby affects how people interact and connect.  

Can you speak to one another from your porch or from your walk to the door?  Is there opportunity to connect.

Also, different types of public and private seating scattered around the spaces provides visual and physical connection for people.  

People like a destination and often that includes a seat.  

They also like to watch other people.  

Opportunity to connect definitely includes seating spaces where you can casually interact with other people and neighbors as they walk by or sit in their spaces.

I will continue this study of principles in subsequent blog posts.

Works Studied:

Landscape Architect Lisl Kotheimer, Associate, PLA, LEED AP, shares how the most innovative public spaces bring communities together.

6 Ways to Design for Social Connection and Community How the built environment can help heal and prevent loneliness.  Posted May 4, 2023 |  Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

Andreea Cutieru. "The Architecture of Social Interaction" 07 Aug 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed 8 Nov 2023. <https://www.archdaily.com/945172/the-architecture-of-social-interaction> ISSN 0719-8884

US Surgeon Generals advisory on social connections.  https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf