Street living : Living street

Abstract

How can the lived experiences of urban street dwellers be valued, and contribute to the design of urban public spaces? This thesis aims to use the most knowledgeable user group of public space- the street dweller- to inform the design of city street interventions and urban shared spaces. It intends to provoke a city landscape which is inclusive and generous for all of its inhabitants. Street dwellers, commonly known as the ‘homeless people’, are the city inhabitants who live on the street, but are often overlooked by society and urban design propositions. Many have the assumption that ‘homeless’ people only consume what the city provides without contributing to it, while others sympathise with them. Rather than providing a judgemental position on the issues of homelessness, this thesis positions itself in relation to ‘homeless’ experiences utilising these individuals first hand knowledge of urban space and how it functions. These urban dwellers regard the street as their home, stage and platform for social encounter and exchange. This overlapping of public, private and social living, implicitly challenges urban public space for their prescribed functions and interpretations. Adding layers of rich possibility for urban planning, rather than the street conforming to the role of transport conduit, designers can: with minimal effort on their behalf, learn and improve our cities by incorporating the views and experience of this section of our society. Focusing on Auckland Central Business District as a case study, this research has been developed through conversations with street dwellers, service providers, scholarly literature and critical observations and drawings on the street. It attempts to synthesise subjective findings with objective modes of study. The investigation then expands research within this field to a wider context and world view of this phenomenon to establish a greater understanding. These subjective and objective research methods are represented in the two methods of making: an observational hand sketch practice, the other formal and spatial explorations investigating ‘niches’ via folding. The design aims to bring the two methods of study together on three sites (Durham Street West, Upper Lorne Street and Symonds Street Overbridge) in an effort to realise the initial supposition: How can the lived experiences of urban street dwellers be valued, and contribute to the design of urban public spaces?