THE PEOPLE’S PARK: A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN AND CONVIVIAL BEHAVIOR IN SUPERKILEN

Abstract

This research project investigates the relationship between design solutions andconvivial behavior among users of urban landscapes, particularly within areas characterized by diverse populations. By unpacking the entwined physical features and signs of convivial behavior at play in a People’s Park, this analysis provides insight into the role design can have in promoting convivial behavior. This is particularly important in Europe, which has long struggled to accept diversifying population and where urban neighborhoods are increasingly heterogeneous. This current diversification has tremendous implications for the ways people live together. The typology of the People’s Park is one of the contexts where this will play out. I define a people’s park as an everyday space with the potential to promote social wellbeing. It is characterized by an intent to design spaces for and with all members of a community. I define conviviality as a social condition contributing to everyday quality of life. I examine the people’s park as an institution for fostering convivial behavior in public life. The ultimate goal is to inform urban planning policies addressing social life in the public realm in multi-ethnic or diverse communities. The means to that goal is the development of a methodology for studying the relationship between design and convivial behavior that can guide park design to promote convivial coexistence and that can assist in assessing and improving existing underperforming parks. Research on these questions was undertaken using a single case study site, Superkilen, a park in Copenhagen’s multi-ethnic Nørrebro district. This case study tests the methodology I developed for this research, examining different areas of the park, in an attempt to ascertain what attributes of urban design are associated with convivial behavior, comprising the activities of eating, playing and chatting. Through the findings on Superkilen, I present the People’s Park as a useful model in helping diverse communities live together, through ordinary convivial behavior activity. Superkilen shows a possible path for societies that have historically been perceived as homogenous and must make space for difference and must deal with cultural diversity, as in Copenhagen, Denmark, but also many other European cities.