We conducted a field survey on 316 cases of utilizing Privately Owned Public Spaces in New York City as antecedent cases for utilization of public spaces in Japan, and performed a comparative analysis with previous pictures captured in the preceding investigative study by Kayden in 2000 in order to superficially find out how POPSs are updated and managed. Taking into consideration the space characteristics of the created open spaces through discussion on the institutional background, we analyzed (1) the trend of updating in the whole city, (2) the components and updating systems of the updated spaces (3) the relationships of the updated cases with era, location, system, or scale. The object of this study is to obtain basic knowledge regarding what Japan should do to solve the problem of aging public open spaces that is getting severer.
Among the 316 cases, 313 cases existed as of the field study conducted in October, 2014.44% of them had been updated, confirming positive updating of such cases. The components of the updated spaces were itemized into 37 types, which were then categorized into 7 categories such as staying, construction, planting, environment/crime prevention, landscaping, signage, and facility. The categories of staying, construction, and planting, which largely depend on the quality of public spaces, account for 70% of the total, from which we could extract the problem of open spaces and the updating system as the solution for the problem.
Analysis on era: There are no updating cases among relatively new cases that were constructed after 1990s so that they are about 20 years old. The updating rate for cases for the constructions built in 1970s was about 50% or more, while cases constituted of plaza and Arcades under old open space regulations are likely updated. For cases constructed in late 1970s and early 1980s, the updating rate is about 40% or more. It can be said that the cases enter the updating phase after they reach about 30 years old.
Analysis on institution: The updating of cases under space regulation of staying type apparently exceeds the updating of cases under space regulation of staying type. Among POPSs created under new space regulation such as Urban Plaza and Residential Plaza, about 40% or more of them are operated continuously, and the highly potential open spaces are also updated without fail. For open spaces of in-house atrium type in Covered Pedestrian spaces, about 60% or more of the cases have been updated for installing signage and seats etc. to alleviate the difficulty of public recognition, and for reviewing of traffic lines.
Analysis on scales: Regarding space scales, many of the spaces are of small scales having 200 to 600 m2. However, the frequency of updating is greater especially for spaces of 600 to 1400 m2. The open spaces of large scale having 2000 m2 or greater are small in number but likely updated in large scale. Therefore, we could extracted the scale conditions preferable for updating.
We found that New York City have made excellent policy prescription for POPS and there is a need of updating system. We highly appreciated their persistent approach in which even small POPSs difficult to be used as staying spaces for people are also utilized for installation of public arts or planters etc. to make contribution to the community even if only slightly. We will carry on our study on these spaces including 57 cases currently under construction.
