Graduation Semester and Year

2020

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Public and Urban Administration

Department

Public Administration

First Advisor

Kathryn E. Holliday

Abstract

In modern America, people gather in civic public spaces for many reasons: to celebrate family, gather as a community, engage in commerce, or protest injustices. The design of these spaces is critical to their ability to foster civic participation. Jan Gehl has argued that public spaces should be designed for people and encourage social interactions that build social capital (Gehl, 2006). Social capital is beneficial to individuals and communities in many ways, including political engagement, the economic prosperity of individuals and communities, and the safety and security of the community (Putnam, 1995). It has been said that in public spaces, we learn to be citizens (Kaufman & Tepper, 1999), and therefore, we can say good citizens are made in good places. While sociologists have emphasized the connections between public space and social capital, there is little research that looks specifically at the design features and programming that make these connections possible. This research focuses on the role of design in creating public, civic spaces that encourage social interaction and build social capital. While architects and planners have established formal typologies for civic space in large cities, there is little research that evaluates their success in supporting social interaction. What is the role of the government in the creation of civic public spaces that encourage social interaction and build social capital? Are there civic space typologies that are more successful than others for building social capital? Which design features are most successful in bringing people together and thus creating social capital? These questions are addressed through the development of an audit framework to allow the study of three case study investigations of Texas edge cities on the northern urban fringe of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area: Denton, Southlake, and Frisco. This original framework combines a study of the physical layer, code layer, and content layer (Nemeth) with a Public Space Index (Vikas) and applies them to three case studies. These case studies will include qualitative and quantitative data gained through public space audits, behavior mapping, survey data, and participant observation. The intended result of this research is to determine how successful each civic public space is in regards to building social capital and what role the government plays in facilitating and maintaining it. Additionally, this research seeks to understand the space typology and features present in the most successful public spaces both from the perspective of policy and of design, proposing new ways for these separate disciplines to communicate about their shared concerns. If you build a good place, people will gather in it (Walljasper, 2005). Local governments have a vested interest in building social capital with their citizens. As public administrators understand the ways that civic space can be designed and used, the better-designed spaces will be.

Keywords

Public Space, Design, Social capital

Disciplines

Public Affairs | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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