Categories of Public Activities

In the book, The Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, Jan Gehl Opens by saying:


"Greatly simplified, outdoor activities in public spaces can be divided into three categories, each of which places very different demands on the physical environment: necessary activities, optional activities, and social activities."


Necessary Activities
- activities such as going to school or work, shopping, waiting for a bus.
- a person is required to participate.
- these activities will take place throughout the year under nearly all conditions, and are more or less independent of the exterior environment.


Optional Activities
- pursuits that are participated in if there is a wish to do so and if time and place make it possible - are quite another matter.
- category includes activities such as taking a walk or standing around to enjoy life or sitting to sunbathe
- these activities take place only when exterior conditions are optimal, when weather and place invite them.


Social Activities
- all activities which depend on the presence of others in public spaces.
- activities include children at play, greetings and conversations, communal activities of all kinds and finally - passive contacts, simply seeing and hearing other people.
- could also be termed resultant activities because because in nearly all instances they evolve from activities linked to the other two categories.
- social activities occur spontaneously as a direct consequence of people moving about and being in the same space.