Architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen says that streets can't create public interaction in the way that unstructured spaces like urban parks can.
Goldhagen argues that people won't interact unless they're given public spaces that are unstructured and non-goal-oriented enough to give our brains the space to focus on other people:
"Goldhagen argues that only in places that have been designed to foster these social interactions can people once again enjoy the company of strangers not interested in your specific "community of interest." The obvious physical space for the public realm then is public parks, in all their forms, but particularly, the 'great urban parks.'"
She says that the ideal urban park is "not be so large that inside it one loses a sense of the city."
Read the full story: Goldhagen: “Democracies Need Physical Spaces”
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