In The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980), the observer William H. Whyte reported the findings of his Street Life Project, which used time-lapse film and patient observation to study how people actually use plazas, parks and street corners in New York. He found that successful public spaces offered places to sit, sun, food, water and the company of others, and that people gravitate toward where other people already are. His simple, evidence-based conclusions challenged the empty, windswept plazas produced by zoning incentives, and the study was paired with a widely seen documentary film.
It established close observation of behaviour as a method for designing public space and shaped the placemaking movement. Whyte's findings on what makes plazas lively directly informed urban design guidance and the work of his student-collaborators.