Public Life in 24-Hour Cycle: A Study of Gillet Square, London

Public life in a 24-hour cycle:
A study of Gillett Square, London
London School of Economics and Political Science

MSc City Design and Social Science 2013-2014
SO449 Independent Project
Candidate Number: 17313
Word Count: 9926
Cover Image: A panoramic image of Gillett Square (Hackney D., 2011)
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr. Gnter Gassner for his guidance, inestimable help,
and challenging insights. Without these the project would not be published.
I would like to thank people of Gillett Square who were mostly engaged with
my project and helped me out a lot. Definitely, one of the friendliest places
in London.
I would also like to thank my family and girlfriend for their priceless support,
cordial care and assistance.
Ksenia, thanks for inspiring me!
Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Table of contents
Introduction
Night spaces and 24-hour city concept

Dalston and Gillett Square: site profile
Methodology
16
26
Observation-based study
Caf culture
Eating
31
31
33
Alcohol
35
Drugs
37
39
Kids
Skateboarding
Transferring
41
43
Event programming
Implications of the study

Conclusion
47
51
53
Bibliography
A guide on visuals
55
57
Appendix A1
58
Appendix A2
107
Appendix B
136
Appendix C
138
Appendix D
139
Introduction
How many times have you been out entertaining yourself, having a jolly time
and enjoying what London nights have to offer? But imagine what it is like to
be out in the night just observing what is going on. In this case a different
perspective will open. Night in London is a lawless time when people do insane things, go to places they would not normally go to and meet people they
would not ordinarily even look at. But after sunrise, and when the weekend is
over, life resumes its natural course and everything goes back to normal.
Throughout the centuries night-time has remained uncolonised and only a

few found their harbor in the atmosphere of darkness and obscurity. With the
evolution of man-made lighting, and the explosive development of the global
economy a couple centuries later, humanity started its conquest of the night.
Shops open 24/7, businesses offer 24-hour customer services and the roads
are never vacant. The night is now ours but what toll has it taken?
Urban theory scholars have coined numerous terms to describe the nocturnal
city. Night spaces, the 24-hour society, the night-time economy and so
on, but in reality the night cities remain somewhat undiscovered. The same
conditions are to be found with city planning. Spaces are usually designed to
accommodate and satisfy the day-time population. Despite many restrictive
initiatives to control the night-time economy, like alcohol licensing and crime
-targeted policies (including panoptical CCTV coverage in London), planning
documents have little information about activation of specifically night spaces. Lovatt and OConnor (1995) see the origins of neglecting planning for the
night-time city in the lack of understanding of the night culture phenomena.
Roberts and Eldridge (2009, p. 42) agree with them, stating that: Planning
policy in the UK has been put into position where it has had to catch up
with these shifts in urban movement. Only recently British planners attitudes have altered, though they have not brought impressive outcomes.
This project focuses on a small modern square in East London to examine how
this multifaceted space and the people there differ at given times throughout
the 24-hour cycle. The investigation employed observation-based study methods, interviews and photography. This project touches almost every aspect of
public life of the square, showing the multitude of uses in a 24-hour perspec-
tive and how the space itself adapts to these. This paper is also going to explain the origins of the most fascinating activities. While some of them are
originating in the poor planning the paper would also analyse the planning
diminishes from the perspective of public life study.
The next section will give some theoretical background on the urban night
and on how the attitudes towards the subject were shifting throughout the
years.
Gillett Square at 4 am.

Late drinkers usually do not care about taking the rubbish with them
Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept
Geographical studies and urban design research tend to focus on the day-time
city. The night-time city is left almost uncovered. While the majority of the
literature does not incorporate much of what occurs at the night-time in the
cities, a few authors have tried to shed some light on the subject.
The understanding of the day-time city is something individual for all of us.
The day spaces, and the ways to move between these spaces are associated
with routine life, commuting and obligations. La quotidienne the everyday
life has been largely critiqued by Henri Lefebvre (2004). Lefebvre used the
rhythmanalysis technique which implies that the meaninglessness and aridity of daily life lies in the way capitalist reality controls people to turn them
into the productive force. For Lefebvre, the ideal society is one where everyday life has been modernized to get rid of capitalist burden (Elden, 2004).
Although Lefebvres points are easily understood, his concept of unrestricted
self-expression and pleasures in day life is something utopian.
But there are another 12 hours. The night-time for some people is the time of
self-expression, freedom and enjoyment; and their night urban life is dichotomous perception oscillating between the fear of darkness, the things concealed by the darkness and the desire to fulfil ones pleasures (Roberts & El-
dridge, 2009). Roberts and Eldridge (2009) structure their readers thinking of
the night-time city as a coalescence of pleasure and chaos, fear and excitement, which in comparison with the day-time perception of a city represents
an astonishing contrast. The difference between the day and night ensues
from the account of Lovatt and OConnor (1995, pp. 132-133), though simplified: [The night-time is] a time for trying something the day-time may not
let you be, a time for meeting people you shouldnt, for doing things your
parents told you not to, that your children are too young to understand.
Night spaces
In his other proclaimed work The Production of Space Lefebvre writes:

Space is divided up into designated (signified, specialized) areas and into areas that are prohibited (to one group or another). It is further subdivided into
spaces for work and spaces for leisure and into day-time and night-time spaces. The body, sex, and pleasure are often accorded no existence, either mental or social, until after dark, when the prohibitions that obtain during the
day, during normal activity, are lifted. . . In accordance with this division
of urban space, a stark contrast occurs at dusk as the lights come on in the
areas given over to festivity, whereas the business districts are left empty and dead. Then in a brightly illuminated night the days prohibitions give
way to profitable pseudo-transgressions.
(Lefebvre, 1991, pp. 319-320)
It is clear that Lefebvre saw the morphology of the city being at least dual:
mundane and restricted day space, and transgressive spaces at night those
are the instances that constitute an utter opposition within one city. Spaces
are differently addressed and used depending on the time of the day the person utilizes them. The night spaces provoke feelings and emotions different
from those of the ordinary day spaces. This is due to the fear of darkness and
of the unexplored, but also because of the rooted transgressive spirit and potentially deviant behaviour typical for the night user. Using the fact that
night spaces provoke behaviour which oversteps the limits of the ordinary,
Robert Williams attributes the night spaces to counter-spaces (a term theo-
rised by Lefebvre), because they evoke joy and stimulate out-ofordinary (Williams, 2008, p. 520).
An extensive range of individuals whose lives, interests and potential profits

are contained in the very essence of the night-time make up the night and
determine the use of night spaces. Melbin (1978, p. 7) sees at least three
groups of people taking advantage of the nocturnal city and its economy. The
first group are the night agents those who see the night to be the most comfortable for them to loiter around, without being accompanied by the day
crowd. The second group are late-night workers and services those who
serve and maintain the night crowd. The third group is the impetus of vast
10
night industry the consumers: those who seek pleasures at night because
some of those are impossible to be fulfilled during the day.
The majority of these groups representatives create a crowd that Richard

Florida (2002) termed the creative class. Although this term might sound a
little bit catchpenny in the year 2014, Florida makes a solid statement on
how these people anticipated the ascent of the 24-hour city through their
enthusiasm towards night spaces. The demands of this class include the capacity of the city to accommodate and accept them during the night. These
third millennium urban dwellers have their everyday lives time-shifted. The
consumers mostly young and possessing relatively sufficient amounts of disposable income make up the majority of the night crowd. Night spaces for
them are just the nightlife territory an area where they can forget about
their daily routines and problems. Of course, the most vigorous nightlife is
something not likely to occur at any given place, but in places and territories
with the established hedonistic, consumerist character (Lovatt & O'Connor,
1995), where people seek pleasures and an adrenaline dose, and London is,
beyond doubt, one of those places.
Darkness and the obscure make up the very essence of the night space. How-
ever, the space can only be examined in an antipodal case: if it is illuminated. Indeed, the activities are not visible unless they happen in the lit up
spaces. The concept of light becomes crucial at this point. The variety of uses, the liveliness of the space and the given amenities in this sense depend of
the luminosity. It is also critical when an individual decides where to go, and
then experiences or visually appraises the space. Light has allowed people to
claim the right to the night. While night-time urban life and the night-time
economy saw their emergence in the late XVIII century with the ubiquitous
emanation of gas and then electrical illumination of urban spaces (Roberts &
Eldridge, 2009; Schivelbusch, 1988) it later became an important push for the
renaissance of urban centres (Lovatt & O'Connor, 1995). Williams (2008) ex-
11
plains the rise of the night-time economy with the increasing completion between the industries on a global scale and, hence, some industries having to
move production into the night, or even to become non-stop, thus reshaping
the world to function as the 24 hour society. The next section will detail
the rise and fall of the 24-hour city concept.
Gillett Square at midnight.

A couple is kissing in the middle of the late-night party on the square
12
24-hour city
The traditional 9 to 5 archetype has lead to the occurrence that city centres
are deserted after 5pm as more people tend to live on the outskirts and in
the suburbs, thus they flee the downtown after working hours. Since the new
millennium the night is being colonised as more new industries emerge, more
workforces are located in the cities, people have more disposable income and
significant technological advances have appeared there was just not

enough time to exploit them. As Leon Kreitzman recalls (1999) the flourishing
city centres from the 1960s looked miserable in terms of activeness around
1970s: After hours, the City [of London] is the most mournful place in England (p. 146).
Murray Melbin (1978) compared the night to the American frontier, as the
westward expansion to the new daunting territories in a sense eliminated the
scarcity of land on the colonised territories. The night, according to his logic,
is also a frontier that divided the traditional 9 to 5 society from a whole new
territory brimming with new resources, possibilities and opportunities the
resource of time in the first place. Kreitzman, writing on the verge of the
new millennium, mainly accused planning professionals and officials of the
aforesaid unfavourable fate of the downtowns of the 1970s: The demise of
the city centre was made worse by poor planning, an unwillingness to ensure
survival by changing centres to mixed-use areas, and a regulatory and policing regime that feared people of enjoying themselves (1999, p. 137).
The 24-hour city initiative is an effort to regenerate the decadent, underused city centres in order to turn them into the booming night spaces.
This very placemaking initiative sought to take advantage of the economic
and social benefits that were contained in the untamed night. The earliest
European movements, driven by the general public, were accompanied by the
slogan Reclaim the Night (Bianchini, 1995). The movements promoted cultural revisionism, town centre redevelopment and urban life revitalisation
towards the night. Nightlife became a novel cultural phenomenon for the ma-
13
jority and as demand for the save, entertaining, diverse and accessible town
centres had been building up, the policy-makers and town planners followed.
Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and

Barcelona. Copenhagen can be declared as one of the most successful hu-
man scale cities. With no traditional planning practices of filling the city with
pedestrianised streets and small urban spaces, Copenhagen managed to
transform urban spaces into human dimension. This happened owing to the
groundbreaking studies of public life carried out by The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Architecture alumni led by Jan Gehl. In a sense, being pathfinders in this type of urban research (Gehl & Svarre, 2013), Danish
urbanists achieved staggering results through selective pedestrianised zoning:
the pedestrian traffic increased sevenfold and the number of residents in the
city centre increased by 12% over the next decade (Roberts & Eldridge,
2009). The results in the long run are even more dramatic. Not only was pedestrianisation allowed to rehabilitate the nightlife in central Copenhagen,
but also urbanites changed their way of life. As Gehl claims himself, as much
as one third of peoples time, in the summer, is spent outside in the Copenhagens splendid public spaces (2006).
Night-time Barcelona.
An interpretation of night-time activities georeferenced in Google Places
14
The 1992 Olympics were the catalyst of urban regeneration in Barcelona. Being as a multi-layered, complex set of reforms in economic, cultural and social spheres, the city renewal in Barcelona was the most eminent for rebuilding and constructing as many as 200 public spaces throughout the city
(Roberts & Eldridge, 2009). One may argue that regeneration of the capital of
Catalonia is trivial but the city is possibly the number one destination for a
summer weekend escape in Europe. Conscious public space planning and design are the decisive factors in recognising Barcelona as a vibrant, compact
and comfortable city. No wonder the UK planners were eager to adopt the
Barcelona model in Britain (Davies & Mummery, 2006; Kreitzman, 1999; Roberts & Eldridge, 2009), in a sense praising the changes in urban landscapes of
the Mediterranean pearl.
In Britain, the deep expansion to the night was seen as a cure-all for town
centre regeneration. The success of other European capitals urged British
politicians to turn their eyes towards the darkness. By 1995 cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds had adopted some measures to revitalize urban night-life: more housing in the city centre, nocturnal entertainment programmes, improvements in lighting and venue certification (Davies & Mummery, 2006). The expansion of commercial activities and uses, principally re-
ferred to as evening economy or night-time economy followed. The expansion was so big that some of the planning authorities recommended that
larger municipalities should assign the 24-hour and night-time use standards
to the whole blocks and areas. The consumerist character of those areas,
heavily formed by alcohol and late dining venues, produced a lot of controversy in the beginning of the 2000s.
15
By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of

success. They came from two different sources. On one side were residents
groups, which had become alarmed that their neighbourhoods were attracting ever larger crowds and that, with a relaxation of licensing laws, these
crowds were staying longer into the night. Residents complained of noise,
social disorder and crime. <...> From a different perspective came academic
researchers investigating youth cultures and door security. They noted that,
rather than having a mainland European structure of independent operators,
the UK entertainment industry is dominated by large corporations. These corporations swiftly saw the potential of the expansion in the hospitality sector
and invested heavily.
(Roberts & Turner, 2005, p. 173)
It has turned out that the much acclaimed town centre regeneration
through expanding urban life further into the night has failed as the nightlife
became dominated by mono-culture of entertainment venues, based on the
consumption of alcohol and directed towards youth market (Davies & Mum-
mery, 2006, p. 10). Let us admit it, when one says nightlife the majority
will imagine drinking and eating out. The whole 24-hour city concept has enabled a boost in drinking times, but made no impressive impact on revitalisation of the urban night (Jayne et al., 2006), consequences that were predicted by Jacobs 40 years earlier. She had proposed a set of planning and governing measures to prevent bars and clubs from congregating in one area, and
thus dominating and dictating the primal use of the space (Hadfield, 2006).
Not only has the night-time concentrated alcohol consumption, but it has also
become less safe than before. Violent crime levels in the new night spaces
(the areas with 24-hour and night use as assigned by the planning authorities)
have risen which indicates they were mostly alcohol-related. This sparked the
2003 Licensing Act which targeted the badly-managed alcohol-selling venues,
public drinking and anti-social behaviour, violence and public safety at night
(Roberts & Eldridge, 2009). Some researches see the 2003 Licensing Act as an
attempt to restrict the freedom of urban nightlife, while others think that
the concept should had been implemented differently in order to avoid general fixation on how entertainment venues buried the 24-hour city concept.
16
Nowadays, with the common appreciation of the urban nightlife is not just
about wine and dine type of entertainment, local authorities should implement measures to deliver the much needed revitalisation in town centres
whilst not focusing on promoting entertainment and youth-only orientated
uses. This has already proved inopportune. The urban renaissance through
placemaking and space activation towards the night use in previously desolate areas is an important point in the planning officials agenda and sometimes it can be characterised as effective.
Dalston and Gillett Square: site profile

Dalston is the ward in the London Borough of Hackney located approximately
five kilometres away from Central London. While being one of the most deprived boroughs throughout the centuries, Hackney and Dalston ward in particular are experiencing remarkable economic and social change at the moment. The reasons are:
17
Proximity to Central London. Dalston (yellow) is

an area close to the urban core (City of London is
marked blue) and a part of Greater London Authoritys (GLA) strategy of development through
intensification. The programme aims to unlock the
potential of deprived neighbourhoods through attracting new residents, businesses and investment.
Cultural/creative industries development. The

majority of industrial enterprises in Hackney were
demolished and replaced with residential, office
and retail developments. Here cultural/creative
industries that replaced the industry stand out.
Not only they significantly contribute to the economy of the ward but also shape the urban identity
of the area ("Dalston AAP," 2013). Moreover, the
value of cultural/creative capital in Dalston has
been recognized on citywide, national and international levels ("Making Space in Dalston," 2009)
Improvement of transport connectivity. In addition to Dalstons proximity to Central London,

Dalston Junction Overground station has opened
recently (April 2010) which has catalysed the areas social and economic regeneration, making it
attractive for a wide range of individuals.
18
These, and other processes (including the on-going gentrification of the area)
have created the preconditions which determined Dalston as the site of the
study. I will focus on the 2 most important reasons that predefined the
choice of the study site.
Large share of young residents. The economy of the ward with its emphasis
on cultural/creative industries attracts young people from all over London.
Dalston enjoys an exclusively large cohort of young adults (aged 18-29) and
this is more than in Hackney overall ("Dalston Ward Profile," 2014). It is also
greater than the average London age [see Table 1].
Age Band
Hackney Persons Hackney Share
London Persons
London Share
20-24
21700
9%
630000
8%
25-29
33800
14%
833000
10%
30-34
30100
12%
796900
10%
35-39
21300
9%
664000
8%
Table 1. Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)
Davison et al. (2012) identified that nearly all new developments and redevelopment projects target the middle-class, white, young professionals and,
keeping that in mind, the young population in Dalston is not only huge, it is
supposed to be increasing.
19
Young residents of Dalston.

A percentage of 18-39 aged residents by output area
The large share of the young population is extremely important for this study
as young people dominate during the night. Indeed, for the majority of people, night-time is associated with youth and freedom. Students and young
professionals are more flexible in their working hours than mature adults,
whereas kids and the elderly are absent from the streets during the night.
With this idea in mind the notion that a predominantly young neighbourhood
will be vibrant and active during the whole 24-hour cycle seems to be legitimate. A study of night-time economy in Hackney ("Hackney Night-time Economy. Evidence based study," 2005) showed that about 50% of out-goers in
Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney.
20
Developed night-time economy. The current dynamics and pace of nighttime economy in Dalston is celebrated by Hackney officials:
Dalston has an existing vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy, with
a lively mix of food and drink establishments, offering a wide variety of food
from every corner of the world as well as various pubs, bars and clubs. It is
important that this vibrant and culturally diverse evening economy with existing facilities <> is further encouraged and managed to complement the
emerging improved retail offer and community and creative quarters.
("Dalston AAP", 2013, p. 51)
Indeed, a lively night-time economy calls forth the activeness and establishes
the identity of Dalston. Moreover, a developed night-time economy is a principal factor that draws people out of their homes in the evening and during
the night.
The particular sites for the exciting and vibrant evening economy are:
Kingsland High Street [1] as an existing night space and 3 potential night
spaces: Gillett Square [2], Ridley Road Market [3] and Dalston Eastern Curve
[4]. The pilot site visit enabled the most active night spaces to be identified. Upon initial analysis the site of Gillett Square was identified as the busiest location (not actually potential but rather established night space), and
it was noted to be a popular night-time location as there is a wide variety of
uses available. This area was identified being a more suitable case study in
comparison with Kingsland High Street, an area that was deemed to be inferior using the criteria above.
21
2
4
Dalston night-time economy.

(Dalston AAP, 2013)
Gillett Square
Gillett Square is a part of the 100 Public Spaces programme promoted by Ken
Livingstones London's Architecture and Urbanism Unit, led by Richard Rogers
and Ricky Burdett in 2000s (Glancey, 2005). Gillett Square was the first public
space redeveloped under this initiative. In 2003 a new planning application
for the square was adopted while the former car park was being redeveloped
into a brand-new piece of public realm by 2006. Associated with jazz music
and entertainment, housing small original businesses and popular events that
lift up the community spirit and attract Londoners even from distant boroughs, Gillett Square makes a perfect example of a rather successful new
London public space.
22
Memories of Gillett Street.

Archive photos show how Gillett Street and the car park used to look like
23
The area around Gillett Square (formerly Gillett Street) has always been associated with putrid and decayed urban blocks as the problems with waste,
drugs, prostitution, poverty and squatters were on everyones lips. This area
was a collection of residential and industrial dilapidated blocks before any
revitalisation explained earlier happened in Dalston.
By the mid-1980s the area was turned into a prosaic car park just across Ridley Road Market a long-running (at least 125 years) commercial space. At
that time some new retail units were emerging as Dalston residents had used
the street to get to the Market (Abrahams, 2010). With the new uses within
the area a new planning proposal for a new Dalston Town Centre came out.
The proposal also included a new public space Gillett Square.
It was developed and later managed by The Gillett Square Partnership which
unites key stakeholders keen on the space to transform and flourish. Hackney
Council, Hackney Co-operative Developments, Transport for London, a few
landlords and several local businesses owners, including Vortex Jazz Club, are
among the members of the Partnership. It was formed in 2001 and assured
that the incremental development of the space and the surroundings incorporates the best design and the best architecture practices in London. With par-
ticipation from Hawkins\Brown, black market pods were installed in 2002, the
fluorescent Dalston Culture House constructed in 2006 and the Gillett
Square itself finished the same year (Abrahams, 2010). The landscape design
of the square was made by Whitelaw Turkington, which created the design
proposals for the lighting, seating as well.
24
The aforementioned Dalston Culture House which holds music workshops and
offers studios is also a home for the legendary Vortex Jazz Club. The square
is a place to go for all jazz-loving Londoners. The jazz influence of this area
is enhanced by Babel Label, a contemporary jazz record label, occupying one
of the black pods and some other jazz venues operating in the area.
The square itself is a little oblong open-space confined in granite. Flat stone
ground space has minimum extra elements. There are 2 fixed seating surfaces
[see top map on the left]: an extended thin ledge, which I will refer to as a
bench [1] and a square surface decorated with the trees, located just few
meters away from the centre of the square. I will refer to this one a podium [2]. On the southern side of the square by a 3-storey workshop building
there are 10 pods and the space just in front of those pods is also in use. This
will be later referred as the stairs [3]. There is a car park to the north approximately a half of the former parking lot. The square is mainly surrounded
by residential and mixed-use developments [see bottom map on the left].
The next section explains the methodology of the study conducted in the
space with the reference to some prominent studies in this field.
Setting up the pods.

A new life is being breathed into Gillett Street car park
25
1
2
3
The layout of the square.

Seating surfaces are marked by numbers.
residential (single family, town houses)
recreational
residential (multi-family and high-rise)
infrastructural and utilities
retail and commercial
offices
institutional and public facilities
mixed
Gillett Square [X] site land-use map.

The square is surrounded mainly by residential and mixed-use developments
26
Methodology
There are numerous studies of public life carried out throughout the world.
In the classic book on city planning, Jane Jacobs (1961) studied the life of
Hudson Street she was living in Greenwich Village, New York City, taking into
account both the night and the day. She compared quotidian street life with
the nonstop sidewalk ballet which had been broken down into several entres representing particular times of the day. According to Jacobs, the ballet reached its crescendo in the evening when the majority of her neighbours poured out of their homes. Taking a full 24-hour perspective of the
street life allowed Jacobs to see the concontinuity of public life throughout
the whole day an aspect quite relevant to the present study.
William Hollingsworth Whyte, Jacobss mentor, in accordance to her ideas

about human scale research, started a project in New York City called The
Street Life Project a pioneering urbanites behaviour study which later
developed into an acclaimed book The social life of small urban spaces (1980) and a documentary of the same name. His findings, manuals,
toolkits and conclusions are still used to improve public life experiences for
people. The present project uses Whytes manner of research observationbased study. It gives an impression of the simplest, most accessible and af-
fordable way to see and analyse how urban spaces work and used.
The concrete methods of field study have been drawn out from Jan Gehl &
Birgitte Svarres book How to study public life (2013) giving a sufficient do
it yourself guide on how to actually study the life of the city. Their toolkit
includes at least 8 activities. This project will not utilize all of these activities, but will use those relevant to the day/night dichotomy types of research.
27
Mapping. The purpose of the mapping exercise was to indicate who and
where the people were, what they were doing. This was a top-of-the-hour
snapshot of the square and its users. The map itself is a plan of the square
with different symbols representing a person being plotted. The colour, the
shape and the fill of the shape defined the person his age, gender and ac-
tivity. Most of the time, at least two points of observation (marked as tiny
hollow circles on a map below) were available to allow the researcher to see
all of the people, thus making it easier to map them. Although, sometimes
when it was not enough light, or some people blocked the sight, the researcher walked around the square to map out all of the people, sometimes
driving them paranoid [see Appendix A1].
Two points of observation.

These vantage points allowed almost 360 observation
28
Counting. Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the

space is a rather simple, though a very effective type of quantitative research of public life. People were counted twice during a one hour cycle. At
first, when the aforesaid top-of-the-hour snapshot was taken, the square
crowd was atomized into several groups: by gender, age and main activity
(standing or sitting). Next, after all of the counting and calculations, the
quantitative data of the snapshots was transferred to the spreadsheets [see
Appendix B], which then allowed analysis and a comparison of how the space
is used differently at different times of the day.
The second phase of headcount was carried out just after the top-of-the-hour
snapshot. The researcher counted the people who had been entering the
space, crossing the imaginary lines, where the gateways to the space were
located. The headcounts were carried out at the beginning of each hour during a 15-minute period. This piece of data was useful in analysing the transfer/staying-in state of the square [see Transferring].
Gateways to the space.

People were counted once they passed the yellow lines
29
These quantitative activities were carried out separately for the weekdays
and weekends resulting in two sets of data. This was based on the assumption
that the public life of the space, the variety of uses and users are relatively
different.
Tracing. This is a effective tool to register motion, both through and inside
the invisible boundaries of public space. The researcher began tracing peoples movement at half-past every hour for exactly 15 minutes. Tracing enabled the researcher to define the primary and secondary routes through the
space [see Transferring]. Moreover, it can determine if people are mostly
passing through the space or if they have come to stay. Furthermore, tracing
makes it possible to identify the points of attraction that are active during a
particular hour. [see Appendix A2]
Taking pictures. Photographing is the simplest way to document activities

and people. The photographs enable the reader to visualise the mundane statistics and data and to imagine the actual public life in the given space.
Research journal. Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to

document the events, activities and other applicable information and data
which previous research activities would miss. The journal includes notable
cases, significant oddities and other relevant information, which the researcher thought to be useful in this study [see Appendix D].
Interviews. Some of the users of the space, the service workers, the business
owners and a member of managing body were interviewed. They all were
asked to come up with ideas on how the space is used during different times
of the day [see guide in Appendix C].
The study will identify the different uses of the square at different moments
in time. It will also show how the space evolves and transforms to become a
30
playground, an urban skate park, a beer garden and so on. The final section
will analyse how the managing body views the proper use of the square
throughout the day, and how it is being used differently in reality thus critiquing the modern way of space planning.
Gillett Square caf culture.

People enjoy drinks while having a conversation or watching the other people
31
Observation-based study
Caf Culture1
Coffee and protected observation
Noon11pm
2pm1am
The continuously increasing pace of urban life brought some unique habits to
accompany the lifestyle of XXI century urban dwellers. The tradition of coffee
drinking is just one of them. Coffee keeps us alert, attentive and awake.
What is more, drinking coffee is a substantial stimulant of the popularity of
the caf culture. In terms of urban theory a caf provides a number of functions. Not only do cafes keep people replete and hydrated, they are also suitable settings to talk to a friend, socialize, work or fritter some time away. A
caf is a perfect example of a third place a place different from home or
workplace [see Oldenburg (1999)].
The caf culture in Gillett Square is supported by a small coffee venue called
Kaffa Coffee which occupies two of the ten market pods. The caf offers hot
and cold drinks and small bites. Kaffa's owner, Marcos, founded his first coffee shop in London's Camden Canal Market in 2004, but after four years his
caf burnt down and he moved what has left of his business to Gillett Square2
which, at that time, was only an evolving public space.
There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffa's counter. Kaffa

Coffee has become one of the 'pavement' cafes which are hugely acclaimed in
the urban theory. As well as the them, Kaffa allows its customers to enjoy
observing the square and the people using it. The outdoor tables also act as a
type of protective vantage point for street life onlookers making the onlookers visible too, off course if they want it.
Kaffa's clients usually come in pairs or in small groups, and the relative majority of them seem to be Marcos' frequent customers, or even friends as he
1
Hereinafter the time extent in blue is a typical time stretch for this activity on a
weekday; in yellow on a weekend
2
Interview with Marcos
32
often warmly greets them. Of course, some of the people come alone to enjoy a cup of coffee but soon they get sucked into Kaffa's welcoming atmosphere and begin to talk with complete strangers. Ask for a cigarette, for example. At this moment a new conversation starts.
People are likely to spend at least half an hour at Kaffa. This is probably because the common atmosphere of the coffee shop and the square itself dispose for a slower pace of activity and for a life of leisure. These three facts
make this coffee shop a good place for socializing. The owner himself, for the
majority of time, is not making coffee but is busy talking with customers/
friends. It is reasonable to assume that Marcos's friendly attitude to his clients is one of the key causes of the inviting atmosphere and financial success
of the coffee shop.
Another significant aspect of this coffee spot is music. Usually calm but loud
tunes can be heard across the whole space, which also has an influence on all
of the users of the square. The music accompanies other activities happening
in the space and in some cases it is the reason for them to happen.
Eating on Gillett Square.

A family of four is having a lunch on the podium
33
Eating
6am8pm
Buying food from vendors or eating their own
2pm3am
Eating is among the most important physiological needs according to the

Maslow's hierarchy of needs and, apparently, people want to have a chance to
get food whenever they want and wherever they are. Whyte believed that
food is the keystone of an active space, and in order to make a place successful it should offer various possibilities to have something to eat like outdoor
eating, restaurants, street food vendors etc. (1980).
People come to eat on Gillett Square in two cases:
They buy the meals from the two venues which offer food: Jamaican
Jerk Chicken (JJC) a small independent Caribbean street food retailer, occupying one of the pods on the southern side of the square. Once
the owner of the shop fires up the barbecue the square fills up with jerk
spices aroma. There is also the Vortex Jazz Club a pub-style concert
venue, offering drinks and food in the afternoon.
People eat their own food in the square. Eating outdoors is already an
established urban cultural practice. People tend to enhance the process
of consuming food with something else: observing the street life; enjoying the sun and/or fresh air; change the molestful tablecloth and cutlery ambience into something unusual etc. Since a lot of food retailers
in London offer reduced take-away prices for meals (in this case customers are not required to pay VAT) there are more and more people
keen on take-away food.
Those who want to enjoy their own food and the customers of JJC and Vortex
prefer to eat while seated. They use all the available seating space, choosing
the most suitable for them according to the sun's position, the extent to
which other seating spaces are congested, the overall activeness of the space
34
as so on. If they do not find the right spot to have their meal they can easily
leave the space.
Even service workers like dustmen, for whom the square is a workplace rather than a space for leisure, use the square for their own comfort. Around 7
or 8 am upon arrival and instead of getting rid of the waste which late drinkers left on the ground, the dustmen usually have breakfast and their morning
coffee here, at most times occupying the northern edge of the podium. The
podium is located by the bollards where they stop the garbage truck and
spend some 10-15 minutes eating, drinking coffee, having conversations and
checking their smartphones.
Yet, it should be mentioned that the space was obviously not designed to accommodate those who want to eat, except those buying food directly on the
square. The street furniture lacks tables which are essential for comfortable
eating outdoors.
Drinking on Gillett Square.

A man is finishing his can of beer
35
Alcohol
Public drinking as one of the most popular activities
10am3am
5pm4am
As it has already been mentioned, alcohol infused nightlife was one of fundamental drivers of urban renaissance in Britain, though largely critiqued by
general public [mostly residents of party blocks] and planning research community. Binge Britain has become another problem, if not more serious than
the neglected town centres. The 2003 Licensing Act and nightlife-specific
planning documents are somewhat successful in indirectly bereaving the alcohol-selling venues of the key role in drawing crowds to the spaces during the
night, but still alcohol managed to spark off the former 'miserable spaces'.
Alcohol and public drinking is huge in Gillett Street, though forbidden [see
image on the left]. In general, if there is even only one person to be found
on the square at any time of day, there is a relatively big chance that he or
she is consuming an alcoholic beverage. There is no particular pattern of
where and how to drink. People usually tend to occupy the seating spaces
provided and when those become heavily congested the newcomers just remain standing. The drinkers might be found drinking alone or they might
gather in groups of 3-5 or larger groups of 7 or even 9 people. The latter are
usually formed outside of the space.
There are three licensed venues located on the square Vortex Jazz Club,
Dalston Jazz Bar and Morna Lounge Wine Bar and a few others located nearby. Despite the licenses acting only on the premises of those venues, people
somehow manage to sneak outside with the drinks and continue libations on
the square. Others just bring bottles bought at the liquor store, the majority
of which are purchased at 'Kingsland Wine', 77 Kingsland High Street.
While for the majority drinking is usually just a subsidiary activity, talking
and socializing is their principal concern, for others very little matters when
36
it comes to alcohol. I am talking about frequent drinkers who tend to use the
square as a place where they can fulfil their addiction. Mostly this is coupled
with deviant behaviour, though usually harmless for the social order. The
small frequent drinkers' party does not seem to bother local residents and
users of the square though, as it was mentioned several times in the inter-
views, those people are regarded as debauchees and given the smallest consideration possible. However, they are viewed as more respectable than the
drug users discussed in the following section.
Given the huge amount of drinkers, their ability to completely fill and clog up
the square, and the aforementioned loud music playing at most of times, the
space turns into a party space very easily. Public drinking and bars located
here draw a large amount of people onto the square and, as mapping has indicated, the space becomes most active in the weekend nights when almost
everyone enjoys a drink here.
Drinking and drug use on Gillett Square

Large crowds drink and mostly smoke marijuana cigarettes late at night
37
Drugs
5pm3am
The space is exposed to illegal activities
5pm3am
The subject of drug dealing and drug use in public spaces, the activities akin,
is a quite complicated one. Urban theory scholars either associate it with the
valuable freedom of behaviour, or instead identify these activities with

breaching even more valuable societal order. Despite the fact that these very
activities are indeed interpreted as the insurgent public behaviour, they are
also quite destructive towards society. Because of this, the activities and the
people executing those are actively confronted by the general public and the
enforcement officials.
Drug users have historically been seen as one of the major causes of social
ills. <> Marked as impure, immoral, polluted, dangerous, corrupt and contagious drug users are often seen, described and feared as diseased. <> The
physical and social cleaning of public space in the name of public safety or
public health is a common practice used by government agencies in order to
create the illusion of orderly, sanitised public space. <> a purification attempt.
(England, 2008, p. 200)
Gillett Square is also not devoid of such activities. Both drug dealing and drug
use occur in this space and, intriguingly enough, these activities tend to hap-
pen in plain view of the public. This was a bizarre finding due to a presumption that these activities should be invisible to the public given their illegal
and deviant character.
Drug dealing due to its very nature usually takes place after sunset and is
clearly visible due to the way the drug dealing is happening. The pushers (at
most times there are several pushers 'working' independently) usually make
contact with groups of drinking youngsters or wandering individuals, probably
assuming that those are very likely to become their customers. Given the fact
that those groups make up a large share of users during the night, drug dealing becomes quite apparent for everyone. Speaking about my personal experi-
38
ence I was proposed to buy drugs at least 3 times. Supposedly, my age and
offbeat observer demeanour attracted the pushers. Some of them corresponded with a generic image of a pusher while others were bizarre rare
types. Once I was offered to buy marijuana by a lady in a motorised wheelchair.
Drug use is also not so exceptional to see during the night usually by a group
of people sharing a marijuana cigarette. Among the indirect signs of mass
consumption of marijuana on Gillett Square is the strong smell of marijuana
and the marijuana cigarette ends to be found all over the place alongside
other piles of waste left by late drinkers.
The drug theme often materialized in the interviews with both users and service workers of the square. They tend to treat marijuana users and dealers
indifferently but, when it comes to Class A drugs, everybody claimed being
intolerant to those.
Heavy drugs create high crime level

around the square. Cops should do
something about hardcore drugs
These people [drug users] just waste

their lives, I feel sorry for them.
street musician, 35
Gillett Square as a playground.

A boy riding the swing attached to the skateboards
bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club, 30
39
Kids
1pm3pm; 7pm11pm
The space as a playground
2pm9pm
As Susan Elsley interestingly notes, children are likely to be more disadvantaged than adults when it comes to recognising the needs of public spaces
users. Kids cannot claim their views on how the space should look, and how it
should be used (2004), so they can do nothing but to be content with what is
already there. They do not demand a lot. For a kid every place he or she is
taken can work as a playground. This is exactly how kids exploit Gillett
Square.
Of course, they come to the square because they are out of choice their
parents usually bring them along. I have not seen a lot of kids who are already teenagers, the ones who are capable to create a team of pals and to
decide on a place to stroll around. Parents take their little kids along to the
square because, in this case, the kids would be supervised. So they will be
safe. For each parent this is undoubtedly the prime concern.
Secondly, the square, though not being a playground, can be easily turned
into one with the help of programming. A local architecture practice called
muf architecture/art as a part of bigger "Making Space in Dalston" strategy

installed an orange container onto the square. Items which can reprogram the
space within minutes are stored in this container. Besides Ping-Pong tables,
gazebos and ground chess, the container has the parts of the toy obstacle
course which turn the space into a massive playground. Apart from the toys in
the container, kids can find a movable swing and a small table on which to
draw.
A relatively large number of kids can be seen in the square during weekend
afternoons and in the weekdays when they are not in school or kindergarten.
Nevertheless, some 1 or 2 of them can be found during the rest of the time,
40
but not during the night. The chart below documents the presence and the
number of kids on the square in the weekdays and weekends. All of the kids
in the square usually play together.
Among 3-4 little habitus of the square there are always the kids whose par-
ents run their business here. For example, in the afternoon you can easily
spot Marcos the owner of Kaffa Coffee playing with his son and daughter.
For those kids the square is like the second home, the reminiscences of which
will probably leave a lifelong impression.
Chart 1. The presence of kids in the square according to the head counting exercise
Skateboarding is a type of public performance.

Two men appreciate skaters skills on Gillett Square
41
Skateboarding
7pm2am
The square as an urban skatepark
5pm2am
Skateboarders are usually regarded as troublemakers, anarchic young misbehaviours and the skateboarding itself is appropriated as a semi-legal activity
both by general public and enforcers. Nevertheless, skateboarding is now an

integral part of urban life. The desire to drive out skateboarding caused several adjustments, both in architecture and urban design since the emergence
of streetstyle skateboarding between the 1980s and 1990s. While the skaters
were using literally every detail of streetscape, the architecture and urban
design were aimed to protect the elements from this 'destructive idiocy'. The
list of examples includes the anti-skateboarding studs on the edge of benches
and kerbs, which were meant to prevent grinding; the restrictive public notices informing everyone that skaters will not be tolerated, or even prosecuted; and the barriers like fences, metal meshes and barbed wire banning
skateboarding in specific places. Having these in mind, skaters seem to be
excluded from using particular restricted spaces and have to look for a space
which will not only will satisfy their needs, but will also be welcoming and
responsive to skateboarding. Gillett Square has appeared to be one of those
spaces.
Skateboarders come here for a number of reasons. As a respondent indicated,

skateboarders marvel at flat hard ground and the relatively large amount of
open space here. Moreover, when the skaters appear in the space it usually
has a lot of users. What is more, there are not visible restrictive elements
against skateboarding in the square except the metal studs on the bench.
Skaters ordinarily come to the square in groups of 5-6 people. There are at
least two reasons for that: firstly, given their wavering status of space users
skateboarders tend to surround themselves with skating fellows just to feel
more protected; secondly, skateboarding is not merely an extreme sport it
42
is also a type of performance art (Borden, 2001) and in order to make the
performance seen and appreciated, skaters need an audience.
The rest of the square crowd appears to be a wider audience for this type of
performance and they seem to like it, though some of the complaints are
that the endless 'ollies' produce too much noise and disturbance. The kids
seem to be the most excited members of the audience. As an appreciation of
their attention they are usually given a chance to try skateboarding for themselves.
Riders usually cluster by the western side of the podium with the central
open spaces of the square just in front of them. While one or two skaters
perform tricks, the rest watch attentively having beers while waiting to take
their turn. A successful land sometimes generates loud cheering and applause
while a failed trick only provokes giggling.
After the skaters are done with the actual riding and landing tricks they usually turn to drinking beer and having loud conversations, sometimes changing
their location to the stairs. They leave the space among the last.
43
Transferring
Square as a transit space
6am12:30pm
6am1pm
Gillett Square is an attractive and a valuable public space. However, some

people use it as a means of transfer to get somewhere else. The square is
considered to be a part of Dalston Town Centre, which means that the area
accommodates a myriad of different assets. For instance, Gillett Square is
connected to Kingsland High Street, and both spaces have a somewhat synergic effect on each other. While for some users the square is just a part of the
route to get to the High Street, it also provides an escape (it becomes a
'release space') from relatively narrow, element-congested and crowded
Kingsland High Street ("Making Space in Dalston," 2009, p. 57). Other apparent examples of nearby amenities include the already mentioned Ridley Road
Market, Dalston Kingsland Overground station and several bus stops nearby.
Some of the people, therefore, who are actually in the space seem to be excluded from the life of the space just because they need to go somewhere
else. As a matter of fact, the extent to which a person belongs to a space he
or she passes through depends on the pace of the transit. The faster the pace
the more a person is alienated from the space. Alternatively, the slower
the pace the more time a person spends in the space, and he or she has a
chance to become a part of the life of the square. All types of transiting people can be seen on Gillett Square, from an old lady out for her groceries who,
given her tempo, has some time to greet her acquaintances, to a mad speedy
cyclist sweeping along the space.
In order to understand the nature of transfer through the space two types of
activities were carried out: tracing and counting qualitative and quantitative research activities consequently. Tracing provided general information
about the main routes people use to transfer through the space, while counting provided numerical data.
44
The routes people use to transit through the square were obvious as they are
used by significant number of people. The only difference that was revealed
was that the people who were using route [2] (to Bradbury Street) were more
likely to be locals. This is due to the fact that route [2] is a less obvious path
to Kingsland High than the route [1]. The buildings obstruct the view and it is
difficult to figure out that route [2] is not a dead end.
The head counts of the people entering the square included those who were
staying in the space, though the absolute majority of them were passers-by.
Two datasets combined the head counts of entrances and head counts of
people that are using the space at the moment made it possible to determine the fundamental character of the square at a given moment in time.
Depending on the ratio between the former and the latter, three types of
character were defined: predominantly transfer space [a]; mixed [b] and
predominantly use space [c].
[1]
[2]
Passing through (Tracing movement around 7:30am on Thursday).

Two main routes through the space.
45
[c]
[b]
[a]
Chart 2. The ratio between the number people on the square and the number of people entering the square
The lines represent the ratio of people that are already in the space to the
headcounts of people passing through. The bigger the ratio the more people
were using the space than passing through it. The horizontal bands from bottom to top start at the levels 0; 0.25 and 0.55.
46
Packed up space.
The events attract huge crowds to Gillett Square.
A documentary screening during Dance Nations event (top); London Gipsy Orchestra
performs during Vortex Outdoors 2014 (bottom)
47
Event programming*
Public gatherings as an integral part of public life
2pm8pm
2pm11pm
Jan Gehl's manual "How to study public life" (2013) declares that public celebrations, forces majeures and other extraordinary occasions spoil the picture
for an observer as the events draw an unusual amount of people. Moreover,

the crowds attracted might obtain different characteristics i.e. gender, age,
social group, ethnicity etc. compared to the 'everyday' users of the space.
Therefore, Gehl recommends that these events are deliberately dropped from
the public life study. Taking this into consideration, the given study of Gillett
Square's public life lacks an important aspect of life of the square: the whole
multitude of entertainment events that were happening throughout the summer.
The events are usually organised by The Gillett Square Partnership which also
provides a right to propose an event for the general public on their website.
The Partnership runs a wide range of events: dancing celebrations, public
screenings, contemporary music concerts, street food feasts and so on. The
events usually affect the whole square and sometimes even ripple to the
neighbouring streets.
The square seems to be an excellent type of space for such events for a number of reasons. First of all, it is the amount of open space that the square offers. Moreover, for the bigger events the car park on the northern side of the
square can also be utilized. Secondly, it is the transport accessibility of the
square that matters. Great connectivity with other wards in Hackney, neighbouring boroughs and the whole of London helps to engage large numbers of
people. Last but not least, it is the locals' attitude to the events. As a matter
Here the time extents are approximate (the events that had happened during the
public life study are given as an example)
48
of fact, the events on Gillett Square are targeting locals as their primary audience and their enthusiastic and benevolent mood towards various social
gatherings is a spur for new occasions.
The events tend to be held on the weekends and they are at least several
hours long. They usually start in the afternoon and finish before midnight,
drawing the largest number of people possible. The events mostly celebrate
the local character of Dalston as a cultural hub delivering a wide range of
cultural activities to the participants. The diverse residents' base in this way
can exchange and get to know other cultures which have settled throughout
the ward and the borough. Through screenings, dancing and jazz festivals the
Gillett Street Partnership make the cultural exchange easy and clear to the
area population. One of those events, the annual Vortex Outdoors festival
was, for the 6th time, providing a perspective on Dalston's culture through
music performances by bands from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. In addition, what these events also do is space branding. As the gatherings attract
many non-locals to the area, Gillett Square becomes associated with the festive spirit of music, art and parties for the newcomers, and they become
fascinated with the space and tend to come back.
Nonetheless, the life of the square is something constantly on-going, so the

established activities already explained earlier are still there. These include
socialising, public drinking, drug dealing and use, eating, music-related activities like listening to it, dancing and singing.
There is a clear virtue of programming the space through entertainment

events that allows to create new shared meanings and experiences of the
square. In this sense the Partnership paves the way to the Gillett Square's
fruitful freedom and colourful image as a space of celebration, creativity and
equality.
49
Weekday activities.
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekday.
50
Weekend activities.
This timeline shows how activities are distributed throughout the weekend.
51
Implications of the study
The social-spatial mapping of activities taking place, and the head counts of
people locating themselves in the space, proved to be useful in measuring the
quantitative data. The mapping results concluded that:
Gillett Square is a night space as there are usually more people during
the night (after 11pm) than during the day.
Gillett Square clearly needs more seating space without the reduction
of valuable open space. People tend to sit when they come here. It was
no surprise, but some people were deprived of seating space when it
was too crowded and the existing sitting spaces were too congested.
Charts 3 and 4. The distribution between the males and females on the square during weekdays (top) and weekends (below)
52
Gillett Square is predominantly a men's space in a sense that at all

times there were more male users than female [see Charts 3 and 4 on
the previous page]. The only times the gender distribution was equal
was when there were only two people there a man and a woman.
Gillett Square is not merely suitable to be used by elderly people. The

preconceived idea that elderly use the space equally with the other developed into their inclusion into mapping exercise but the number of
elderly on the actual maps was approximating zero. This means that the
elderly tend not to come to the space because there is a lack of activities/services for them.
The analysis of activities in the 24-hour cycle, based on the observation

study, diary and mapping highlighted the main activities that can be seen in
the space [the ones enumerated in the previous section]. What is more, the
way activities 'cluster' can be seen with the help of 'blob diagrams' which superimpose the activities against the period of time during which they were
observed. It can be clearly seen that during the weekdays the activities are
distributed equally throughout the 24-hour cycle, while on the weekend they
tend to accumulate after 2pm.
Unfortunately, the methods used by this project were not able to capture a
full scope of uses of the space. Though the study captured about 48 hours of
the squares life across 3 weeks in July and August 2014, there are clearly
other patterns of use that exist in the different times of the year (usage will
greatly differ between the summer and winter months for example).
53
Conclusion
The regeneration of formerly dilapidated urban core areas in Britain through
night-time activation of space was, in theory, a decent practice in the beginning of third millennium. Planners, however, did not take into account that
consumer uses like late night drinking would overtake other activities and
turn the night city into an entertainment machine.
Nowadays a multitude of activities are filling the night cities and night active
public spaces, which tend to adapt to those activities throughout the day.
Though the spaces still seem to be somewhat dominated by public drinking
one of the activities that, due to a supposedly destructive nature, is majorly
seen as a 'morally wrong' practice.
[We want to see] Gillett Square available for all to use as they wish. What we do as
the Gillett Square project is try to expand upon that with events & activities which
are accessible, participatory and of good quality.
Clarissa Carlyon, Hackney Co-operative Developments
There is a clear need for programming and placemaking in order to limit the
dominant position of alcohol-related practices over others, not only during
the night, but also during the day.
Secondly, there is an urgent obligation to design-out the illegal activities,

like drug dealing and drug use as they are not only destructive for the users,
but they also ripple out of the space and bring criminal activities to the local
area.
Thirdly, not only the space should be accessible for people of all ages, social
groups and ethnicities, the space should also attract them all. The programming and placemaking practices should ensure that the space allows a wide
range of activities for a wide range of users.
54
What is more important, related to the theme of this very research project,
is that the space should be accessible and attract users at all times of the
day, thus becoming a truly 24-hour urban space.
Perhaps, the project of this type is a good example of how to analyse other
public spaces heavily used throughout the day. This type of research assists in
identifying the problems that exist in the space, to critique the current planning approaches and space managing initiatives.
The renaissance of the city centre is still to come, though some of its indications are already visible. There is no clear panacea to the identified problems
of the spaces used heavily during the night and day, and clearly further research and analysis are vital to ensure that urban centres in Britain are vibrant, inviting, accessible and safe during the whole 24-hour cycle.
55
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A guide on visuals
All image credits are by the author expect those listed below:
Page 13. Night-time Barcelona. atNight project, (year N/A).

Retrieved May, 2014, from http://www.atnight.ws/
cartographies.php#.U_ky9fmwZcQ
Page 17. (bottom image) Boris Johnson opens Dalston Junction Over-
ground station. Andrew Garnett, (2010). Retrieved July, 2014, from

http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2011/04/london-marks-the-firstanniversary-of-the-east-london-line/
Page 22. All images are courtesy of Hackney Archives, J. Newman and
unknown authour, (1981; year N/A)
Page 24. Setting up the pods. Hawkins\Brown (2002). Retrieved July,

2014, from http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/projects/gillett-square
58
Appendix A1 Mapping
The maps are in chronological order. 24 for a weekday (pp. 59-82) and 24 for
a weekend (pp. 83-107).
Legend:
For person sitting shaded symbol, person standing only outline
Bluemale; redwoman.
Shape: kidtriangle, adultsquare or elderly personcross.
59 Night Project
Weekday, Midnight
60
Weekday, 1am
61 Night Project
Weekday, 2am
62
Weekday, 3am
63 Night Project
Weekday, 4am
64
Weekday, 5am
65 Night Project
Weekday, 6am
66
Weekday, 7am
67 Night Project
Weekday, 8am
68
Weekday, 9am
69 Night Project
Weekday, 10am
70
Weekday, 11am
71 Night Project
Weekday, Noon
72
Weekday, 1pm
73 Night Project
Weekday, 2pm
74
Weekday, 3pm
75 Night Project
Weekday, 4pm
76
Weekday, 5pm
77 Night Project
Weekday, 6pm
78
Weekday, 7pm
79 Night Project
Weekday, 8pm
80
Weekday, 9pm
81 Night Project
Weekday, 10pm
82
Weekday, 11pm
83 Night Project
Weekend, Midnight
84
Weekend, 1am
85 Night Project
Weekend, 2am
86
Weekend, 3am
87 Night Project
Weekend, 4am
88
Weekend, 5am
89 Night Project
Weekend, 6am
90
Weekend, 7am
91 Night Project
Weekend, 8am
92
Weekend, 9am
93 Night Project
Weekend, 10am
94
Weekend, 11am
95 Night Project
Weekend, Noon
96
Weekend, 1pm
97 Night Project
Weekend, 2pm
98
Weekend, 3pm
99 Night Project
Weekend, 4pm
100
Weekend, 5pm
101 Night Project
Weekend, 6pm
102
Weekend, 7pm
103 Night Project
Weekend, 8pm
104
Weekend, 9pm
105 Night Project
Weekend, 10pm
106
Weekend, 11pm
107 Public life in a 24-hour cycle
Appendix A2 Tracing [extracts]

The maps that illustrate the movements of people across the space. All maps
have a reference of time and weather.
Legend:
Black or blue linemovement
Black or blue dota stop in movement
108
Weekday, 0:30
109 Night Project
Weekday, 1:30
110
Weekday, 3:30
111 Night Project
Weekday, 4:30
112
Weekday, 5:30
113 Night Project
Weekday, 6:30
114
Weekday, 7:30
115 Night Project
Weekday, 8:30
116
Weekday, 9:30
117 Night Project
Weekday, 10:30
118
Weekday, 11:30
119 Night Project
Weekday, 12:30
120
Weekday, 14:30
121 Night Project
Weekday, 15:30
122
Weekday, 16:30
123 Night Project
Weekday, 17:30
124
Weekday, 20:30
125 Night Project
Weekday, 21:30
126
Weekday, 22:30
127 Night Project
Weekday, 23:30
128
Weekend, 4:30
129 Night Project
Weekend, 5:30
130
Weekend, 6:30
131 Night Project
Weekend, 7:30
132
Weekend, 15:30
133 Night Project
Weekend, 16:30
134
Weekend, 17:30
135 Night Project
Weekend, 18:30
136
Appendix B Study data summary

These spreadsheets aggregate the data acquired during the public life study.
1. Weekday
Hours
Number
Man
of people
Women Standing
Sitting Adults Kids
Elderly
Counts
0:00
54
33
21
20
34
54
29
1:00
19
15
18
19
16
2:00
14
11
14
12
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
18
8:00
25
9:00
94
10:00
87
11:00
16
12
16
62
12:00
18
16
15
18
121
13:00
37
27
14
23
34
110
14:00
32
22
14
18
28
103
15:00
36
29
31
34
111
16:00
32
27
27
32
136
17:00
48
42
14
34
48
122
18:00
54
43
11
19
35
54
123
19:00
58
41
12
15
43
53
143
20:00
76
48
24
42
34
71
94
21:00
61
40
19
18
43
59
72
22:00
73
53
17
27
46
70
60
23:00
53
33
17
20
33
50
54
2. Weekend
Hours
Number
Man
of people
Women Standing
Sitting Adults Kids
Elderly
Counts
0:00
63
42
21
39
24
63
112
1:00
71
40
31
32
39
71
86
2:00
25
16
13
12
25
40
3:00
29
22
13
16
29
31
4:00
13
12
13
10
5:00
6:00
7:00
11
8:00
15
9:00
11
10:00
25
11:00
50
12:00
68
13:00
14
10
12
14
61
14:00
24
15
17
21
71
15:00
29
21
22
27
47
16:00
36
22
27
31
74
17:00
42
31
14
28
35
97
18:00
52
31
15
14
38
46
128
19:00
74
43
28
18
56
71
109
20:00
56
41
14
16
40
55
122
21:00
70
45
24
23
47
69
89
22:00
85
59
26
25
60
85
97
23:00
132
75
57
35
97
132
119
138
Appendix C List of interviewees

Name
Age
Role
Ethnicity
Clarissa
Gillett Square
Carlyon
creative producer
Marcos
41
Kaffa Coffee owner
Ethiopian
Mary Frac
24
User of the square, fashion designer
Italian
Toye Omogeni 35
User of the square, street musician
Black African
Bouncer at Vortex Jazz Club
Black British
30
Appendix D
Extracts from the observation-based study diary.
19 July 2014, Saturday
Aspects
For the whole day, the square accommodated the outdoor

festival (live music, street foods, drinks, dance, workshops,
screenings). The event attracted myriads of people, especially in the night-time, which means that the everyday pattern
of square use was distorted
Activities
Live music, drinking, consuming street food, watching performances (dancing, acrobatics, music), short films (short, documentaries) on a large screen.
Interesting
facts

15:00 Square is full of people just passing their weekend on the square. Some
of them are drinking and chilling, some talk to friends and play with kids.
Majority of them are in couples and groups. Only the few are alone looking
totally like alcoholics. People drink, relax and mess around a little bit. There
are no elderly people and few kids. The absolute majority are the adults.
The most used part of the square is the podium. One possible reason for that
is because it creates some sot of shade for the sun.
15:15 Counting: 47
15:16 People sit on the edges of the podium, turned back to the centre.
The cafes are closed still, though some of the shops are already open.
Lots of people pass the square with the shopping bags. Few stop to greet
their friends.
15:47 The number of kids increased (they are running around, shouting, enjoying the weather and their weekend).
The bar opens its doors as well as the coffee shop.
The number of drinking people has decreased (6)
16:15 Counting: 74
16:55 A group of people brought a table to place in the middle of the podium
to play some table games (turned out later dominos)
Two police officers appeared on the square. They seem not to bother anybody, despite of some people drinking. They have been quickly approached
by an old man, shouting something really loud. Suddenly lots of kids appeared. Those are older that the previous group. They do only run around the
square, they ride the skateboards, BMXs.
17:17 Counting: 97
17:26 The rain started. At first, nobody was really bothered by the rain. But
140
few hours later the square was empty.
18:15 Counting: 53
19:22 Counting: 29
21 July 2014, Monday

14:20 It feels like it is a normal weekday during or slightly after the
lunchtime. I am observing the space at the coffee shop the location which
provides a wider outlook of the square and all of the 3 entrances to the
space. People have coffee and cigarettes, enjoying the sun.
Two spaces attract the most people at the moment the coffee shop outside
seating area and the podium, obviously.
14:49 One of the guys seating on a bench took out his ukulele and started
playing it. It feels like he doesn't only enjoy playing but wants to share his
guitar skills with other people on the square. He doesn't beg, show off or anything. The amount of people compared to the last note is somewhat 150%.
The bench is fully occupied as well as the coffee shop seating. The podium is
half empty.
15:09 People at the coffee shop are not in a rush or anything. They spend at
least 30-40 minutes chatting while enjoying the coffee and cigarettes. The
absolute majority of users are still in groups or couples. I can only spot 2-3
people who came here alone.
15:15 Counting: 111
15:53 Lots of adults (passers-by) now appear with their kids who wear backpacks. This is when the school day is over.
Now some people spend at least an hour at the coffee shop. They share the
tables, even if they do not know each other and make contacts just chitchatting (the guy with a Jah tee who was hitting on Greek girl).
15:55 The two guys started to fire the grill. UPD: turned out they were only
cleaning it to then dismantle the grill.
16:17 Counting: 136
In busy hours like this moment of time people are mostly using the square as
a transit route from the side of Kingsland High to the other.
Some guys sit or even lie on the street furniture with their shirts off kind of
sunbathing in the city where is no beaches. The weather is great indeed.
16:25 The bar opens, the outdoor tables are being put out. Not many people
sit outside.
16:45 The most heavily used space rights now is the stairs in front of the
shops. At least 2 groups of men are seating outside on their chairs and enjoy
the evening, they rarely talk to each other. At least 3 large groups are at the
bench and the podium.
There are a lot of passers-by with shopping bags some of them go through
the square, other head to the parking lot.
A family of 4 went to sit at the podium to enjoy the dinner from McDonalds
which they brought with them (3 boys with the father).

17:19 Counting: 122
18:24 Counting: 123
The dominos table is put in the middle of the podium.
19:20 Counting: 143
22 July 2014, Tuesday

9:15 Very few people are on the square, while a lot pass through.
Counting: 94
Of 94 people entered the square only 3 stayed.
The people that are already here are drinking, a man plays with his dog. He
seems to be a car park supervisor. Another girl enjoys the sunshine. The people, who are transferring through the space seem to be minding their own
business, and seem to be headed to the direction of the Overground station
or bus stops.
10:17 Counting: 87
The pods located to the south of car park are slowly opening up. Some of the
people come to check if Marcos's coffee shop is already opened. They seem
to turn sad when discovering it is still closed.
10:54 Some people are already coming to have their lunch. A woman can't
really control her 4 kids, they just having fun running and messing around. 2
women are having coffee and I can overhear their conversation. They both
severely criticise drinking people, claiming that the square would be better if
there was more room for families with kids.
11:18 Counting: 62
There are a lot of dustmen gathering in the other corner of the square but it
doesn't look so dirty. They placed empty and clean rubbish bins but coffee
shop owner had asked them to move one of them so his customers won't
smell the waste and they did it.
The alarm of one car on the parking goes off several times in 5 minutes.
Bothers nearly everyone here.
12:17 Counting: 121
13:18 Counting: 110
Most of the people are either having a bite or spending the lunch time enjoying the sunshine. There has been a gazebo installed and turned out that there
is an event today. There is a @whatisbeauty workshop dedicated to mental
health education, art therapy. It will also include hip-hop performances and
free nail bar.

3:48 Ok, so there are a lot of drinking people, obviously on a Friday night.
The square is a real mess but the space seems pretty crowded for this hour.
All the people here are in groups, almost nobody is alone here. At this time
the most congested spaces are the bench and the stairs.
4:13 A guy who was sitting at the podium for a few minutes then moved away
to try a more congested space to sit. And then he left. The space now is com-
142
pletely empty.
4:24 A girl went to the far corner of the parking to urinate. A group of her
friends (3), they were just standing there waiting for her and then left.
4:40 A group of 5 appeared and left after some time. They were expecting to
find cigarette ends that can be smoked and unused cigarettes in the packs
the late drinkers left here.
6:30 The dustmen appeared. They start to take care of the square which is
really messy.
18:26 The weekend continues. Not too many people are drinking compared to
the night. Instead of that they enjoy a snack and chat to each other. People
are still coming here and hang out in the groups. And it is boiling hot today.
The JJC shop is serving lots of meals today.
19:35 A group of 3 sound sporty men are having a push-ups competition by
the fence which separates the car park from the square. At this moment skaters and BMX riders appear.
23:11 For the first time I can clearly see people are just sitting on the ground
because there is no space left to sit the existing sitting spaces are full.
14 August 2014, Thursday

3:15 A group of two men sitting in the corner of the stairs space, smoking cigarettes, drinking tea and talking. One went to get some more drinks and
came back
3:28 There is a car that pulled over right in the middle of the open space. As
the man walked out, another guy started the engine and left the square
3:36 The tea-drinking couple left, taking all the rubbish with them
3:41 A group of teenagers just passed through from the side of Kingsland
High. They had few plastic bags with their drinks or groceries.
3:45 A man parked his car in the car park. He got out and started to clean his
teeth with a toothbrush. not sure where this is going
4:00 Everyone has left my sight. there is no one on the square right now
5:45 A girl asked me to give some spare change as she needed some money to
top-up her Oyster card.
6:34 Some people just passing through, probably in hurry to catch an Overground train. Rubbish car just came. The dustman is having a cigarette before starting to sweep the square. Two more dustmen later joined him. They
are having a quick breakfast coffees, sodas and pastry. They occupied on
side of the podium eating, checking their smartphones, listening to the
music and talking quietly.
6:53 The dustmen started sweeping the ground. The amount of people increased significantly. They are passing quickly through the square, not staying any minute longer. All of them are going in the direction of High Street.
8:09 A couple habitus (a man and women) are hanging out by the podium
with beers and a dog.

8:16 A rubbish truck is here once again, probably to empty the bins. One of
the dustmen is having a cigarette while sitting on the bench. His colleagues
later joined him. The 4th dustman is admiring and playing with the dog, the
man on the podium owns. The 4 rubbish men are having a loud conversation
before starting to clean the space.
17 August 2014, Sunday

9:00 The dustmen have already been here the square is clean enough
though absolutely empty.
10:10 The music is playing from Babel Label pod, very calm and quiet.
10:32 There are two guys here. One is checking his phone, sitting on a bench,
another having a beer and a cigarette, listening to his walkman located
himself on the podium.
11:05 The car park is slowly filling up. A man takes a seat at the podium to
have a coffee, which he brought with him. Another man takes a seat there to
roll a cigarette and finish a beer. Two teen-aged girl are cruising arrogantly
through the space with McDonald's take-away paper bags.
11:23 The crowd intensifies. There are 4 people now having beer on the podium.
11:44 Some musicians cluster around Vortex. As it becomes clear lately they
attending a music workshop. There are about 8-9 of them waiting for somebody to open a door for them, talking loudly and laughing.
11:53 Sunny at last!
12:17 The Vortex Jazz Club opens up, they bring out the tables and other furniture outside.

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Public life in a 24-hour cycle:

A study of Gillett Square, London

London School of Economics and Political Science

Ksenia, thanks for inspiring me!

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Night spaces and 24-hour city concept

Implications of the study

Throughout the centuries night-time has remained uncolonised and only a

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Gillett Square at 4 am.

Night spaces and the 24-hour city concept

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

In his other proclaimed work The Production of Space Lefebvre writes:

An extensive range of individuals whose lives, interests and potential profits

The majority of these groups representatives create a crowd that Richard

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Gillett Square at midnight.

significant technological advances have appeared there was just not

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Few successful examples from European experience include Copenhagen and

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

By the millennium dissenting voices were heard to disrupt this narrative of

Dalston and Gillett Square: site profile

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Proximity to Central London. Dalston (yellow) is

Cultural/creative industries development. The

Improvement of transport connectivity. In addition to Dalstons proximity to Central London,

Hackney Persons Hackney Share

Table 1. Hackney and London residents age distribution (2011 Census)

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Young residents of Dalston.

Dalston are either locals or from other wards of Hackney.

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Dalston night-time economy.

Memories of Gillett Street.

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Setting up the pods.

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

The layout of the square.

residential (single family, town houses)

residential (multi-family and high-rise)

infrastructural and utilities

retail and commercial

institutional and public facilities

Gillett Square [X] site land-use map.

William Hollingsworth Whyte, Jacobss mentor, in accordance to her ideas

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Two points of observation.

Counting. Headcount of people who locate themselves or pass through the

Gateways to the space.

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

Taking pictures. Photographing is the simplest way to document activities

Research journal. Systematic journal updates were used as a supplement to

Gillett Square caf culture.

Public life in a 24-hour cycle

There is a number of outdoor tables just in front of Kaffa's counter. Kaffa

Interview with Marcos

Eating on Gillett Square.