A square works at its edges, not in its middle

Both approaches to square design work. What differs is what they cost you, and the cost is what this sets out.

The edge is the preferred position

Observation of how people use open spaces consistently shows the perimeter filling before the middle. The reason is straightforward: an edge gives something solid behind you and a view of everything in front.

That combination is comfortable, and its absence in the middle of a large space is why the middle stays empty. Designing a square as a composition seen from above produces spaces that fail this test routinely.

Edges need to offer something

A perimeter of blank walls, service doors or parked cars gives people nothing to stop for. Cafes, shopfronts, entrances, steps, low walls and planting edges all give a reason and a place to pause.

The transition zone where a building meets the square — the few metres of frontage, spill-out and threshold — carries most of the activity. Where buildings turn their backs on a square, no amount of paving quality will rescue it.

Size is usually the problem

Squares that read well are frequently smaller than people assume, with dimensions where faces remain recognisable across the space. Very large open spaces work when they host events and are uncomfortable on ordinary days.

Subdividing a large space with planting, level changes or structures creates edges within it and makes it usable at low occupancy. A space that only works when full is a space that is empty most of the time.

Sun and shelter set the usable perimeter

The sunny edge is used in cool weather and the shaded edge in hot, so a square with only one aspect available is a square with one season. Wind funnelling between buildings can render a whole side unusable regardless of orientation. Trees, colonnades, canopies and building setbacks provide the microclimate range that lets different edges work at different times.

Sun path and wind should be worked out before the paving pattern, and frequently are not.

Movement through is not the same as use

A desire line crossing a square is a good thing, because people passing through provide the activity that makes staying attractive. A square that only carries movement, with nowhere to stop, converts into a wide pavement. The design task is to let people cross efficiently while giving the edges reasons to linger.

Placing seating in the path of the main flow achieves neither.

Local statute governs most of this, and it varies street by street.

Management determines whether it lasts

Cleaning, maintenance, event programming and enforcement all continue after the ribbon is cut and are funded from budgets that get cut. Movable furniture requires someone to put it out and bring it in, which is a staffing commitment rather than a capital cost. Spaces designed with no maintenance liability tend to be hard, empty and dull, which is a rational response to a real constraint.

On the ground, the revenue budget available should be settled before the design is finished, because it determines what can be designed.

Side by side

The takeaway

Walk the perimeter of a square. If there is nothing to stop for, nobody will.

The design decision is visible long after the people who made it have gone.