People’s Activities Related on Physical Environment of Public Plazas in China and the United States

Abstract

China’s fast development during the last several decades make public plazas in China considerably changed, much more people are using public plazas. This study focused on public plazas in Chongqing China and Boston United States, and analyses the research sites in neighborhood scale and spatial scale. Through field observations based on William H. Whyte’s research, data was collected regarding people’s activities in public plazas, and a discussion of how spatial factors affect people’s activities was down. The result demonstrated that Whyte’s elements are partly applied to China and some different ways using public space in China.