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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 ® REGENERATING THE RIVER OF LIFE OF THE CITY: IMPROVING PEDESTRIANS' EXPERIENCE ON URBAN STREETS IN TORONTO A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by LIN CHEN In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture April, 2008 © Lin Chen, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 8*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada 978-0-494-41802-4 Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de ('edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: Our file Notre reference ISBN: NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses ie monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT REGENERATING THE RIVER OF LIFE OF THE CITY: IMPROVING PEDESTRIANS' EXPERIENCE ON URBAN STREETS IN TORONTO Lin Chen Advisor: University of Guelph, 2008 Professor Cecelia Paine Urban streets should be functional as both "path" and "place", but "street as place" has been overlooked in urban design. The purpose of this thesis is to develop design guidelines for improving pedestrians' experience on urban streets in Toronto. The study site is Gould Street in downtown Toronto. A preliminary study revealed thermal comfort, safety, social interaction and visual experience as key factors influencing pedestrians' experience on urban streets. Design guidelines were formulated from a literature review to address these key factors on Gould Street. These factors also form the framework for site inventories and analyses. The design concept, "Regenerating the river of life of the city", is implemented by applying the guidelines to three design solutions. These alternatives were compared to identify their strengths and weaknesses related to the guidelines. Conclusions are drawn regarding the applicability of the guidelines, the limitations of the research and possibilities for future studies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Cecelia Paine, for all the great support and encouragement I received from her. Her knowledge and energy for getting things done was so helpful especially in guiding me through this difficult but rewarding project. I would also like to thank my committee member Sean Kelly for his patience and constructive feedback in my thesis composition. A big thank you must be extended to Dr. Robert Brown. Starting from the very beginning of this project, Bob helped me on problem solving and project development. I am impressed by his selflessness and great insight. Thanks to Dr. Robert Corry, Dr. Nathan Perkins, Professor Maurice Nelischer and Bronwynne Wilton for their generous help in developing this project. Whenever I needed their assistance, they always had their doors open. 1 am also really thankful to all my friends who helped me this year, especially Susan Lindley, Vivian Lo, Yin Ting and Duoduo Chen, for their friendship and timely help. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Zhe Tan, and our families for their endless love, trust and support. I have appreciated them more than they will ever know. i TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Goal and Objectives 2 1.3 Methodology 3 2. PRELIMINARY SITE STUDY 5 2.1 Existing Land Use 6 2.2 Key Issues of the Site 14 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 15 3.1 Literature on Thermal Comfort Design 15 3.2 Literature on Safety Design for Pedestrians 22 3.3 Literature on Social Interaction Design for Pedestrians 28 3.4 Literature on Visual Experience Design for Pedestrians 30 3.5 Guideline Summary 36 4. SITE INVENTORY AND ANALYSIS 39 4.1 Microclimate Inventory and Analysis 39 4.2 Safety Inventory and Analysis 48 4.3 Social Interaction Inventory and Analysis 52 4.4 Visual Experience Inventory and Analysis 59 4.5 Summary 63 ii 5. DESIGN DISCUSSION 64 5.1 Design Concept 64 5.2 Design Solutions 65 5.3 Design Comparison 75 6. OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 83 6.1 Applicability of Guidelines and Methodology 83 6.2 Detail Design Observation 84 6.3 Limitations 87 6.4 Further Studies 88 6.5 Conclusion 89 7. REFERENCES 90 APPENDIX A: PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT DATA 93 iii LIST OF TABLE Table 3.3-1 Dimensions for plazas 29 Table 3.4-1 Preference matrix 31 Table 3.4-2 Perceptual characteristics for motorist and pedestrian 32 Table 3.5-1 Guideline summary 36 Table 4.1 -1 Wind speed and pedestrian discomfort 40 Table 4.1-2 Weather data for Toronto 41 Table 5.3-1 Design comparison for the thermal comfort guidelines 76 Table 5.3-2 Design comparison ofthe safety guidelines 77 Table 5.3-3 Design comparison ofthe social interaction guidelines 78 Table 5.3-4 Design comparison ofthe visual experience guidelines 79 Table 5.3-5 Design comparison of all the design guidelines 81 iv LIST OF FIGURES N.B. All photos not credited in text were taken by author. Figure 2-1 Key map of Gould Street 5 Figure 2.1-1 Existing land use plan 6 Figure 2.1 -2 Commercial buildings on Gould Street 7 Figure 2.1-3 Old commercial building 7 Figure 2.1-4 Sam the Record Man 7 Figure 2.1-5 Institutional buildings on Gould Street 8 Figure 2.1-6 Ryerson Library 9 Figure 2.1-7 BKS building and Toronto Life Square 10 Figure 2.1-8 Kerr Hall 11 Figure 2.1-9 Sculpture of Egerton Ryerson 11 Figure 2.1-10 CED& Lake Devo 12 Figure 2.1-11 IMA Building 12 Figure 2.1-12 OKF, SCC and OAK 13 Figure 2.1-13 RCC building 13 Figure 2.1-14 ENG building 14 Figure 3.1-1 Windbreaks and wind reduction zones of varying permeability 18 Figure 4.1-1 Sun pattern on June 21st 42 Figure 4.1-2 Sun pattern on Sep. 21sl and Mar. 21st 42 V Figure 4.1-3 Sun pattern on Dec. 21st 43 Figure 4.1 -4 Warm season sun pattern on Gould Street 44 Figure 4.1 -5 Cold season sun pattern on Gould Street 44 Figure 4.1 -6 Northwest wind pattern 45 Figure 4.1-7 Southeast wind pattern 45 Figure 4.1 -8 Sun and wind pattern for cold season 46 Figure 4.1 -9 Sun-and-wind pattern for warm season 47 Figure 4.2-1 Safety analysis 49 Figure 4.2-2 Safe areas on the street 49 Figure 4.2-3 A narrow path between SCC and OKF 50 Figure 4.2-4 O'Keefe Lane 51 Figure 4.2-5 An arch of Kerr Hall 51 Figure 4.3-1 Pedestrian pattern on a sunny fall day 54 Figure4.3-2 Pedestrian pattern on a sunny winter day 55 Figure 4.3-3 Pedestrian pattern on a rainy fall day 55 Figure 4.3-4 Pedestrian pattern on a snowy winter day 56 Figure 4.3-5 Staying pattern of all four days 56 Figure 4.3-6 Staying pattern on a sunny day in fall 57 Figure 4.3-7 Staying pattern on a sunny day in winter 57 Figure 4.3-8 Staying pattern on a rainy day in fall 58 Figure 4.3-9 Staying pattern on a snowy day in winter 58 vi Figure 4.4-1 Visual experience analysis 60 Figure 4.4-2 East side of the "Sam the Record Man" building 62 Figure 4.4-3 Blank wall beside Lake Devo 63 Figure 4.4-4 Center area with a sculpture 63 Figure 5.1-1 Natural river 65 Figure 5.1-2 Concept diagram 65 Figure 5.2-1 Site plan of Design Option 1 72 Figure 5.2-2 Site plan of Design Option 2 73 Figure 5.2-3 Site plan of Design Option 3 74 vii 1.