Observing behaviour for site planning and design

Abstract

This chapter introduces and describes two methods and tools for capturing and mapping of behaviour by users of sites. The first method, the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC), is a tool already developed and in use by researchers who want to know how much and what kind of activity is being undertaken in parks. The second tool has different but related aims: to be able to link what people do, who does it, where they do it and when they do it both before and after the introduction of the social or spatial intervention. Environment-behaviour research using behaviour mapping for understanding the interaction between people and place was initially developed by Ittelson et al. to record behaviour in a design setting. Bechtel et al. noted the value of observational methods and behavioural mapping to identify kinds and frequencies of behaviour and to demonstrate their association with particular sites.