EMBODIED INTERACTION

The design case is chosen from an (at that time) in progress project Stromen & Verblijven. As part of this project, students from different disciplines at the University of Twente work on a case in cooperation with the municipality of Enschede. The main research is about how people navigate from the central station to the city center. The Station square plays an important role in guiding people, especially people on the move, to the pulsating center of Enschede, but from experience it appeared that not many people make use of the open space. Where does the urban space need to be enhanced according to orientation, recognition, attraction or inspiration of use? The open space could influence the daily patterns of the people on this square and could support everyday skillful activities and experiences.

In order to explore the possibilities for design solutions, Whyte's research method presented in The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980) was taken as a starting point. In addition, the human practices in urban spaces is analyzed from the embodied cognition perspective. By application of the theory on the topic a design framework is defined. According to Whyte, an important aspect is creating sight lines. To improve this, the sidewalk in front of the Central Station is paved with the same tiles and planted with the same trees and flowers as the sidewalk across the street introducing the square. The steps are easy and inviting and stick out to allow for seating. In the future scenarios, you can see people waiting for each other or perhaps people just sitting there to watch the dynamic flow of people at and around the square.