The Street: A Quintessential Social Public Space

Bio: Vikas Mehta, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Community Design at the University of South Florida. His work focuses on the role of design and planning in creating a more responsive, equitable, stimulating and supportive environment. Dr. Mehta is interested in the various dimensions of urbanity through the exploration of place as a social and ecological setting and as a sensorial art. In his research, he explores the design of the built environment with an emphasis on aspects of human behavior and perceptions, especially as they relate to the design of public spaces and public buildings. This work emphasizes the sense of place and place distinctiveness, design and visualization of urban places and activities, and cities and regions as living systems.

Education: Ph.D. in Urban & Regional Planning & Design Specialization in Urban Design, 2006 University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Key Publications: Book • (2013). The Street: a quintessential social public space. London: Routledge. • Book Chapters • (2012). “Lively Streets: Determining Environmental Characteristics to support Social Behavior.” In Weiping, W., Dongquan, L. and Hibbard, M. (eds.) Best of Recent North American Planning Scholarship: Selections from Journal of Planning Education and Research translated in Chinese. • Journal Articles (peer-reviewed) • (2011). Small Businesses and the Vitality of Main Street. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 28 (4), 271-291. • (2010) with Bosson, J. K.. Third Places and the Social Life of Main Streets. Environment and Behavior, 42 (6), 779-805. • (2009). A Tale of Two Streets: Comparative Experiences on Streets in the East and West. Design Principles and Practices, 3 (5), 231-242. • (2009). Look Closely and You Will See, Listen Carefully and You Will Hear: Urban Design and Social Interaction on Streets. Journal of Urban Design, 14 (1), 29-64. • (2008). Walkable Streets: Pedestrian Behavior, Perceptions and Attitudes. Journal of Urbanism, 1 (3), 217–245. • (2007). Lively Streets: Determining Environmental Characteristics to support Social Behavior. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 27 (2), 165-187.

Other Publications: • (2010). “Re-stitching the Urban Pattern of Ybor City.” Proceedings of the International Seminar of Urban Form Conference. Hamburg, Germany. August 2010. • (2009). “The Phenomena of Everyday Places in the City.” Proceedings of the 2nd Architecture and Phenomenology Conference. • (2009). “Sense of Place in Everyday Spaces: Lessons for Urban Design.” Proceedings of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium Conference 2009 - Leadership in Architectural Research, between academia and the profession. • (2007). “A Toolkit for Performance Measures of Public Space.” Proceedings of the 43rd International Planning Congress of The International Society of City and Regional Planners.

Past Assignments: • Creating Lively Community Streets. Invited to present at the Growing In Place: Sixth Annual Natural Learning Initiative Symposium on Intergenerational Urban Design for Children and Families, NC State University, Raleigh, NC. February 2013. • Landscape Urbanism as an Urban Design Paradigm? Paper presented at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Conference. Los Angeles, CA. April 2011 • Re-stitching the Urban Pattern of Ybor City: A typo-morphological analysis. Paper presented at the International Seminar of Urban Form (ISUF) Conference. Hamburg, Germany. August 2010. • Integrating Landscape in the Urban Design Curriculum. Paper presented at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Conference. Maastricht, The Netherlands. May 2010. • Evaluating Public Space. Paper presented at the 50th National Conference of Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Crystal City, VA. October 2009. • Resolving Sustainability at the Lot, Block and Neighborhood levels. Work from the 2009 Tampa Urban Design Studio presented at the Campus + Community Sustainability Conference. Tampa, FL. October 2009. • The Phenomena of Everyday Places in the City. Paper presented at the 2nd Architecture and Phenomenology Conference. Kyoto, Japan. June 2009. • Urban Design Lessons from a Third Place. Paper presented at the 47th International Making Cities Livable Conference, Portland, Oregon. May 2009. • Designing the Main Street for Children. Paper presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Environmental Design Research Association, Kansas City, Missouri. May 2009. • Sense of Place in Everyday Spaces: Lessons for Urban Design. Paper presented at the Architectural Research Centers Consortium Conference 2009 - Leadership in Architectural Research, between academia and the profession. San Antonio, Texas. April 2009. • A Tale of Two Streets: Comparative Experiences on Streets in the East and West. Paper presented (virtual presentation) at the Design Conference 2009: Third International Conference on Design Principles and Practices, Berlin, Germany. February 2009.