8.2 Danielle Nicolosi

ON THE AGENDA: (Union Square)

1. Fifth Avenue


2. North Side of Union Square


3. South Side of Union Square

When Benji had the idea to go around Union Square, i was excited to hear because Ive only been there a few times, even though i pass it up on my way home EVERY day from school.

The first thing we did was go to Fifth Ave. The stores there are pretty nice, nothing that i usually shop in, but very nice. We went into a couple of them : Daffy's, The Gap, Infinity, etc. There were a lot of people shopping around, which is what i expected considering 5th ave is a pretty famous shop spot.

We spent a lot of time in Union Square and took notice to see how many people were sitting on the steps on the south side of union square. We decided to follow society and sit on these 'socially comfortable' steps as well. We also took notice to how food played a major role in where people wanted to be just as Whyte's theory stated. We saw a guy dressed as a bowling pin to promote Bowlmor Bowling Lanes, which we all found pretty funny. What i really enjoyed was watching the Breakers perform they're hip hop dancing. They were doing head spins, freezes, and some awesome popping. The people walking around really enjoyed these performers as well.

As we walked to the North Side of Union Square, we noticed how much emptier it was. We came to the realization that there were no seats therefore people didn't really want to be there as much as the other side where the steps are. Ive been to this part of Union Square once before, however there were some more people around because when i went there was a market going on, but not today. People were mainly walking through this side of union square, rather than walking to it. The only thing semi-exciting going on was some teenagers doing some skateboarding but personally I've seen much better.

The other thing we noticed about the South Side of Union Square was how unnecessary some of the designing was. Urban planning is suppose to entice people to an area, make it attractive to be and be as NOT confusing as possible. We noticed a few sidewalks and crossing methods that were unnecessary since they weren't even being used.