Privacy In Public Space Essay

3.1 THE DEFINITION OF PRIVACY

I hold to the belief that there must be sometimes when we feel we want to be apart from others or want to be left alone without being interrupted. We tend to keep quiet when we do not want to answer certain questions, for example a stranger is asking about your family.

Privacy is a central concept which is closely tied to personal space, territory and other social behavior. We must understand privacy well because it serves a larger purpose. It helps to design a better built environment. Irwin Altman defined privacy as "selective control over another's access to our physical body, our groups, or our environment" (Altman, 1975). His framework of privacy revolves on management of information about oneself and at

Roads, public squares, parks and beaches are typically considered public space. " (Mean and Tim, 2005). It is a more often site where an individual will have the most interaction with strangers. The interactions happen in a public space are mostly spontaneous, unplanned and ritualistic. "Designing for privacy in public spaces is largely a matter of arranging space so that ritualistic encounters between strangers are peaceful and efficient." (Robert Gifford, 1987) The "peacefulness" Gifford is trying to emphasize is privacy at this level will control over unwanted attentions of rapists, pickpockets, muggers or any others who intend to commit crime. Whereas "efficiency" carries a meaning of arranging the space so that an individual will not bump into one another and so that all business are carried out smoothly. It also means to allow only positive transactions between the strangers or acquaintances who choose to interact (Whyte, 1980), for example a short conversation between a stranger with the resident at the sidewalk of the apartment

Some surveys found that exterior factors such as size of lot and distance from neighbors are associated with residential privacy (Harman& Betak. 1974; Marshall, 1972). Everyone in the house needs different privacy level. Unless the house is large enough so that each individual could have space for isolation, then it would solve desired privacy level for each member easily. But more often, architects tend to design a house with poor arrangement of spaces or insufficient space, causing dissatisfaction of an individual on achieving his/ her own privacy