William H. Whyte put a bunch of time lapse cameras in 16 NYC plazas and 3 NYC parks, observing human behavior. As a result, he noticed many complex spatial nuances that seem trivial. To me, his book The Social Life of Small Urban Places attempts to explain why the ~vibe~ of some places feel so right, while others feel unnatural.
this is literally everything I expect and wish for in a substack post - super fascinating stuff, thank you :)