DOWNTOWN

When examining the site specific conditions of the third case of study; the Sudbury Ontario downtown Tim Hortons, its position within the urban context of the cities Downtown core has been noted for its heavy emphasis on a hostile approach to architecture and lack of public inclusive design. To begin, the Tim Hortons proximity to other businesses and amenities such as the LCBO, Sudbury Transit Station, local public parks, shelters and services for the disadvantaged, multiple local businesses and restaurants, as well as a major roadway has indicated the site as being located within a prime location for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. 

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A site overview of the immediate and surrounding area of the Tim Hortons indicates the surface conditions of the 1500m^2 area located as running parallel to a large major roadway of the city; consisting of a large portion of asphalt covering the entirety of the parking lot region surrounding the building. In addition to the primary constructed surface level, concrete curbs follow the perimeter of the building in order to create an elevated edge, differentiating the exterior and interior spatial transitions of the business within its urban context, where many individuals of all ages tend to dwell prior to entering or leaving the store. There are no designated seating implementations on site and the curb placement is too low for individuals to sit comfortably, and thus shoppers - generally users of the older generation - have been documented sitting across the road on city planters.

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The elevation of ground conditions from pavement to building sidewalk encourages a path for the intended use of on-foot users, successfully guiding its users around the perimeter of the building rather than directly through the lot upon entering or exiting the store. The sidewalk curb elements lining the buildings perimeter are covered by an overhang to shelter users from minimal exterior conditions, illuminated by pocket lights to offer the idea of safety and wellbeing where individuals tend to pace between pockets of light when waiting or talking on the phone. Within these exterior corridor conditions of the overhang transitional spaces are low lying window ledges, typically utilized by productive design principles as an opportunity for people friendly architecture to encourage public use of space, whereas on site have been documented as being below the standard 18 - 20 inches of a bench height, limiting the possibility of social interaction for the average person, and thus encouraging play by children, the accumulation of litter, abandoned Timmies cups, and other discarded items. 

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With a lack of design elements for intended public uses, such as the lack of designated bike racks resulting in many thefts and conflicts, other elements become significant in their absence; such as a garbage bin located in the far perimeter of the site lot where passerbyers of middle to older age have utilized its table like height as a moment of pause, rest, to place their purchases, search through a bag, and even apply ones makeup. Contrary to the New Sudbury location mentioned in the study above, there is a major lack of signage prohibiting loitering and other activities regardless of the continuous accumulation and prevention measures put into place. However, in addition to the lack of human friendly exterior design elements, non-human friendly design implementations have been applied to any ledges or surfaces that hold the capacity for sitting, preventing a comfortable condition for human interaction and thus discouraging any loitering or social gatherings. Regardless of these design implementations, such social events still take place; whereas humans are resilient - especially those of the disadvantaged demographics - and thus form gatherings near the edges of neighboring buildings, low lying posts, the edge of parking lots, and parked / occupied cars.

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Multiple small patches of low-lying green space are located as buffers between the heavy traffic of the main hwy and the busy parking lot congestion of the site, however they acquire little usage due to the constant influx of unpleasant and unsafe vehicle traffic. Whereas, behind the examined site is an area of shade coverage from vegetation and surrounding buildings where Tim Horton users and non Tim Horton users utilize this microclimate environment to their advantage as an exterior social interaction space. A stairway for pedestrian usage is located alongside the back wall and runs parallel with traffic flow, leading to the upper street level.

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The vehicle privileged parking lot provides minimal pedestrian friendly access from their vehicles to the store front, encouraging pedestrian crossing directly in front of the drive through and incoming traffic, signifying priority over the use of cars on site rather than pedestrians. The parking lot itself is accessed through a side entrance and has been altered to be disconnected from the main hwy artery via a large metal gate regardless of being the closest access point in proximity to the physical building and roadway. The amount of parking provided at the downtown site compared to those of the other sites of study are substantially smaller despite its local population, indicating an encouraged (likeability) of drive through customers for business purposes compared to that of foot traffic - suggesting a desired “in and out” flow of pedestrians rather than a more user enjoyable and lingering environment. Whereas the neighbouring LCBO store in the north west corner of the site also presents as unwelcoming approach to participating and / or idling in the parking lot through the implementation of minimal parking and time enforced durtiations, coinciding with the quick pace “in and out” mentality of its shoppers / users.

Essentially, when reviewing the demographics and average inhabitants of the site, it can be noted that a variety of users of different age groups and classes use the space, however, one demographic appeared to hold the most prominent impact on the overall social dynamic of the area; the lower class and disadvantaged - primarily middle aged males. The documentation gathered for the purposes of this study suggest that varying profiles exist at specific times of the day. Based on three separate timed visits of the space; the morning hours between 6:30am and 8:00am, the lunch hours of 12:00pm to 1:00pm, and the evening hours of 8:00 to 9:00pm,  the studies suggest that an increase of unhomely and less comfortable nature occurs most frequently during the morning and afternoon sessions, (coinciding with the hours of operation of the local city run shelters indicating an increase in the presence of those of a disadvantage), in addition to business casual users and the occasional small family. Whereas the evening hours provided a more casual and younger demographic.

Users and site users vary depending upon the time of day; during the morning rush the most recordances of unpleasant scenarios were made. The disadvantaged individuals on site have been noted visibly making others uncomfortable and feeling vulnerable by their direct approach to induce conflict and unnecessary encounters. This can be noted by multiple recorded scenarios throughout the site analysis, such as one case where the lack of design intervention of bike racks prompted individuals to leave their cycles unattended outside the building and thus allowed for others to photograph and partake and in potential theft activities. Another scenario recorded of unpleasant behaviour is that of which when the team conducting this research was approached multiple times by disturbed individuals noticing the duritation and methods of recordance taking place. The individuals represented a sense of territorial behaviour regarding their surroundings viewing the observers as threats. It can be assumed that the lack of social skills held by the most consistent demographic users play an important part in the implementation of hostile design in regards to the health and wellbeing of such a public space.

The most dynamic social interaction of this analysis took place in the morning session, where a middle aged male began illustrating methods of utilizing his surroundings to induce a level of dominance over the other site users. Upon approaching the building, he had been noted as pacing back and forth along the covered sidewalk corridor between both entrance and exit. Once situated at the corner between both access point, with full view of the entire lot, the man began positioning a forigen object in his hand, scanning the surrounding environment for any onlookers, and proceeded to alternate between aiming the forigen object to his temple, inside his mouth, and pointing it at the onlooking cars. After gaining the attention of any surrounding observers, the man entered the store and began with the same forigen object positioning. Individuals in line in front of the man remained unaware of his whereabouts, whereas individuals in line behind the man became visibly uncomfortable and remained in the vestibule without entering the store until the police were notified and he was arrested. This social interaction of an unstable situation represents how design within a social space can be utilized for positive or negative inclinations. Providing the male party with a position of dominance over the site through full site views, surrounding coverage, and lack of design obstacles made way for a potentially unproductive situation, in contrast to how the same design features gave way for the situation to be visible and easily controlled within a productive and safe way.