Gehl Studio and the City of Somerville invite you to help evaluate the public life and public spaces of Somerville. We are looking for residents, students, design professionals, data nerds, flâneurs, neighbors, and others to help with this effort. Please join us!

As part of SomervillebyDesign’s ongoing planning work, we will be carefully measuring public life as it unfolds throughout a day in the life of Somerville’s streets and public spaces. This research will help us document the public life of Somerville for the very first time and is important for bench-marking the success of future projects, making people more visible in our planning processes, as well as understanding at how the design of public space supports or doesn’t support public life from happening.

Survey days are Wednesday, May 27th and Saturday May 30th (Thursday May 28th is a rain date). Volunteers will work at least one five-hour shift, but we hope to have you for both days. Surveying is outside in the elements and does not involve talking to people, but instead will focus on observation of public life as it naturally unfolds.

A required training will be held the evening of Tuesday, May 26th (6:30pm, location TBD). At this training session, you will learn how to measure public space and public life using Gehl Studio’s survey methodology and how people-centered data can be used to promote livability, measure impact, and change mindsets.

If interested, please fill out this form to provide us with your availability: PSPL Survey Availability