Emotional connections in public space

Yesterday in Zwolle station, I happened to see a woman enjoying herself in the artsy video on the wall which we discussed earlier is a "useless" public space art installation comparing to the piano stair. But right here I captured someone who is definitely "using" it. So I was wondering, on what scale we can say a public art/public space is working as we wish for? Just by the number of people who are using it?

I think we're jumping to conclusions too quickly regarding to that matter by comparing the Zwolle station and the piano stair which are two totally different spaces and serve for different purposes. Take Zwolle station as an example, it's hard to tell if these art installations are working cuz the main purpose of people in a station is just to catch a train. And in fact the first intention of the installations is not to catch too many people's attention also. Who would want a jam inside a railway station?

Therefore I want to go back to the public spaces don't have a specific functional use like parks, plazas, promenades etc and figuring out

what makes a public space attracting, meaningful and joyful?

Paley park is a pocket park in New York City measuring only 390 ㎡, but it's one of the classical designs in landscape history, also a popular outdoor destinations for New Yorkers. Amanda Burden, New York's chief urban planner under Bloomberg administration gives away the secrets of its popularity.

• comfortable moveable chairs

• greenery

• people attracts other people

There's nothing fancy there, in the end, it's all about human, designers are just providing a tool for people to enjoy life. So I keep thinking,

is there a way for people get to know each other in public space thus to raise their sense of community or say responsibility for the community?

I'm designing a experiment called "say IT to me" hoping to reach the answer.

The ideal result of the experiment is to have lively discussion, to evoke dialogues between stranger, to invite people to express. And the worst result is that I get nothing at all in the end. Let's see it in one month.