Design Elements of Shop Facades and Affordances : a case study in Stockholm

Abstract: As inhabitants on the earth and as designers in societies, we always think and try to make the world better, to be sustainable. Regarding everyday life in city, to enhance social sustainability, it is revealed that walkability and diversity mean a lot to livability and lovability. Building façades affect peoples’ walking behavior (Choi, 2012), and an area has better be with a good mix of residence and commerce etc. So in this study, focusing on shops which everyone has access to, I tried to seek a hint how to encourage shop owners to make the façades lively by themselves. Why by themselves is related to the idea of bottom-up urbanism that came up from a people- first point of view. The main theory used is affordance theory, originally defined as “what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes” (Gibson, 1979, p.127). With this, the study considered three affording-afforded relationships, that is, architects-shop owners, shop owners-shop owners, and the whole environment around façades- pedestrians, only the former two were investigated this time though. Using pixel analysis with photos, arrangement of elements around façades, its tendency, and whether cluster by elements exists or not were studied. After the investigation done, the study was concluded suggesting to reflect the result of observation on peoples’ behavior with affordance, and perhaps to make a design guide as a feedback from the world of everyday tactics to that of strategy, that are supposed to be closer, to make them in a loop to go on.