The Sidewalk Ballet through the Eyes of the User

Its essence is intricacy of sidewalk use, bringing with it a constant succession of eyes. This order is all composed of movement and change … an intricate ballet in which the individual dancers and ensembles all have distinctive parts which miraculously reinforce each other and compose an orderly whole.

Jacobs, 1961, p.50

This video presentation provides new perspective upon what Jane Jacobs elegantly coined the sidewalk ballet. A mobile eye-tracker (SMI Glasses 2.0) was used to capture the gaze data of twelve study participants as they walked along a street in Sheffield, UK. They did this whilst carrying out differing everyday tasks that fell in to two categories – optional, which had no specific objective, and necessary, which were focused and goal orientated. The subsequent data obtained from the eye-tracker was a video of the environment in front of the study participant along with their gaze location superimposed on top (red cross-hair). Each participant’s video was then combined within a grid to create a single output.

The separate videos within the grid are all distinct. Each intricately shows how individuals visually engaged with the street as they danced along it; their eyes moving in accordance with their individuality, the task they were undertaking and shifting environment around them. In combination the videos elicit the way in which a succession of eyes come together in an ensemble; each contributing towards the creation of a complex and dynamic yet orderly whole. Viewing the videos en masse provides nuanced insight into the way the forever moving and changing sidewalk ballet is experientially structured. Significantly, this is from a perspective that often evades verbal articulation or observation; instead being from the direct and embodied viewpoint of the street user.

Jacobs, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York, Random House.

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