City - William Whyte

1. Whyte notes three key points, which he discusses throughout the chapter. These points include "buildings flush to the sidewalk, stores along the frontage, and doors and windows on the street." Throughout the chapter Whyte's main points focus on how the city can be most successful through functional means. For example, the city implemented heavier trash containers, due to the stealing problem. These trash cans were not the most ideal trash receptacles because the openings were very small. This problem was somewhat reduced by scavengers. However, the surface of the trash containers served as a table, a desk and a stand, among other things.
2. Whyte's ideas on design are primarily focused on function. This can be compared to Norman's concept of behavioral design. Whyte details the various functional aspects of the city -- second stories, walkways, trash containers, window shopping, and doorways/entrances.
Although, Whyte considers the function of doorways differently than Norman would. Whyte observed the difficulty of opening entrance/exist doors to Bloomingdale's, because it requires a lot of effort. However, he does not describe this difficulty as a design flaw like Norman would. Another area of design that Norman and Whyte disagree on is visual appeal. According to Norman, visual appeal is important because it needs to "wow" a potential customer. Whyte, however, feels that too much focus on the visual aspect would dispel customers. Streets, stores, trash cans, and other things cannot be too fancy because "too much good taste" will result in a "bland conformity."
3. Checklist for urban area evaluation:

• Flow of pedestrians 
• Mixture of stores 
• Cleanliness
• Location of trash receptacles in respect to food vendors
• Street signs
• Obstructions in the walkway or store entrance -- signs, trees, benches