Funabiki Etsuko

In recent years, "Eki Naka Squares" have become a new type of public space in locations within and adjacent to station buildings. The objective of this study is to consider how people gather to these spaces based on the relationship between their action and position by comparing case examples of "Eki Naka Squares" in the JR Tokyo Station Marunouchi North Exit Concourse and JR Sapporo Station West Concourse. Our analysis revealed the following. (1) Behaviour of visitors at the JR Tokyo Station is influenced by tourist attractive components of the space, whereas the visitors at the JR Sapporo Station simply use the space as a meeting place. (2) In the JR Tokyo Station the positions of the visitors who occupy the "Eki Naka Square" are evenly distributed during rush hour, however in JR Sapporo Station they are unevenly distributed only around a monument. (3) The location where activity is seen for individuals, compared to groups, is susceptible to spatial components such as floor patterns, monuments and pillars. (4) The inter-group distance is determined by the size of the space and the number of groups regardless of the area where the space is present.