In addition to offering seating, ebenk provided charging facilities, free internet, power for events and lighting.
Analysis of the use of ebenk showed that ebenk was used more widely than ordinary seating benches, both in absolute numbers and as proportion of the number of passers-by.
“Outdoor offices” was one of the first projects in “Car free city life in Oslo” that were realized, and the furniture was designed by students at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design at the request of the City of Oslo. The number of passers-by during the deployment of the outdoor offices was larger than with no benches, but lower than during deployment of ebenk. Our results suggest that outdoor offices have about the same effect as ordinary benches. Outdoor offices, however, have no effect on sense of security.
At all times when some pieces of street furniture were deployed, the number of passers-by was higher than when there were no urban furniture deployed in the streets.
Photo: Norfax
