Public spaces are seen as expressions of the local community and, in many instances, of the wider society in which they exist. Streets bring people together as they travel from place to place, using the street as its most common function, that of movement. Because people move along the street businesses set up to offer goods and services to a steady flow of customers. In a traditional and virtuous synergy, businesses have set up where most people pass and over time these places have developed into shopping streets. The more successful ones have become destinations in their own right. Streets are perhaps the most important type of public open space in any city and yet they receive the least attention by urban designers and those who manage space on behalf of the public.

There is an increasing tendency for urban design research to be considered from users’ perspectives. However, there is little research looking at perceptions of urban public space in multicultural societies. This is becoming increasingly relevant as, due to the phenomenon of global migration, cultural diversity in world cities is increasing and today cities constitute a mix of people with different social and cultural backgrounds. In the absence of such research designers, developers and decision makers generally make assumptions related to a specific cultural group situated in a specific geographical location and try to extend it to different parts of cities around the world. Thus, other cultural groups seem to be excluded in considerations of urban design and planning decision-making processes. Yet, a successful public space is one where users of different backgrounds can coexist without one group dominating another.

This paper examines a street in a multi-ethnic urban setting in New Zealand from a different range of ethnic users’ perspectives. It documents those attributes of street planning and design that are associated with social and recreational activities of people with different ethnic cultural backgrounds that can make the street lively and democratic.