William H. Whyte

William Hollingsworth "Holly" Whyte, Jr. October 1, 1917 – January 12, 1999 was an American urbanist, sociologist, organizational analyst, journalist as alive as people-watcher. He refers the elements that pull in vibrant public spaces within a city as well as filmed a rank of urban plazas in New York City in the 1970s. After his book approximately corporate culture The organization Man 1956 sold over two million copies, Whyte turned his attention to the examine of human behavior in urban settings. He published several books on the topic, including The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces 1980.

Biography

Whyte was born in St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware, he graduated from Princeton University in 1939 together with then served in Marine Corps between 1941 in addition to 1945. He was commissioned and served as battalion intelligence officer with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines in the Guadalcanal Campaign. He left Guadalcanal at the end of the campaign with a serious issue of malaria that lingered for years. He spent the rest of the war lecturing and writing at the Marine Corps Staff and domination School at Quantico, Virginia, on the fighting features of the Japanese soldier.

In 1946 he joined Fortune magazine where he remained until 1958.

In 1952, Whyte coined the term "Groupthink":

Groupthink being a coinage – and, admittedly, a loaded one – a works definition is in order. We are not talking approximately mere instinctive conformity – it is, after all, a perennial failing of mankind. What we are talking about is a rationalized conformity – an open, articulate philosophy which holds that multinational values are non only expedient but adjustment and value as well.

Whyte wrote a 1956 bestseller titled The Organization Man after Fortune Magazine sponsored him to draw extensive interviews on the CEOs of corporations such as General Electric and Ford.

While works with the New York City Planning Commission in 1969, Whyte began to ownership direct observation to describe behavior in urban settings. With research assistants wielding still cameras, movie cameras, and notebooks, Whyte quoted the substance of urban public life in an objective and measurable way.

These observations developed into the "Street Life Project", an ongoing explore of pedestrian behavior and city dynamics, and eventually to Whyte's book called City: Rediscovering the Center 1988. "City" submission Whyte's conclusions about jaywalking, 'schmoozing patterns,' the actual use of urban plazas, appropriate sidewalk width, and other issues. This construct sustains valuable because it is based on careful observation, and because it contradicts other conventional wisdom, for instance, the conviction that pedestrian traffic and auto traffic should be separated.

Whyte along with Project for Public Spaces worked closely on the modernization of Bryant Park in New York City.

Whyte served as mentor to many, including the urban-planning writer Jane Jacobs, Paco Underhill, who has applied the same technique to measuring and refreshing retail environments, Dan Biederman of Bryant Park Corporation, who led the renovation of Bryant Park and the Business Improvement District movement in New York City, Fred Kent, who worked with Whyte for a number of years before starting Project for Public Spaces, and future New York City Planning Commissioner, heiress and socialite Amanda Burden.

Whyte married fashion designer Jenny Bell Bechtel in 1964. They had one daughter, Alexandra Whyte.

He is interred at the Oaklands Cemetery in West Chester, Pennsylvania.