While many public life studies focus on the influence of the physical environment, people’s influence on other people’s public life is less studied, of which children’s influence is rarely studied. People’s passive aspect of public life is a major part of their public life in urban public spaces. Thus, this article explores the influence of playing children on adults’ passive experience.

To unfold the relevant knowledge on how people’s public life takes place, this article considers multiple influencing factors and integrated multisensory stimuli to reasonably explain adults’ varying degrees of sensory attention to playing children at the micro-scale of an urban public space with open and integrated settings in Copenhagen, Denmark.

An on-site questionnaire-based survey (N =584) was conducted to answer the research question: What factors influence adults’ degree of sensory attention to playing children in an urban public space that encompasses different zones with diverse spatial characteristics? Statistical analysis and descriptive study of the collected data resulted in identifying four influencing factors: spatial characteristics, public life pattern, public life state, and public life usage.

This article provides insights for urban designers, planners, and city authorities, preparing knowledge for urban design practices with a comprehensive approach.