A triangulation process of street music in public spaces: a case study of Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue Ayse Gul Gemci Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, and Bahar Ferah Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Istanbul, Turkey Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the spatial interactions of street music in public spaces. It proposes to clarify why relationship between street music and people in public spaces is important and how street music evokes an external stimulus on people. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual framework of this paper is based on the triangulation process of Whyte and the qualities of public spaces, forming a relationship between space and people produced from the seminal literature of the paper. Accordingly, a case study based on the qualitative research method was conducted in Istiklal Avenue, where street music performances can be observed for long term. During the field work which spans a period of 12 months, 10 spots of street music performances have been observed and photo–video documentation was collected. Findings – This paper provides empirical insights on how the triangulation process reflects social interactions in public spaces. This also suggests the triangulated position of street music as an external stimulus relating with the people as actors of daily urban flux. Research limitations/implications – Regarding to the chosen research approach which is based on deeper understanding, this paper interrelates the interactions of street music and people in public space. Social implications – This paper includes qualitative research steps of data collection and disaggregates findings with a “Cross Matrix Table” proposed at the end of the study. Originality/value – The proposed disaggregating “Cross Matrix Table” and case study fulfil an architectural need to research how everyday street art activity can reflect the qualities of public space. Keywords Public space, Socially and culturally sustainable architecture and urban design, External stimulus, Istanbul Istiklal Avenue, Street music, Triangulation process of William Whyte Paper type Research paper Introduction Public art in public spaces is one of the most impressive art forms of cities worldwide and has brought prominent changes in almost every phase of social life and architecture. Current literature from architecture, urban planning, sociology or psychology, public space has been discussed under the broad terms of public accessibility, human behavior or life in open spaces as avenues, streets, green parks, places between work offices of plazas, publicly owned and managed outdoor spaces (Gehl, 2011; Whyte, 1980; Carr et al., 1992; Low and Altman, 1992; Carmona et al., 2003). Architectural context of public spaces has been related with culturally acceptable criteria that see the norms of appropriate forms and expressions (Rahimian et al., 2017). Accordingly, growing trend of privatization, managing issues about quality of public spaces and discussions about functionality and human behavior Street music in public spaces Open House International © Emerald Publishing Limited 0168-2601 DOI 10.1108/OHI-05-2020-0039 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0168-2601.htm