In this presentation, I will be talking about a unique user research project which sought to explore the user experience of public spaces in New York City. I will describe the challenges we faced in adapting research methodologies traditionally used in the digital space to the physical world, dealing with hostile stakeholders, the mistakes we made along the way, and ultimately the success we achieved. I will also describe the methodology we developed (loosely described as ‘agile ethnography’) and provide practical examples of how it can be used in other user research projects.