Design standards — the size of furnishings, how far items should be from each other in space are built around a person's body size.
Take a look at dining room standards.
• A dining room chair is typically 18-19" inches wide, and the larger scaled ones are around 22 inches. Most people's bodies fall within these sizes.
• You need about 2 feet to pull a chair back from the table and get up.
• A person walking behind a chair already pulled back needs about 2 feet to pass easily. Edging pass can take less space.
• A dining room may not have room to sit and get around the table unless you have about 36" to 48" from the table to the wall or furniture on the wall.
You can try it for yourself with a friend! Take out a tape measure. Sit in a chair. Pull the chair back and see how much space your friend needs to pass comfortably behind the chair. What number did you come up with for your comfortable dimension?
Cultural issues may play a role as may the size of the passer-by.
There's a group in the Midwest that has a lab where they figure out dimensions needed to perform different tasks in kitchen space.
