New York City Times Square muncievoice.com |
Now that we've all had a chance to get over our post-FIFA World Cup let down, it's time to get back into more serious things. Today we consider "who really owns public space?" This is the title of Anthony Flint's latest post for City Lab and is a reference to a recently opened exhibited at the AIA New York Center for Architecture in Greenwich Village and continues until September 6. The exhibit is called "Open to the Public: Civic Space Now" Curated by Thomas Mellins, the exhibit ponders "What makes public space compelling and enjoyable? What, in fact, makes it public? Government funding? Municipal policing?" (http://www.cfa.aia.ny.org)
Central Park New York City, New York themarkhotel.com |
Occupation Wall Street Day 40 commons.wikimedia.org |
Globally, the protest movement in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the same year, highlighted the connection between place and public discourse, with the mobilizing power of social media thrown into the mix. More recently, guerrilla urbanism-the practice of taking over parking garages or entire streets for parklets, pop-up art displays or chair bombing-has also altered the definition and understanding of public space and the role it plays in contemporary society.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park Roosevelt Island, New York architecturaldigest.com |
...The fabric of the city is both the stage for social action and the object of civic debate. Increasingly, people are coming to understand that equality, opportunity, mobility, prosperity, and health are reflected in the way we shape and build our cities, that freedom is defined and contested in public space...
(http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-michael-kimmelman-lecture)
The new focus on the design and character of public is very welcome but it also raises some difficult questions couched in issues such as free speech, rules and regulations, access and equity. For example, Anthony Flint asks, "Is the pedestrian zone of Times Square mostly for tourists? Who are the best new public spaces actually designed for?" Simply put, a park is no longer just a park, rather, it has metamorphosed into a stage for the performance of public life. The AIA New York exhibition tries to make some sense of the theme by arranging public space into three categories: congregation, circulation, and contemplation. The concept of a public space as a place for contemplation is best understood at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms park at the tip of Roosevelt Island.
Vintage New York commons.wikimedia.org |
Anthony Flint observes that the one shortcoming the show has is its lack of recognition of guerilla urbanism. Cities such as San Francisco, Dallas, and Portland, Maine have become ground zero for tactical urbanism action. Mr. Flint speculates, "It might have also been
Poynton Chesire, England icag.org.uk |
Seven Dials Intersection London, England standard.co.uk |
The exhibit not only looks back but looks forward as well including the recently rehabilitated McCarren Pool, a public works project by noted New City planner Robert Moses. The sometimes tortured history of place making is all around us. One example is the high-density towers of the mid-twentieth century urban renewal are directly across the street from the pool, the gardens and street-level shops of Washington Square Southeast are still quite active. The park fountain works and people use the space.
Nearly fifty years ago, Jane Jacobs fought a pitched battle against Robert Moses's proposal to run Fifth Avenue through the greensward. At the time, no one was actively talking about free speech or democracy or whether homeless people should be allowed to loiter in public spaces. Back then, it was more about mothers and strollers. It was contested space, as public space was and remains.
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