1. EXPERIENCE + MEANING:
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACE IN THE CITY
A SHARED REQUIRED ACADEMIC ACTIVITY FOR ALL INCOMING FIRST-YEAR
STUDENTS ATTENDING JAZZ, LANG, MANNES, AND PARSONS AT THE NEW SCHOOL
AUGUST 24, 2012, 3:00-6:00 P.M.
Undergraduate students come to The New School from around the world and bring with them a
wide variety of experiences, skills, and interests. This orientation activity invites you, as one of the
newest members of the university community, to meet and learn with your peers before classes
even start. Take this opportunity to observe and reflect on your new location, and if you are
already familiar with New York, take this time to reconsider places you already know.
“Public” and “private” are concepts that are frequently explored in a broad range of disciplines,
including those in design, performing and visual arts, social sciences, and humanities, indeed any
field where we consider the relationship of the individual to the larger world. This guide is meant
to start a conversation with you about what these ideas mean in the context of your new location
and as you begin your studies at The New School.
EXPERIENCE - DIRECTIONS
1. READ this guide, including the texts from urban activist Jane Jacobs and artist Vito
Acconci.
2. CONSIDER the public and private spaces where you live, and how you and others use
those places.
3. COMPARE the similarities and differences of your personal experience of and ideas
about public and private space with what you read in this guide.
4. THINK about how things like open grassy areas, trees, short cuts, long benches, food
vendors, and playgrounds affect your understanding of public and private spaces. You
might also want to notice how the use of these spaces may change depending on such
factors as the time of the day, temperature, shade and sun, water, food, music and other
sounds.
ADDITIONAL USEFUL INFORMATION
Over the summer, you will be invited to join a private virtual group within Engage: The New
School Network, the private social network site for admitted students. In that private group, you
will meet the other new students who will join you for this orientation activity, as well as the
instructor who will lead your student group.
th
From 3:00 – 6:00pm on Friday, August 24 , you will meet your instructor and the same small
group of your peers who were on Engage, and consider together the meaning of public and
private space in this urban setting, as you visit at least one of the parks in lower Manhattan that is
located near The New School’s Greenwich Village campus and described in this guide.
In the first few weeks of the fall term, you will have an opportunity to reflect on this activity with
students in your division through an assignment and class discussion. To be prepared for this
assignment, you must attend and participate in this orientation activity. Below are the
activities and assignments you will complete during the first few weeks of class that relate to this
orientation activity. Please look for the activity that students in your division will complete so you
are prepared:
1

2. EUGENE LANG COLLEGE STUDENTS: In the first meeting of your First Year Workshop course,
you will discuss the orientation activity: compare your experiences, reflect on the contributions to
learning made by the instructors, activities, spaces, and fellow students, and write an assessment
of the activity.
JAZZ & CONTEMPORARY MUSIC STUDENTS: In the first meeting of your First Year Writing
course, you will be asked to reflect about the ways music is experienced in different kinds of
public spaces, such as public parks, subway platforms (and subway cars!), concert stages, and
nightclubs, culminating in a writing assignment you will submit in the first few weeks.
MANNES COLLEGE STUDENTS: In the first meeting of your English Composition course, you
will write about your impressions of the public spaces you visited, and compare New York to your
home.
MANNES COLLEGE STUDENTS ENTERING THE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
(ESL) PROGRAM: In the first meeting of your ESL course, you will write the names of the places
you visited and words that remind you of those places. In addition, you will consider and talk
together about the similarities and differences between the public spaces in New York and those
in your home.
PARSONS STUDENTS: In the first meeting of your Critical Reading and Writing or ESL course,
you will use notes you take during the orientation activity visit to the park for an in-class writing
assignment. To prepare for this in-class assignment, make sure you take a few minutes while you
are in the park with your orientation instructor to observe and record your experiences in the
space, using your five senses to become aware of your surroundings. Your notes can be in list
form or full sentences, as long as they include what you saw and experienced, and include some
small details. Please bring your notes with you to class.
COMMON TEXTS
Below are excerpts of text from the urban writer and activist Jane Jacobs and the designer, artist,
and writer Vito Acconci. These texts offer distinct perspectives and different ways of writing about
public space in a city. The texts include some complex ideas, and are meant to challenge your
reading and comprehension abilities. You will want to read them several times, returning to them
over the summer as you prepare for this orientation activity.
JANE JACOBS_____________________________________
“Too much is expected of city parks. Far from transforming any essential
quality in their surroundings, far from automatically uplifting their
neighborhoods, neighborhood parks themselves are directly and drastically
affected by the way the neighborhood acts upon them.
Cities are thoroughly physical places. In seeking understanding of their
behavior, we get useful information by observing what occurs tangibly and
physically… Let us see what they tell us about their ordinary physical
interactions with their neighborhoods.” (p. 95-6)
“First, a few early-bird walkers who live beside the park take brisk strolls.
They are shortly joined, and followed, by residents who cross the park on
their way to work outside of the district. Next come people from outside the
district, crossing the park on their way to work within the neighborhood. Soon
after these people have left the square the errand-goers start to come
through, many of them lingering, and in mid-morning mothers and small
2

3. children come in, along with an increasing number of shoppers. Before noon
the mothers and children leave, but the square’s population continues to
grow because of employees on their lunch hour and also because of people
coming from elsewhere to lunch at… the… restaurants around. In the
afternoon mothers and children turn up again, the shoppers and errand-
goers linger longer, and school children eventually add themselves in. In the
later afternoon the mothers have left but the homeward-bound workers come
through – first those leaving the neighborhood, and then those returning to it.
Some of these linger. From then on into the evening the square gets many
young people on dates, some who are dining out nearby, some who live
nearby, some who seem to come just because of the nice combination of
liveliness and leisure. All through the day, there is a sprinkling of old people
with time on their hands, some people who are indigent, and various
unidentified idlers.” (p. 96-7)
“Certain qualities in [park] design can…make a difference… For if the object
of a generalized… neighborhood park is to attract as many different kinds of
people, with as many different schedules, interests, and purposes as
possible, it is clear that the design of the park should abet this generalization
of patronage rather than work at cross-purposes to it. Parks intensively used
in generalized public-yard fashion tend to have four elements in their design
which I shall call intricacy, centering, sun and enclosure.
Intricacy is related to the variety of reasons for which people come to
neighborhood parks. Even the same person comes for different reasons at
different times; sometimes to sit tiredly, sometimes to play or to watch a
game, sometimes to read or work, sometimes to show off, sometimes to fall
in love, sometimes to keep an appointment, sometimes to savor the hustle of
the city from a retreat, sometimes in the hope of finding acquaintances,
sometimes to get closer to a bit of nature, sometimes to keep a child
occupied, sometimes simply to see what offers, and almost always to be
entertained by the sight of other people.
If the whole thing can be absorbed in a glance, like a good poster, and if
every place looks like every other place in the park and also feels like every
other place when you try it, the park affords little stimulation to all of these
differing uses and moods. Nor is there much reason to return to it again and
again. …
Probably the most important element in intricacy is centering. Good small
parks typically have a place somewhere within them commonly understood
to be the center – at the very least a main crossroads and pausing point, a
climax. Some small parks or squares are virtually all center, and get their
intricacy from minor differences at their peripheries. … for neighborhood
parks, the finest centers are stage settings for people.
Sun is part of a park’s setting for people, shaded, to be sure, in summer. A
high building effectively cutting the sun angle across the south side of a park
can kill off a lot of it. …
Although buildings should not cut sun from a park – if the object is to
encourage full use – the presence of buildings around a park is important in
design. They enclose it. They make a definite shape out of the space, so that
it appears as an important event in the city scene…” (p. 103-106)
3

4. From Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House and Vintage Books, 1961,
1992.
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed a community-based approach to urban
planning, where residents have input on how their neighborhoods develop. She moved to Greenwich Village in 1928,
became Associate Editor of Architectural Forum in 1952, and was the Chairperson of the Joint Committee to Stop the
Lower Manhattan Expressway in 1962. In particular, Jacobs fought against New York City Parks Commissioner Robert
Moses who envisioned New York as a modernized city including expressways and was responsible for the construction of
numerous bridges and expressways throughout New York City that encouraged a car culture of commuting in and out of
New York. His critics, including Jacobs, stated that these highways disrupted many traditional working class
neighborhoods, often cutting them into parts. She frequently cited Greenwich Village as an example of a vibrant urban
community, and helped to successfully fight Moses’ project to build an expressway that would have run through
Washington Square Park and the West Village. Published in 1961, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has
become one of the most influential American texts about the inner working and failings of cities.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs and Jacobs in video about healthy living in cities:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z99FHvVt1G4)
VITO ACCONCI____________________________________
“Public space is an old habit. The words public space are deceptive; when I
hear the words, when I say the words, I’m forced to have an image of a
physical place I can point to and be in. I should be thinking only of a
condition; but, instead, I imagine an architectural type, and I think of a
piazza, or a town square, or a city commons. Public space, I assume,
without thinking about it, is a place where the public gathers. The public
gathers in two kinds of spaces. The first is a space that is public, a place
where the public gathers because it has a right to the place; the second is a
space that is made public, a place where the public gathers precisely
because it doesn’t have the right – a place made public by force.
In the space that is public… The establishment of certain space in the city
as “public” is a reminder, a warning, that the rest of the city isn’t public. New
York doesn’t belong to us, and neither does Paris, and neither does Des
Moines. Setting up a public space means setting aside a public space.
Public space is a place in the middle of the city but isolated from the city.
Public space is the piazza, an open space separated from the closure of
alleys and dead ends; public space is the piazza, a space in the light...”
From Acconci, Vito. “Public Space in a Private Time.” Critical Inquiry, University of Chicago Press (1990).
(For the full essay: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1343774)
Vito Acconci (1940- ) is a Bronx-born, Brooklyn-based designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist.
He has earned international recognition through his provocative and often radical art-making practices. He has been a
vital presence in contemporary art since the late 1960s; his confrontational and ultimately political works have evolved
from writing through conceptual art, body art, performance, film, video, multimedia installation, and architectural sculpture.
In the 1970s, Acconci produced a body of conceptual performance-based videotapes regarded as some of the most
important works in the medium. Acconci’s work has been shown in museums and galleries internationally. In the late
1980s, he formed Acconci Studio, a group of designers and architects who focus on theoretical design and building. More
recently, he has concentrated on architecture and landscape design that integrates public and private space. Acconci has
taught at many institutions, including Parsons, and during The New School’s 2008 graduation, he delivered the
commencement address and received an honorary degree. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Acconci and
http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/acconci.html)
4

5. INFORMATION ABOUT
WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK | UNION SQUARE PARK | MADISON SQUARE PARK
Each of the parks was formalized into a public space as part of the 1811 Commissioners’ Grid
Plan on Manhattan. Over time, each park has been renovated or rebuilt in response to changes in
the city. With these changes have come different ways that people and commerce interact with
the parks that reflect their use as public and private spaces.
Recently, streets have begun to replace parks as places to re-imagine public space in order to
accommodate changes in urban dynamics, such as increased crowding and development,
economic pressures and opportunities, new daily life practices and preferences, and flows of
goods and resources.
5

6. In response to some of these changes, the city has introduced several new uses of streets in
Manhattan, including some streets that have been closed to vehicle traffic and repurposed as
lanes for bikers, and as seating or walking spaces for people.
MEANING – PRODUCING YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE:
Use the following questions to help connect your experience of space in your hometown or
neighborhood with the parks in lower Manhattan.
In what ways can city parks be considered public spaces, and in what ways
are they private?
What new meanings might the concepts of “park” and “street” begin to take
on now that we can do park-like things in a street?
What types of design and structures invite activity in parks, and what inhibits
activity?
In response to your close observations of how people are using the parks and
streets, could you invent new terms or concepts that are up to the job of
grasping the complex dynamics at play?
WASHINGTON SQUARE
The park is located at the southern end of Fifth Avenue in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village,
just south of Washington Square North.
6

7. This square of land was once divided by the Minetta Brook, which was diverted to the park
because of development to the north, and still runs under the southeast corner of the park. The
land was once farmed by Native Americans, then Dutch settlers, and then freed slaves.
RESOURCES
History of Washington Square Park on the New York City Department of Parks &
Recreation website:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/washingtonsquarepark/history
EXPERIENCE – PLACES IN THE PARK TO CONSIDER:
 ARCH
The arch is located at the middle of the northern side of the park, at the southern end of Fifth
Avenue.
In 1934, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses finalized plans to extend the four-lane wide Fifth
Avenue through Washington Square—entering the Square at the site of the Arch. Area residents,
including Eleanor Roosevelt, opposed the plans. Shirley Hayes, former Chairman of the
Washington Square Park Committee and member of the Greenwich Village Community Planning
Board, a local resident and mother of four sons, initiated "Save the Square!” — a seven-year
battle to keep automobiles out of the quiet area. Seeking to "best serve the needs of children and
2
adults of this family community," Hayes proposed: 1.75 acres (700 m ) of roadway would be
converted to parkland, a paved area would be created for emergency access only, and all other
vehicles would be permanently banned from the park. This plan received widespread support.
After a public hearing in 1958, a "ribbon tying" ceremony was held to mark the inception of a trial
period in which the park would be free of vehicular traffic. In August 1959, the efforts of Ms.
Hayes and her allies paid off: from that time forward Washington Square Park has been
completely closed to traffic.
Consider how the activities of people would be different at this location today if the four-lanes of
Fifth Avenue had been extended through the park from the Arch to Washington Square South.
RESOURCES
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation: Shirley Hayes and the Preservation of
Washington Square Park:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/washingtonsquarepark/highlights/9763
Tour inside of the Arch:
http://on.wsj.com/fqNBvW
 FOUNTAIN
The fountain is located near the center of Washington Square Park.
The 2009 relocation of the fountain within Washington Square Park to align it with Fifth Avenue
and the Arch was part of a $32 million renovation of the park. Questions about the fountain’s use
and purpose have been the focus of much public discussion, including whether it’s turned on or
off, whether it should have been relocated, whether people should be allowed to wade in it or not,
and how clean it is or isn’t.
Consider how people engage the space in and around the fountain. Is anyone in the water? How
are people using the sitting areas around the fountain – are they sitting, reclining, eating, reading,
or sleeping? How do these different uses of this space affect your consideration of it being public
and private?
7

8. RESOURCES
Article about how people use the fountain and other parts of the park before the
fountain renovation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/nyregion/thecity/30wash.html
Five-minute music video of the park and fountain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEyYMlALfZw
 FOOD TRUCKS AND FOOD CARTS
Thiru Kumar's dosa cart is often located at the South end of Washington Square Park. Kumar is
from Sri Lanka and dosas are a perennial South Indian favorite.
Everyday, food trucks and carts stream into Manhattan and set up along curbs and sidewalks.
These kitchens on wheels respond to neighborhoods, economic changes, and food trends, as
they seek out just the right spots for their mobile businesses. Sometimes they become treasured
parts of a neighborhood. They offer new immigrants and others a way to start their own
businesses. They offer New Yorkers, especially in difficult economic times, inexpensive food.
Vendors operate under regulations, inconsistently enforced, concerning their movements through
the city. In 2011, a ruling by the New York State Supreme Court reinforced a city Transportation
Department regulation stating that no “vendor, hawker or huckster shall park a vehicle at a
metered parking space” to offer “merchandise for sale from the vehicle.” That prompted orders
from police to many vendors to “move on” from where they had been operating.
Consider where people and activities occur in the Park as a result of the coming and goings of
food carts and food trucks.
RESOURCES
Articles about enforced regulations on Food Trucks:
http://nyti.ms/oybldn
http://nyti.ms/MxY6w7
Article about street food and urban culture by a New School faculty member:
http://huff.to/AjyxLC
8

9. UNION SQUARE th
Union Square is located just north of 14 Street, between Park Avenue South (where it branches
th
to become Broadway and 4 Avenue), and University Place. It is a hub that connects into and out
of several neighborhoods: Greenwich Village to its south, Flatiron District to the north, Chelsea to
the west, and Gramercy to the east.
The park is a popular meeting place because of its central location in Manhattan and the
convergence of many subway lines underneath it.
At the time that John Randel was surveying the island in preparation for the Commissioners’ Plan
of 1811, Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) angled across today’s Union Square. The
Commissioners decided instead to form a square at the union of the various streets. In 1807, this
former burial site for the poor became a public commons for the city, at first named Union Place,
and was then opened to the public in 1839.
9

10. Historically, Union Square has been the starting and ending point for many political
demonstrations. In 1872, the park was redesigned, and included an area for the public to hold
mass meetings. On September 5, 1882, a crowd of at least 10,000 workers marched up
Broadway and gathered in Union Square in support of an eight-hour workday and a ban on child
labor in what became America’s first Labor Day parade.
In the days and weeks following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Union Square became
a primary public gathering point for mourners. People created spontaneous candle and
photograph memorials in the park and vigils were held to honor the victims. Union Square took on
this role in part because of its tradition as a meeting place during times of upheaval, and also
th
because no non-emergency vehicles were allowed below 14 Street. Pedestrians were
sometimes stopped and asked why they were venturing south by police and national guardsmen.
th
For the first few days following the attacks, only those who could prove residency below 14
Street could pass.
RESOURCES
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation: History of Union Square:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/unionsquarepark/highlights/6533
Union Square Partnership website:
http://unionsquarenyc.org
EXPERIENCE – PLACES IN THE PARK TO CONSIDER:
 FARMER’S MARKET
The Union Square Greenmarket, started in 1976, is one of the biggest in the city, and uses a
large amount of paved space four days each week. The idea that eating fresh, local, and healthy
food plays an important part in one’s health has begun to shape a variety of social and economic
debates in the city. It fuels discussions of issues such as farmland protection, food security, food
safety, and food justice.
Some people object that the food sold in green markets is expensive and, hence, elitist, despite
the fact that families on Food Stamps (called SNAP) now can use them to buy tokens that allow
them to shop at greenmarkets. Others point out that the best farmers’ markets are in affluent
neighborhoods, while other places in the city are turning into “food deserts”, where there is a lack
of access to healthy food. Since 2008, street food vendors have begun traveling to parts of the
city that are considered food deserts, and this New York City Green Carts initiative includes
vendors who sell fresh fruits and vegetables at lower cost than many markets.
"Locavore" describes a person who prefers to eat food grown, caught, or gathered nearby. Much
of the food you find at Greenmarkets, including Union Square Greenmarket, is a locavore’s
dream come true—having arrived by truck to the city from farms and fisheries of New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and New England.
Consider how access to fresh local food, and to the people who grow that food, in the
greenmarket influence your ideas about uses of public space.
RESOURCES
Greenmarket Farmer’s Market website:
http://www.grownyc.org
Farmers Market Federation of New York website:
http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com
Article about the NYC Green Carts initiative:
http://nyti.ms/HTd2aA
10

11.  SOUTH END’S ELEVATED PLATFORM/STAIRS
In 1928 much of the park was demolished and then rebuilt over the following decade to create
space underground for the subway system. That construction included this elevated area that,
with its wide stairs, is a site for many public rallies and continues Union Square’s long tradition of
being a place where people unite around common causes. In March 2012, the Occupy Movement
launched an open-ended occupation of Union Square and continues to host events there.
Consider how people are engaging and acting in relation to the stairs, and how you feel when
you sit or recline on the stairs.
RESOURCES
Articles about the Occupy Movement’s use of public space:
http://bit.ly/KU84cM
http://bit.ly/MM7ooE
 NORTH END/BROADWAY PEDESTRIAN PLAZA
Union Square has been called “a traffic dilemma” for generations. In 2010, roadway changes
th
around the park were unveiled including four separate traffic lanes across 17 Street at the
northern edge of the park. These include a pedestrian lane, a bike lane, a separated lane for cars
and trucks, as well as a section specifically for parked vehicles designed to improve congestion
resulting from parked Greenmarket trucks. In addition to the traffic changes, Broadway just north
th
of 17 Street was turned into a pedestrian plaza with tables and chairs.
Consider how specified areas for people, bikes, and vehicles determine how these spaces are
used.
RESOURCES
Articles about the reception of the new Union Square pedestrian park:
http://wny.cc/az3YyT
http://nyti.ms/MiSDOd
Information about other pedestrian plazas throughout New York City:
http://ny.curbed.com/tags/pedestrian-plazas
11

12. MADISON SQUARE
Madison Square Park is located at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, just north of
rd
23 Street. It is surrounded by three neighborhoods: Flatiron District to the south, North of
Madison Square Park to the north and west, and Rose Hill to the north and east. The park was
established in 1688.
The park was the site of an unusual public protest in 1901. Oscar Spate, a former Londoner,
convinced the Parks Commissioner, George Clausen, to allow him to pay the city $500 a year to
put 200 cushioned rocking chairs in Madison Square Park, Union Square, and Central Park and
charge the public 5 cents for their use. Free benches were moved away from shaded areas, and
Spate's chairs replaced them. When a heat wave hit the city in July, people in Madison Square
Park refused to pay the nickel that was now required to sit in the shade. The police became
involved, and newspapers including The Sun and William Randolph Hearst's Evening Journal
took up the cause. People began going to the park with the intent of sitting and refusing to pay,
and a riot occurred involving a thousand men and boys, who chased the chairs' attendant out of
the park and overturned and broke up chairs and benches. The police were called, but the
th
disturbance nevertheless continued for several days. On July 11 , Clausen annulled the city's 5-
year contract with Spate. Ten thousand people celebrated with bands and fireworks in Madison
Square Park. Spate went to court and got a preliminary injunction against Clausen's breaking of
12

13. the contract, but the judge refused to allow him to force the public to pay. The Evening Journal
followed by asking for an injunction against pay chairs, and when this was granted Spate gave
up. (Paraphrased by Wikipedia from Alice Sparberg Alexiou’s The Flatiron: The New York
Landmark and the Incomparable City that Arose with It, New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2010,
pp. 67-72.)
RESOURCES
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation: History of Madison Square Park:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/madisonsquarepark/highlights/10764
Madison Square Conservancy website:
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org
EXPERIENCE – PLACES IN THE PARK TO CONSIDER:
 PUBLIC ART
th
Until September 9 , the California-based artist Charles Long’s site-specific sculpture, Pet
Sounds, will be on display. Pet Sounds is described in the following way by the Madison Square
Park Conservancy: “An interactive, large-scale, mixed-media installation. Sited on Madison
Square Park’s expansive Oval Lawn, Pet Sounds will introduce a snaking network of vibrantly
colored pipe railings creating new paths as they wind across the urban oasis. As these railings
converge around a common seating area, each railing begins to grow into a unique fantastic
form. While the shape of each blob suggests a different set of associations, their uncanny
semblances remain wonderfully elusive. As viewers smooth their hands over the undulating
biomorphic surfaces, the act of touching produces a variety of sounds and vibrations coming from
within the sculptural forms. The installation, commissioned by Mad. Sq. Art, will remain on view
daily from May 2 – September 9, 2012.” (http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/art)
The New York City Parks Department began organizing public displays of art in 1967 with the
intent to “use public space as an outdoor museum, letting works of art ‘loose in the city, to see
them under the light of day where they intrude upon our daily walks and errands.’”
(http://www.nycgovparks.org/art-and-antiquities/art-in-the-parks)
Consider how the placement of art in a park affects your interaction with the space, and how it
might encourage new conversations and ideas about your understanding of the city.
RESOURCES
Information about public art throughout New York City:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/art
 GRASS LAWNS
Large grass lawns are uncommon sites in cities, and are generally located in designated parks. In
this park, the oval grass lawn is open and available to the public; shaded by large trees, it
provides a serene retreat for visitors.
In an interview, Catherine Nagel, Executive Director of City Parks Alliance (an independent
nationwide organization dedicated to promoting an urban parks agenda) offers the following
reasons that city parks are important:
“With the urbanization of our planet, people living in these dense environments — this is kind
of obvious — need clean air to breathe, clean water to drink. Their children need places to
play. We have the research now. All the new health studies about open space have been
significantly helpful. There is growing recognition that proximity to parks has a direct impact
on how healthy a community and its residents are. Numerous studies show that children who
are close to a safe park are more likely to exercise, that if you have green space it creates a
safer environment that reduces stress for an urban community. Grass and trees help clean
the air.”
13

14. Consider what people are doing on this lawn, and whether their activities would be seen in public
spaces where you are from.
RESOURCES
Interview with Catherine Nagel:
http://bit.ly/LfkzR2
 PLAYGROUND and DOG RUN
The playground is located at the northern end of Madison Square Park. Playgrounds across the
city are oasis for children to play without worry of traffic and other bystanders on the sidewalk.
The dog run located on the western side of the park offers fenced-in space for owners to exercise
and socialize their dogs. Dog runs are relatively new aspects of parks; the first official dog run
was established in Berkeley, California in 1979.
Dog runs and playgrounds are spaces designed for specific groups of people and animals to
engage in particular ways. In cities where open space is limited, the needs of parents and pet
owners can clash. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/nyregion/thecity/21dog.html)
Consider whether and how other parts of the park are designed for particular activities.
RESOURCES
Information about the Moira Ann Smith playground:
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/things-to-do/playground
Information about New York City park dog runs:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/dogruns
REFLECTION
After reading this guide, do you have ideas about how you could answer the questions in the
“Meaning” box on page 6? Have your perspectives on the concepts of “public” and “private”
space in cities changed as you closely observe the myriad ways people inhabit New York City?
14