New York’s public spaces- especially green spaces, such as parks- have been used since their inception as markers of the social and economic elite. From the creation of Central Park to the construction of the High Line, New York City parks have stood as socioeconomic markers, and have been designed to cater to specific subsets of society. The parallels in purpose and function between Central Park, built in 1857, and the High Line, opened in 2009, are striking and undeniable.
Central Park, though widely considered a public park, was really a retreat for New York socialites from the dirty, diseased downtown area where working and lower class citizens lived and worked. “Uptown landowners saw the park as both way of screening out new poor residents and their associated trades… and as a means of removing the existing poor population” (Rosenzweig, 63). Central Park intentionally excluded minorities and people of lower classes not just by displacing existing populations and preventing new populations from moving into the area, but also through location and regulation. Being built so far uptown at that time meant that people in the lower classes did not have access to the park, as it was too far away from working class neighborhoods for families to walk there, and taking other forms of transportation up to the park was often too expensive. Many activities that the lower classes would use the park for were either prohibited or strictly regulated, so even if lower class people managed to get there, they would not find much to do. Dances, picnics, and sports game were all either prohibited or strictly regulated. These regulations simultaneously ensured the continued serenity of the park for the rich people taking bucolic walks and quiet boat rides through it and prevented families with children from entering- as children tend to be noisy and like to play- as well as working class groups hoping to wind down with various recreational activities. Both the location and the regulations surrounding the park made it difficult for the poor to participate in its culture.
The High Line, similarly, has become a symbol of social elitism barred to minorities and lower classes in New York City today. Built on an old railway that is now a modern walkway park, the High Line “represents an archetypal urban park in the neoliberal era, where the rising inequality of economic and cultural resources produces a spectrum of unevenly developed public parks, ranging from elite, privatized spaces in wealthy districts to neglected parks in poor neighborhoods” (Loughran, 50). Indeed, the High Line caters to a mainly young, white, well-to-do audience, and is maintained by the Friends of the High Line, the non-profit organization that established the park’s current regulations. In order to keep the park elite, vendors must be able to pay a fee to sell there, for example. Since many small-time vendors may not be able to pay the fee, expensive and gourmet vendors get to stay and profit from park-goers. Additionally, security and surveillance measures, such as stationing private security guards throughout, make the park feel unsafe to minorities- as they are “far more likely… to be the victims of use of force by the police” (NYT, 2016)- while ensuring the comfort of the rich white people that normally populate the park. Lastly, the poor are also discouraged from using the High Line, as many are still not able to travel there and cannot afford to consume the goods sold there, nor collect bottles or other materials from the trash, since High Lines employees are made to discard trash regularly, and off the park’s premises.
How public are public spaces? Based on what has happened in both Central Park and the High Line, it seems if one is socially privileged, belonging to the elite classes, then public spaces are as safe and accessible as they possibly can be. However, if one belongs to a disadvantaged group, supposedly public places can become hostile in a multitude of ways. Suddenly, these spaces become blocked for certain groups, whether through the banning of recreational activities enjoyed widely among peers of their same socioeconomic class, the imposition of uncomfortable security and surveillance measures, the displacement of communities in order to build the parks, or any number of other means. Public parks have in many cases become symbols of status rather than places anyone can go to enjoy time outdoors.
References:
Roy Rosenzweig. “Introduction”, The Park and the People: A History of Central Park. Cornell University Press. 1998. 63.
Kevin Loughran. Parks for Profit: The High Line, Growth Machines, and the Uneven Development of Urban Public Spaces. Northwestern University. 2014. 50.
Timothy Williams. “Study Supports Suspicion that Police are More Likely to Use Force on Blacks”. New York Times. 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/study-supports-suspicion-that-police-use-of-force-is-more-likely-for-blacks.html
