This common event focused on the development and current state of urban agriculture in New York City. The speakers for two grass roots community organizations, Just Food (Abby Youngblood) and GreenMarket (Liz Carlo), presented a comprehensive overview of the issues and successes surrounding the sustainable food movement, including: access to healthy and locally grown food,  farmers markets and community food education.

Abby started off her presentation with a background of obesity patterns and trends in the United States for the last few decades. The data showed plainly that: America is getting fat. The population is becoming increasingly overweight, especially in the South. Needless to say, the lack of healthy diets and poor eating habits can lead to serious public health issues. Decreasing life expectancy for children is one of them, not to mention diet-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes. In a study, a survey was conducted in all five boroughs that asked its residents: “Have you eaten a full serving of fruits and vegetables today?” For those areas that had the highest numbers of residents who answered “No”, the rate of obesity was also the highest. Abby argues that there is a correlation between eating fresh fruits and vegetables and diet-related diseases.

To combat this explosion of the obesity epidemic, she joined Just Food, which is a not-for-profit organization that tries to increase the city’s consumption of healthy, locally-grown produce. It not only gives neighborhoods and communities the opportunity to access fresh food, but it also financially supports family farms. Abby brought up two major issues: [1] food deserts and [2] decreasing farmland.

Food deserts are basically neighborhoods that have little to no access to foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. Most of the food is served by fast food restaurants that are easily accessible and cheap. Imagine a street full of McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Dunkin Donuts, Dominoes, Wendy’s and KFC. This may very well be a child’s idea of paradise, but these kinds of high-calorie, low-nutrition, cheap food have loads of preservatives and unhealthy ingredients. Just Food tries to make progress in food deserts by introducing city farms and food education. In city farms, people who already know about garden-grown food participate in free and public workshops where they can teach others. Most people think raising animals are restricted to rural farming, but I learned that it’s legal to raise hens in the city for egg produce. Also, in community-based markets, farmers can sell the produce they grow directly to city residents.

In terms of farmland, the numbers are decreasing. However, we need farms in New York. They’re beneficial to the environment, public health and it offers jobs. What I found interesting are Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSA). It’s a partnership between groups in the community and a variety of farmers (dairy, produce, etc.), where the buyers directly support the farmers. It’s like a magazine subscription; you pay a fee upfront and then you receive your magazine every week–the only catch is that you don’t know what you’re going to receive. Every week, you go to the distribution site and receive your mystery bag of in-season food. According to first-person accounts, the flavors are much richer than store-bought ones. This program really piqued my interest; I’d like to try out CSA in the future.

Liz continued the presentation by speaking about GreenMarket, which is an extended program of GrowNYC that follows a similar mission as Just Food–“open-air farmers markets program in the country connects local farmers with city residents”. I always thought there was only the green market at Union Square, but there are many smaller and locally-owned ones scattered throughout the five boroughs. In fact, there are 49 markets in total. I was surprised by the amount of resources that is made available for city residents, but knowledge about them is so limited.

Overall, I thought this event was very informative and enjoyable. It really opened my eyes to importance of educating New Yorkers about healthy food through public involvement. While there are many physical, financial and knowledge hurdles we still have to overcome, I believe these two organizations serve as prime examples of community activism. The Macaulay Honors College is actually hosting a Garden Party on April 24th with hopes of teaching students the planting and growing process of vegetables.

The readings for this week addressed the relationship between ghettos and housing and socioeconomic opportunities. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote his piece examining the Seventh Ward ghetto in Philadelphia in the last year of the 1800s. This area of Philadelphia was a black ghetto with deteriorating housing and little opportunity for advancement up the socioeconomic ladder. Most African-American men and women living in the Seventh Ward at the time were servants or laborers. Du Bois stated that the reason for the difficulties that ghetto dwellers experienced was the racial discrimination directed at them. Being black in a white man’s world made it nearly impossible to obtain a skilled job, not to mention finding and successfully keeping less desirable jobs. Racial discrimination kept these Philadelphian African-Americans in low paying jobs and essentially trapped them in the ghettos.

William Julius Wilson took a surprisingly different approach to his writing on ghettos. His piece was written almost one hundred years after W.E.B. Du Bois wrote “The Negro Problems of Philadelphia” with a different approach and new problems. Wilson studied the ghettos of Chicago and found that as time went on the conditions in the ghettos were actually worsening rather than improving. Unlike Du Bois’ time period, drugs and the violence that accompanies it were becoming increasingly troublesome. Strangely enough, the population inside of individual ghettos was decreasing but the number of ghetto neighborhoods was increasing. Such low density but large surface area coverage created difficulties in maintaining tight security in these neighborhoods and in using the community to reduce crime as well as family issues. What Wilson discovered was that the decrease in racial discrimination along with its continued legacy was aiding the redistribution of the black population into better neighborhoods with more to offer. However, as the more educated and better-off families left, the concentration of the poor became greater. These low-density communities did not offer much support and unfortunately drug use grew as an issue. According to Wilson, the central issue causing the deterioration of ghettos was unemployment. During the 1990s when this piece was written a shocking number of adults living in the Chicago ghettos did not hold jobs. Thus the vicious cycle of the poor trapped inside of lifeless ghettos continues, unless the issue of joblessness is addressed.

Michael Porter’s piece, “The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City”, in some ways addresses the joblessness problem raised by William Julius Wilson. Porter believes that it is time for a new strategy to bring life and energy to the ghettos. He argues that the government and businesses need to focus on an approach using economic incentives to generate wealth in those areas, instead of the traditional social approach that gives away economic care packages to individuals without any long-term effects. Porter believes that the trick is to lure in outside businesses into the inner city areas with the advantages that it has to offer, such as convenient location and human resources. If companies are meticulous in their research they can make the decision whether or not they will benefit from starting/moving their business to the inner city. With assistance from the government and community-based organizations, these imported companies can thrive and bring much needed economic boosts to the areas in which they set up shop.

Brief History

Hog Island, Manning’s Island, Blackwell’s Island, and Welfare Island.  These are the former names of what we now know as Roosevelt Island.

From 1832 to 1935, Roosevelt Island was used like a quarantine area to separate the undesireables of society from everyone else. The island housed a penitentiary, an asylum, a smallpox hospital, and a pathology lab.

It was only after Rikers Island penitentiary was opened and the convicts of Roosevelt Island (known as Welfare Island at the time) were transferred that the island began to change for the better.

In the mid 1900’s two chronic care and nursing facilities were made: Goldwater Memorial Hospital and Bird S. Coler Hospital.

Then, in 1969, plans are set up to change the island into a residential community.  The plan consists of multiple phases, of which only the first is completed.

Unconventional Society

On the island, car use is very limited.  There is a very large garage where residents park their cars.  When on the island, everyone uses public transportation, which consists of the M102 bus and Roosevelt Island’s own on-island shuttle bus service.  The fee for the shuttle bus is a quarter.

Roosevelt Island is the only residential area in the entire country to use the AVAC (Automated Vacuum Collection) System, which uses vacuumed tubes to move tanks of waste from the island to their destination elsewhere.

My Visit

After just a couple of minutes of exploring the island, I felt as though I were dreaming, living in a different society.  To try to put the feeling into words: It was almost like I was on the TV show Lost and the rest of NYC was the wild areas of the island, while Roosevelt island was the area where the “others” lived.

View of Queens from one of the island's many park spaces: It was strange being able to look out into Queens, walk for 10 seconds, and be able to look out into Manhattan.

On my visit, I started walking along the Queens side of the island.  The view had alternating areas of industrial buildings and parks, which made me think for a moment that the land use on Roosevelt Island was normal and Queens was actually the strange, foreign area.

On Roosevelt Island, the housing complexes were very tall and provided a lot of shade. However, there were many open spaces. It felt as though someone had taken a block from Manhattan and a section of Ally Pond Park in Queens, and melded them into a strange island. Also, many of the buildings were made so that the side walks were covered in shade.

In the context of what we learned a couple of classes ago, Roosevelt Island had MANY areas where people could sit. From benches, to ledges (that looked like they were made specifically for sitting), to picnic tables.

There were even pieces of art! In the water!

Overall, I feel that there is a lot to learn about city planning from studying Roosevelt Island, not just from studies, but from visits and through spending time on the island.

Roosevelt Island: the first thought that came to mind was the first stop of the F train on its journey before entering Queens. Nonetheless, I do consider it to be a noticeable piece of land on the East River nestled between Queens and Manhattan. It can be well viewed if crossing the Queensboro Bridge. In length, it is approximately two miles long with a width of 800 feet, with a landmass of approximately 147 acres. These 147 acres contains approximately 9,520 residents according to the year 2000 census, but apparently it has grown to 12,000 as of 2008. The male to female ratio is about 1:1. Demographically speaking, the island consists of almost 50% white residents, followed by 27% blacks. The Asian population is the next dominant population with 13%.

Historically, Roosevelt Island was once called Blackwell Island, but before that it was named Hog Island. Roosevelt Island originally belonged to the Canarsie Indians before it was sold to Wouter Van Tiller in 1637. After the Dutch rule was ousted by the English in 1666, Captain John Manning claimed the island. His son in law, Robert Blackwell soon possessed the island and named it Blackwell Island. His great grand son built the Blackwell House, now a New York historical landmark. Not long after the construction of this house, the City of New York bought the island for $32,000. The island was also called Welfare Island. As I previously mentioned, the presence of the island can’t be denied, but it looks isolated. This characteristic was apparent to many others before me. It was the ideal “haven.” The island once housed the mentally ill and the terminally sick. It was also filled with churches. With this air of hopelessness, the island took on the name Welfare Island.

My first impression of the island was its residential atmosphere. As it turned out, Roosevelt Island was principally intended to be a residential area. Its construction was planned by the firm ran by  Philip Johnson and John Burgee. The New York State Urban Development Corporation decided to implement this plan because it had the residential community design in mind. The island would be divided into three residential sectors. The island school would not be made in the stereotypical stone-like building look, but classrooms scattered around the building complexes. This was intended to give a relaxed, less rigid feeling like the type I had when I first visited the island. The primary development of Roosevelt Island was arguably more innovative compared to the more recent constructions being done.  Examples of this novice development are Westview and Eastwood , both designed by Josep Lluis Sert. Eastwood is the largest apartment housing unit on the island. The complex is worthy of consideration because it is an experimentation of a high-rise construction intended for multiple living space. Further developmental progress was rather slow after the first; the second project Northtown Phase II was completed after a decade when the first was completed. Southtown development was started in 1998, and it is still in the process of completion. Southtown brought in business establishments such as Starbucks.

The Roosevelt Island bridge facilitated the entrance into the island. Initially, a trolley was used to take passengers to the middle of Queensboro Bridge, where an elevator would lower them into the island. The island still does not have much car flow. Buses ran by the ROIC with relatively cheap fares take the island residents from their homes to the train. The Roosevelt Island Tramway provides instant access to Midtown Manhattan. Overall, Roosevelt Island has greatly improved and has shown its beauty since its use as a “hide-out” location for the city’s greatly ill people.

Roosevelt Island is a 2-mile-long island located between Manhattan and Queens on the East River, with a rich history in architecture and residential development. There are six notable landmarks on the island, including: Chapel of Good Shepherd, Blackwell House, Strecker Laboratory, The Octagon, The Lighthouse, and Smallpox Hospital. Today, some of these structures are preserved as historical monuments, while others are converted into luxury residences. For instance, The Octagon—formerly known as the New York Lunatic Asylum—is now a high-end apartment building that also includes a shopping mall.

Roosevelt Island is separated in two areas, Northtown and Southtown. Northtown consists of four housing complexes called the WIRE buildings, located on Main Street: Westview, Island House, Rivercross, and Eastwood. Southtown is more of a commercial area that includes restaurants, plazas, and shops. Currently, new apartment complexes and retail buildings are under construction. In fact, new businesses emerged due to residential development, such as Starbucks and Duane Reade.

Prisons in 1932

In 1828, City of New York purchased the island for $32,000 as a location for institutions, such as prisons and nursing homes. It offered a place to house the sick and the outsiders. In 1969, architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed a master plan for the island that was adopted by the New York State Urban Development Corporation. The plan called for a residential community that would house the elderly, the disabled and hospital workers. Currently, there are about 12,000 residents, an elementary school, a few restaurants, a shopping mall and two hospitals—Goldwater Memorial Hospital and Bird S. Coler Memorial Hospital.

In terms of infrastructure, a notable feature of the plan was to eliminate traffic problems by forbidding the use of automobiles. Today, much of the island remains a traffic-free environment. Residents are encouraged to park their cars in a large garage and take public transportation instead. The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) is responsible for maintaining, operating, and developing the island community, including housing, shops and community facilities.

For instance, RIOC manages infrastructure maintenance, including transportation to and from the island and on the island. Visitors can take the F train to Roosevelt Island or take the Tramway, which connects to Midtown Manhattan. Interestingly, the Tramway is often regarded as a tourist attraction and has been filmed in several movies and shows. On the island itself, a bright red shuttle bus transports passengers from apartment buildings to the subway and tramway for 25 cents, or 10 cents for elders and the disabled. The infrastructure, however, is aging and becoming less apt as the population increases.

RIOC is comprised of nine directors, including two members recommended by the Mayor and three residents. In this case, planning power is divided among citizen leaders and residents, which allows room for negotiation and sharing policy-making responsibilities. Nonetheless, according to the Roosevelt Island Accessibility Study*, “the island’s residents have been excluded from decision-making processes.” To ensure that the public’s voice is heard, Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) was established as a community group for active citizen participation. It “represents residents from all of the housing units on the island and plays a watchdog role regarding the management of RIOC.”

***

During my visit to Roosevelt Island, I had the opportunity to experience the anatomy of the land firsthand. When I exited the F train station, I was pleasantly greeted with the skyline of Manhattan’s East Side. On the opposite side, however, the view of Queens was a grotesque panorama of factories and demolished buildings. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day with sunny skies and warm breezes.

I was expecting to see a lot people walking around and enjoying the weather, but to my surprise, the waterfront pathway was mostly empty. The pathway ran along the edge of the island and led to Main Street (the center), where the Chapel of Good Shepherd and most of the residential buildings were located. There was a plaza surrounding the church, with benches bordering the edge, but for the most part, the plaza was just empty. Even on a beautiful day, I only saw one man reading a magazine on a bench.

As I made my way north, I noticed there were many grassy areas and open spaces. At the northern-most point, where the Lighthouse is located, there were open barbeque grills where people were cooking food and expansive grassy fields where people were flying kites. Residents and visitors can go to the park via bus service or by foot. To improve accessibility, AccessRI recommended “non-auto transportation options, including bus service, pedestrian and bike access, and water transport.”

Throughout my walk, one of the things I immediately noticed was the lack of street lights; there were mostly stop signs. I felt like I was in another town. I also noticed the lack of a map system, which would have been helpful to locate landmarks or navigate the island. According to Roosevelt Island Accessibility Study, maps would make it much easier to mark “the island’s many historic sites and destinations as well as its perimeter promenade.”

In addition, to maximize the function and access of the public spaces, adding seating areas or trees (for natural aesthetics and shade) might attract more people to utilize the space. Installing public art may even help foster triangulation in the area. Having efficient infrastructure, governance, and accessibility are collectively important, because it enables commuters and tourists alike to enjoy the island’s open spaces and historic landmarks.

*Roosevelt Island Accessibility Study was developed by AccessRI, a team of ten graduate students at Hunter College’s Department of Urban Affairs and Planning. The study is a “blueprint for advocacy and action” in the areas of community planning, placemaking, revitalization, infrastructure, and governance.

In “Knowledge Production and Use in Community Based Organizations: Examining the Influence of Information Technologies”, Laxmi Ramasubramanian analyzes the uses and impacts of information technologies by community board organizations. This includes looking at the connections between the use of technology, community organizations, and the power of a community. Information technologies include display and presentation technologies, text based communications technologies, and spatial technologies. These tools can be used in a variety of ways, such as using spatial technologies to create maps of a certain area or using text based communication technology to organize and mobilize a group of people. Ramasubramanian lays out three points that the study focused on, which include how information technologies are used in decision-making processes, the role played by these technologies in participatory decision-making, and the capacity of the technology to support organizational leadership (Ramasubramanian 2004).

Information technologies are a powerful tool because they can serve to give all people a voice and allows them to do their own research and come up with their own solutions to problems that matter to them. These technologies are capable of producing a wealth of information that organizations such as CBOs can use to make decisions and influence or challenge those with power. As Ramasubramanian points out, this is important for CBOs because they reflect the interests of city residents who may not have much of a voice in government. Despite the apparent benefits of information technologies, there is some debate over the impact these technologies can have. Those who argue against the reliance on information technology make the point that social problems cannot be solved by technology and point to the possible dangers that reliance on technology can bring.

Information technologies have a profound impact on society, which is why it is helpful to study the nature of this impact. For example, Rheingold makes the point that electronic communications provides people with social network capital, which is the ability to meet others with similar interests, knowledge capital, which allows you to ask networks of people for help and information, and communion, which gives people a sort of emotional support(Ramasubramanian 2004). Since information technologies have the capability to connect different kinds of people, the linkages between society and the implementation of technology need to be understood to evaluate the impacts technology can have.

In studying the use of technologies by CBOs, Ramasubramanian looks at the processes of technology adoption and use, participatory decision-making, and leadership. This involves looking at how CBOs use data and information to make decisions and the role that technologies play in identifying problems, choosing a course of action, how technology facilitates or hinders CBOs in creating community participation, and how technology can empower CBOs to put them in a position of leadership. The cities studied were Boston and Chicago, and the CBOs studied were the Chicago Housing Corporation (CHC) and the Westside Community Development Corporation (WCDC) in Chicago and the South End Community Organization (SECO) and Boston Tenants Council (BTC) in Boston. WCDC and BTC did not make heavy use of information technologies, whereas CHC and SECO did.

The study found that information technologies created certain benefits for CBOs, allowing them to identify and reframe problems, develop programs and policies based on research or better understanding of the situation, and make analysis of problems easier. In particular, it was found that information technologies helped improve efficiency in the CBO by making the gathering of data faster and easier and improving the presentation of the results obtained from research. Technologies also allowed people to communicate better in groups by allowing people to use technology like maps to simplify complex concepts and by allowing CBOs to reach out to a greater number of people. Information technologies also allowed CBOs to negotiate more effectively with community leaders and planners because they can better present their ideas and have the ability to use information about past policies to support or disapprove with a certain policy.

Information technologies do produce some negatives for CBOs, which can make it difficult to implement the technology. It can be expensive to incorporate the technology into the CBO because it requires training staff to understand how to use information technologies to find solutions to problems or choose an appropriate course of action.

Information technologies had a positive effect on participatory planning because they allow people to have access to a great deal of information which allows them to understand how their decisions can affect their community. Information technologies also allowed CBOs to address a particular problem, learn how to deal with the problem by studying data and information, and collaborate with other organizations to attempt to solve the problem.

Information technologies can be very useful for CBOs because it allows the CBO to combine quantitative with qualitative information. CBOs can gather data and evidence by using technology such as GIS, and can then use this data to identify problems or propose solutions to problems. It allows the CBO to frame a problem through the lens of the community because it gives the CBO the ability to have more contact with community residents and also allows community residents to participate more in decision-making.

High Line Park Observations 

Conducted by many. Presented by  Shanna and Ryan who discussed visitations on Friday midday, Monday evening (5pm) and Sunday afternoon.

Students noted that Sunday is the most crowded day in High Line Park where people walked quickly almost in a single file. This park is built on top of an old train station in Chelsea which extends 25 streets long with lots of open space. Although the park lacks water fountains, the Hudson River is visible. The people that occupied this park were mostly upper-class/middle-class white people such a single white men. The entrances are secluded and there is a hidden sign that says “High Line Park.” It is clear that this park is clean and maintained with private guards, making it a safe place.  Many visitors/tourists were seen taking pictures of the serene atmosphere. The most crowded place in the park is by the sundeck and water feature filled with sun chairs. Singles, doubles and triples occupy the local area and there are lots of parking garages in the neighborhood.

For more information about the High Line Park, you can visit thier website at: http://www.thehighline.org/.

LIC Park Observations 

Conducted by Kanusheree and Lakshman on Saturday at 4pm and Tuesday 2pm on sunny days

This waterfront plaza is filled with ledges, chairs, joggers, couples eating lunch, children and residential buildings. Its relative proximity (2-3 blocks) to the subway station allows for easy access and the park is wheelchair accesible as well. Although the stairs were decorative, they were quite useless because people did not use them or sit on them. The park is full of open green grass space and has semi-circle shaped shore-line where the center of park serves as walkway. People were usually concentrated on the sides and the space is not used very well. There are no office biudings but piers and a water terminal are in sight. For the objects that are not in sight, there are machines available for use as binoculars with change. Observers recommended a list of improvements/programming such as: canoeing, kayaking, boating to make use of water space, movie showing and the addition of statues.

Yasmin Zakiniaeiz

The City Reader

“The Design of Spaces” by William H. Whyte

Sociologist William H. Whyte examined New York City’s parks and plazas composed mostly of empty space to help sketch a complete design for the city. He described his ideal plaza as one in which there was a high proportion of couples and groups. Whyte videotaped pedestrians in New York City parks and plazas to test the many hypotheses he predicted. Whyte found some theories to be obvious and consistent in all parks while others were contrary to intuitive belief. For example, Whyte discovered the instinctive conviction that the number of occupants directly relates to size of the empty space is false. Shape did not factor into the park use either. Whyte came to the conclusion that park use is in direct relation with the amount of “sittable space” (Whyte 448). Furthermore, he found that aesthetics did not relate to usage of the space surrounding it (451). Another falsehood is that “location is a prerequisite for success,” (451) which Whyte found to be the complete opposite. Some of the best parks are in the worst places and vice versa.

Whyte’s research in New York City’s open space led to the realization that there are gender discrepancies which is associated with the quality of the park. Women tend to be more judgmental and discriminating against the chair or bench that they sit in. By watching the park inhabitants and recording the average female to male ratio, Whyte related the higher ratio to the better-used park. Women also tend to favor places that are slightly secluded indicating a high-quality park with lots of space. William H. Whyte’s brilliant discovered inspired the design of Bryant Park and completely transformed empty space into the park we all know and love today. This park clean, vivacious and provides plentiful seating making it suitable for people of all genders.

According to Whyte’s description of a park in good use, Verdi Square Park does not meet the qualifications. Verdi Square Park served as a walkway for pedestrians trying to avoid the busy streets or quickly hop on the train. Only a few people sat down even though plenty of seating was available. Only one couple was observed in the forty-five minute observation and one man eating his lunch on a bench. Elderly men and women as well as pedestrians with their pets walked by without ever taking a seat. Its unique trapezoidal space did not demonstrate its usage just as Whyte exposed. Verdi square is not a sociable place nor was there a high propensity of women, signifying the poor quality of the park. One factor that makes these observations slightly biased is the weather. Whyte found that the sun is an important factor but did not explain the population of a plaza.

Verdi Square Observations

Verdi Square is a small triangular shaped piece of land with the Giuseppe Verdi stature enclosed by fencing on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The following descriptions refer to the area enclosed by 72^nd street and 73^rd street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue known as Verdi Square Park. These observations were recorded on a warm, sunny Friday afternoon (Friday, March 5^th at 2:30pm). Please refer to the map attached.

Verdi Square is named after Giuseppe Verdi, whose large monument stands erected in the center of the north side of Verdi Square. The statue depicts Verdi at the top and four characters beneath him on a lower platform. Surrounding Verdi’s monument are trees aligned along the perimeter of the area and plants. This patch is the only organized garden with equidistant trees and short plants. The other two gardens (two in the center of the park and one parallel to Broadway) have random plots of trees as well as stone seating along the perimeter. Analogous to the individual seating are thirteen single and coupled benches along the non-street side of Verdi Square inside the park.

Connecting the two gardens on the east an west side of the park (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, are black posts that prevent vehicle entrance such as buses that run up Amsterdam Avenue and down 73^rd street. The garden blotches are fenced along the perimeter followed by these black posts, hindering non-pedestrian access. No bike riders were observed at the scene, which may have been due to the hindered entry or crowded vicinity. Consequently, the Verdi Square Park serves as a walkway for pedestrians wandering the streets of Manhattan, walking their pets or taking the 1, 2, or 3 trains at the 72^nd Street Station. The train’s convenient location in the center of two major roadways makes it easily accessible to those on either side of the street and acts as an excellent transportation center.

Neighboring the Verdi Square Park premises are major name brand stores and locations such as Urban Outfitters, Strawberry, The North Face, Apple Bank, Chipotle and Haagen-Dazs. At the site of Verdi Square Park are two magazine stands, one flanked by the train station and a mini garden, and the other attached to the train station entrance.  These stands sell drinks, snacks, candy, magazines, newspapers, chips, gum, ice cream etc. The magazine stands are well-located adjacent to the train station where passengers often seek a snack or a good read for the ride.

Pedestrians passing by were observed carrying shopping bags from the neighboring stores, suitcases and schoolbags. Children, adults, seniors, teenagers and even dogs were seen in Verdi Square Park rushing busily to the train, strolling through the park or sitting on benches. Couples sitting next to each other talked while others ate lunch, played with their pets, talked on their cell phones or enjoyed the scenery.

The park was not only people-friendly, but it was also environment-friendly. Fourteen garbage bins were placed in this small trapezoidal park, two of which were recycling bins. One can was designated for bottles and cans and the other for magazines and newspapers. The park was very clean with minimal garbage on the floor. The floor pattern can be described as a web of interconnected hexagonal light grey tiles. Every estimated meter laid four joined hexagons in a darker grey. At the center of Verdi Square Park was a floor design composed of four circles with a large global 3-dimmensional figure at the midpoint. Surrounding the centerpiece where 8 other circles in different sizes as if to represent the solar system with linked rings. Overall, the park serves many purposes (walkway, transportation center, spacious environment) and is well designed to meet the needs of its populace.

Jacquelyn Lekhraj

William H. Whyte undertook the task of identifying what characteristics of open space (mainly parks and plazas) make them more visited and used in comparison to others. He did so by setting up cameras overlooking plazas and surveyed the types of people (gender, age, and profession) who used the space and whether or not they came alone or in groups. One conclusion that Whyte drew that I found particularly interesting was that, “the best-used places also tend to have a higher than average proportion of women” (Whyte 450). The justification he provided was that women are more particular about where they are willing to sit in terms of it’s cleanliness and the existence of “annoyances”. Based on my observations of Verdi Square, this seems true. Verdi Square had several bench areas, but very few people sitting. Those who were sitting were all male ages ranging from about 17 to 65. The main annoyance that existed at Verdi Square was the hustle and bustle of commuters entering and exiting the train station located in the center of the square. Whyte also observes the social interactions that take place in open space. He suggests that plazas are not ideal spaces for meeting people. Rather, an open street that’s filled of eateries is more likely to see socializing. An example he provides, that I have visited is the South Street Seaport. The rush and tight space capacity essentially forces people to be near each other during lunchtime (Whyte 450).

The basic conclusion that Whyte draws from all his research is that there is no more clear cut correlation between the popularity of a plaza or strip and “the amount of sittable space” (452). The amount of space that can be sat in is the crucial determining factor in people’s decision to occupy a space or not. This although seemingly obvious is a very accurate deduction that many plaza designers overlook. As a New Yorker, I myself look for an area with seating during my leisure time or breaks at work while I’m in the city. For example, in the summer, I will not take my break outside in Union Square Park (which is across the street from my employer) unless I can see that there is, as Whyte would call it “integral seating” available; that being steps in the entrance to the park. Whyte therefore suggests that removing impediments such as pikes, metal or jagged rock from steps would enhance the popularity by widening the seating area. However, “integral space” isn’t the most important seating asset according to white. On the contrary, it’s movable chairs. These provide people “with choice” (453). People can find a preferential spot to sit, and go there. I’ve participated in as well as witnessed this very act. For example in Bryant Park, people often move their chairs from the outskirts of the lawn, onto the lawn if they’d prefer to sit in the sun, and vice versa is also true if one prefers to sit in the shade along the perimeter. Therefore the aesthetics of the chair is not important to the popularity of the space, rather the move-ability is.

VERDI SQUARE:

OBSERVATIONS (conducted on Saturday March 6th from 3:15-4:00pm)
– The “square” resembles more of a trapezoid
– There are only two entrances both of which lead into the street. This guides pedestrian movement parallel to the subway station.
– High traffic area primarily due to the subway entrance.
– Only three people are sitting at the benches. One teenager, a middle aged man, and a senior citizen all of whom are male.
– There are two types of seating areas: granite benches and regular wooden benches
– The square is enclosed by black metal fencing
– People who enter the square are either entering the subway station or walking through it to the next street.
– There are many tourists and people shopping
– Verdi square is 0.06 acres and established in the name of Giuseppe Verdi a renowned composer.