Hey everyone!
Apologies for the delay. Here are the readings for next week’s class, which will be focusing on parks in NYC.
As you read, you may want to consider the following questions: What is the primary purpose of public spaces and recreational facilities, and how have attitudes towards them changed in recent years? What is the Bloomberg administration trying to do with public parks? What are the critiques of NYC’s parks policies? What types of parks and playgrounds are in your neighborhoods, and how do they affect (and are affected by) your community? How can these ideas be connected to what we learned earlier this semester about Jane Jacobs’ ideas?
An Historical Analysis of Young People’s Use of Public Space, Parks, and Playground in NYC (Note that this paper was published in 2004, 2 years after Bloomberg began his first term.)
PlaNYC Public Spaces (Read both the intro and the PDF. PlaNYC is the Bloomberg administration’s goals for NYC that they aim to achieve by the year 2030.)
“High performance parks for a high-performing public”
Building Parks in Poor Neighborhoods
Study Criticizes Parks Dept. Management (NY Times)
nycgovparks.org (This is the Parks Department’s official website; it contains a lot of information about NYC’s parks recreation facilities. Just browse through it and explore.)
Have a great weekend. See you all on Wednesday.
