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May 10, 2005
Washington Square Park Redevelopment
I'm glad I took photos of Washington Square Park when I was in New York last month -- major changes are in store for the park, including leveling of the uneven grade, moving the dog runs, shifting the fountain to match the gate, and building a wall around the park. As it is now, the park is a lively, vital public space with an open plan and crowds of people on a Friday afternoon. Walling it off seems almost criminal, even if there is a "park curfew"... The parks commission is spending a large amount of money to sanitize the park itself, shifting the image from open to exclusive.
This issue of the wall speaks directly to Leonie Sandercock's critique of planning history as she outlines the work of Dora Epstein on fear. The wall is indicative of the gentrification of the area and a desire on the part of more affluent residents for "safety":
The pathology of solutions (an implicit belief that built environments and social interactions can be made right), she argues, blurs or erases our memories of how the problem -- fear -- was socially contructed and signified in the first place. Planning's solution-oriented drive, which has resulted in the attempt to create safe spaces, misses two fundamental points. These "safe spaces" neither limit the perpetuation of fear nor seem to take into account the research that shows that city dwellers are most at risk of violence from people close to or known to them, rather than from the ubiquitously feared Stranger.
Washington Square Park, Haven for Eccentricity, Is Set to Fall Into Line