Orchard Beach is a very diverse area. It is well utilized, and is thriving and full of life. The ethnic groups that largely populate the area are Latino's and Caribbeans. There is a lot of cultural segregation. People like to make this beach their own. Many of the visitors that visit the park are Latino, seniors, and naturalists.
The Public Space Research Group conducted surveys of Pelham Bay Park between July 1996-June 1998. The studies focused on describing the demographics of the visitors and collecting user evaluations of the park, participant evaluation, behavioral mapping, key informant interviews, and face-to-face interviews.
Parks are socially constructed and have complex histories. Descriptions of cultural groups and their symbolic expressions and cultural pride add depth to the social life of the park. It is a "home" to the Latino's and seniors that may feel marginalized.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
HW November 24th - Jacob Riis Park
Jacob Riis Park is a beach with a boardwalk, playground, and concessions. The park lacks funds to keep it kept up well. That was and is a concern for people who use the park.
The research they did was finding out who used the park and the concerns they had about it. The REAP ethnographic assessments they used were individual interviews, expert interviews, transect walks, and behavioral maps.
There are a few different bays in Jacob Riis Park. Bay 1is a nude beach where a lot of gays go. It seems like a dirty beach that doesn't have bathrooms or concessions. Bay 5 and 6 has bathrooms, concession, showers, and the famous clock. There is access to the parking lots, play ground, ball courts and a barbecue area. Bay 14 has no facilities and acts as a cul-de-sac for boardwalk activity. Many young people come to drink beer and hang out.
The back beach area is where the park and playground are. Families come to picnic here. Many different ethnic groups use this park. The park offers diverse territories for the groups that they can claim. The park itself serves recent immigrants and poor to middle class residents of Brooklyn and Queens.
The research they did was finding out who used the park and the concerns they had about it. The REAP ethnographic assessments they used were individual interviews, expert interviews, transect walks, and behavioral maps.
There are a few different bays in Jacob Riis Park. Bay 1is a nude beach where a lot of gays go. It seems like a dirty beach that doesn't have bathrooms or concessions. Bay 5 and 6 has bathrooms, concession, showers, and the famous clock. There is access to the parking lots, play ground, ball courts and a barbecue area. Bay 14 has no facilities and acts as a cul-de-sac for boardwalk activity. Many young people come to drink beer and hang out.
The back beach area is where the park and playground are. Families come to picnic here. Many different ethnic groups use this park. The park offers diverse territories for the groups that they can claim. The park itself serves recent immigrants and poor to middle class residents of Brooklyn and Queens.
Friday, November 18, 2011
HW November 17th- Chapter 4, "The Ellis Island Bridge Proposal"
This chapter is about whether the National Park Service should build a bridge from Ellis Island to Liberty State Park in New Jersey. In 1994, the Public Space Research Group interview the public to see what they thought about the bridge proposal. They had 15 constituency groups in Battery Park that they used. Twelve of the groups were work/park related. In Liberty Park, they used twelve constituency groups and of those twelve, five were work/park related. They also spoke to focus groups, did spontaneous interviews, expert interviews, physical trace maps, and behavioral mapping. While doing the spontaneous interviews, they used Spanish, English, and Russian languages.
The most important observation they found out from interviewing people in Liberty Park, Battery Park, and the area surrounding Liberty Park was that the people were extremely interested in the issue and were very understanding of the problems and consequences of the issue regardless of ethic background. Some of the issues with building the bridge that were brought up were cost, access, park quality, aesthetics, safety and comfort, health and recreation, ect. There was a wide range of answers they got from people either for or against the bridge.
The most important observation they found out from interviewing people in Liberty Park, Battery Park, and the area surrounding Liberty Park was that the people were extremely interested in the issue and were very understanding of the problems and consequences of the issue regardless of ethic background. Some of the issues with building the bridge that were brought up were cost, access, park quality, aesthetics, safety and comfort, health and recreation, ect. There was a wide range of answers they got from people either for or against the bridge.
Friday, November 11, 2011
HW November 10th, 2011
Chapter 3, "Prospect Park: Diversity at Risk"
Prospect Park, a pastoral landscape 526 acre park, is located in northern Brooklyn. It is extremely culturally diverse with whites, blacks, hispanics, and many other ethic groups visiting on a regular basis. It was built between 1867 and 1873 by the Protestant ministers of the fast and growing Brooklyn during that time.
The park is a large site for cultural expression including music. There is an officially sponsored diverse pop music concert program. On Sundays, there is a drumming phenomenon that takes place on the east side of the park. Most of the drumming rhythms reflect African rhythms - Nigerian, Haitian, and some of Afro-Brazillian variety.
The data in this chapter reflects the values of users in the park and the activities they do. It also break it down by race to see who comes to the park to do what activity. Many of the Blacks and Hispanics come to the park in big groups to do activities together. Many whites come to enjoy the nature and wildlife of the park as a refuge from the city. The racial and cultural issues are clearly known in Prospect park. The west side of the park is a lot nicer than the east side. It is more well-kept and clean. The white population is usually on the west side. The east side usually consists of hispanics and blacks. The different races feel safer on their "side" of the park. The blacks and hispanics feel out of place and uncomfortable when they go to the west side, and the whites feel unsafe and uncomfortable when they go to the east side.
Prospect Park, a pastoral landscape 526 acre park, is located in northern Brooklyn. It is extremely culturally diverse with whites, blacks, hispanics, and many other ethic groups visiting on a regular basis. It was built between 1867 and 1873 by the Protestant ministers of the fast and growing Brooklyn during that time.
The park is a large site for cultural expression including music. There is an officially sponsored diverse pop music concert program. On Sundays, there is a drumming phenomenon that takes place on the east side of the park. Most of the drumming rhythms reflect African rhythms - Nigerian, Haitian, and some of Afro-Brazillian variety.
The data in this chapter reflects the values of users in the park and the activities they do. It also break it down by race to see who comes to the park to do what activity. Many of the Blacks and Hispanics come to the park in big groups to do activities together. Many whites come to enjoy the nature and wildlife of the park as a refuge from the city. The racial and cultural issues are clearly known in Prospect park. The west side of the park is a lot nicer than the east side. It is more well-kept and clean. The white population is usually on the west side. The east side usually consists of hispanics and blacks. The different races feel safer on their "side" of the park. The blacks and hispanics feel out of place and uncomfortable when they go to the west side, and the whites feel unsafe and uncomfortable when they go to the east side.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
HW November 3rd
Chapter 2 "History and Social Context," pages 19-20
The first urban park were used for grazing cattle and militia training. They were underdeveloped and were called "commons." During the 1820-1840s, a movement began to make tree-lined paths for the fashionable citizens who lived near by. The phase of letting cattle graze in the parks began to end, and more improvements were made to the open public spaces.
Landscape parks were designed as refuges from the city. Prospect Park and Central Park are a few examples of landscaped parks.
As parks began to develop in New York and Boston, the movement to improve the public spaces spread. State parks started popping up.
In the 1920s and 1930s, public recreation centers began to develop. Instead of focusing on the contact with nature, the recreation centers were created to bring about the benefits of wholesome recreation to urban people.
Riis Park provided the transition from municipal and state parks to a discussion of the National Park system. These parks help preserve the wildlife habitats. Heritage sites help preserve historic landmarks and structures.
Because of federal funding, national parks are much less dependent upon local political conditions. Most municipal parks depend on local public funds.
This chapter was all about the different types of parks there are and how they were made and what they are used for.
The first urban park were used for grazing cattle and militia training. They were underdeveloped and were called "commons." During the 1820-1840s, a movement began to make tree-lined paths for the fashionable citizens who lived near by. The phase of letting cattle graze in the parks began to end, and more improvements were made to the open public spaces.
Landscape parks were designed as refuges from the city. Prospect Park and Central Park are a few examples of landscaped parks.
As parks began to develop in New York and Boston, the movement to improve the public spaces spread. State parks started popping up.
In the 1920s and 1930s, public recreation centers began to develop. Instead of focusing on the contact with nature, the recreation centers were created to bring about the benefits of wholesome recreation to urban people.
Riis Park provided the transition from municipal and state parks to a discussion of the National Park system. These parks help preserve the wildlife habitats. Heritage sites help preserve historic landmarks and structures.
Because of federal funding, national parks are much less dependent upon local political conditions. Most municipal parks depend on local public funds.
This chapter was all about the different types of parks there are and how they were made and what they are used for.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
HW October 27th, 2011
Thoughts on Urban Life
I enjoyed reading this book (for the most part). It was interesting reading about ethnography and how people go about researching other communities. Some of it was boring to me since I am not overly intersted in anthropology, but I enjoy learning new things, and this opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at my community and the city itself.
Rethinking Urban Parks (pages 1-18)
"The Cultural Life of Large Urban Spaces"
This chapter was an introduction to looking at urban spaces. It give reasons why public urban spaces are important. We depend on spaces such as parks, garden, benches, ect for cross-class and multicultural contact. We need these types of spaces to promote social and cultural diversity. Here are six lessons to provide a guideline for park planning, management, and design:
1. People and their culture need to be represented in these spaces
2. Acess (visitation and income) must be taken into account for all social groups
3. Social intereaction within diverse groups can be maintained with safe, spacially adequate space for everyone
4. Accomodating differences in the ways social class and ethnic groups use and value public sites
5. Contempory historic preservation for the facilities, diversions and scenic aspect.
6. Symbolic ways of communitcating cultural meaning
Social sustainability is important in the framework of planning and managing large urban spaces. Place preservation, cultural ecology theories, and cultural diversity help make up this framework. There are many arguments that affect social sustainability. Cultural property rights, community participation,empowerment and citizenship, heritage, and cultural values are a few that are touched on in this essay. It is really important to have an understanding of sultural diversity adn community values if a city is to have a successful park, bench or heritage site.
I think this book will be very interesting since it takes public spaces from New York City and focuses on them. I am looking forward to learning more about this.
I enjoyed reading this book (for the most part). It was interesting reading about ethnography and how people go about researching other communities. Some of it was boring to me since I am not overly intersted in anthropology, but I enjoy learning new things, and this opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at my community and the city itself.
Rethinking Urban Parks (pages 1-18)
"The Cultural Life of Large Urban Spaces"
This chapter was an introduction to looking at urban spaces. It give reasons why public urban spaces are important. We depend on spaces such as parks, garden, benches, ect for cross-class and multicultural contact. We need these types of spaces to promote social and cultural diversity. Here are six lessons to provide a guideline for park planning, management, and design:
1. People and their culture need to be represented in these spaces
2. Acess (visitation and income) must be taken into account for all social groups
3. Social intereaction within diverse groups can be maintained with safe, spacially adequate space for everyone
4. Accomodating differences in the ways social class and ethnic groups use and value public sites
5. Contempory historic preservation for the facilities, diversions and scenic aspect.
6. Symbolic ways of communitcating cultural meaning
Social sustainability is important in the framework of planning and managing large urban spaces. Place preservation, cultural ecology theories, and cultural diversity help make up this framework. There are many arguments that affect social sustainability. Cultural property rights, community participation,empowerment and citizenship, heritage, and cultural values are a few that are touched on in this essay. It is really important to have an understanding of sultural diversity adn community values if a city is to have a successful park, bench or heritage site.
I think this book will be very interesting since it takes public spaces from New York City and focuses on them. I am looking forward to learning more about this.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Edge and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear
Setha Low writes this essay to show why people move to gated communities. She takes a gated community in Queens and San Antonio and interviews people in those communities. She uses these two because they are very different from each other. Some of the differences are population size and density, history of the gated community development, scale and design of the gated communities, legal and government structure, crime rates for the region, and cultural norms and behaviors. Many people move to gated communities because they feel it is safer. One third of all new homes built in America are in gated communities. In New York, nine out of ten of the people Low interviewed mentioned that crime was a reason they moved to the gated community. Nine of the interviewees in San Antonio said crime was a reason. Many of the moms in San Antonio moved for their children.
In New York, most of people moved to the gated community because of the deteriorating communities they had lived in and the increase of crime. In San Antonio it is similar, but more people were afraid of illegal immigrants and kidnapping.
I thought this was a very interesting article. I enjoyed learning about reasons why people move to gated communities.
In New York, most of people moved to the gated community because of the deteriorating communities they had lived in and the increase of crime. In San Antonio it is similar, but more people were afraid of illegal immigrants and kidnapping.
I thought this was a very interesting article. I enjoyed learning about reasons why people move to gated communities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)