Why Public Space Matters

I often ask people what their favorite place is in their city or town. What are the places they particularly like and think about as having a special meaning or memory? The answer inevitably is a public space, sometimes a large park to walk, play, or picnic and other times a local square or plaza with shaded paths and comfortable seating. Benches outside a caf?e or on the sidewalk are commemorated with the names of those who spent time sitting with friends and neighbors. In residential neighborhoods, steps in front of an apartment building or library offer gathering places. Open school yards and church grounds are mentioned as favorite places to hold informal markets, clothing swaps, voter registration drives and bake sales to benefit local organizations. Many times, the response is accompanied by a smile and reminiscence about a day at the beach, historic monument, art museum, or an afternoon spent strolling a scenic walkway or bicycling along a nature trail. Young people look for streets and paved areas of parks that provide exhilarating skateboarding or basketball courts and soccer fields where pick-up games happen. Children enjoy lively playgrounds, while caretakers select locations with high visibility and protection from ongoing traffic. Teenagersprefer places they own" and just "hang" to watch others away from prying eyes. The favorite spots of homeless people are out-of-the-way edges or deep-forested centers of parks and the interstices of buildings and roads. Tourists point to open areas withtables and chairs to sit and watch the ongoing action even with honking cars or densely packed walkways. Some people love busy avenues and marketplaces full of energy to participate in the buzz of urban life, while others prefer quiet alleyways, solitarymeadows, and tree-lined boulevards"--