No Boundaries

Stappelbäddsparken, Mälmo, Sweden

During our trip, I was fascinated by the lack of boundaries (e.g., fences, guardrails) surrounding active public spaces, such as skateparks, climbing walls, and even the waterfront, where I normally would expect them to be present.  I also observed a general sense of self-monitoring and responsibility - that it was understood that these public spaces belonged to the community and therefore, they were responsible for maintaining the environment that they enjoyed. Stappelbäddsparken was built by a local brewery and the city of Mälmo and has been open year-round, 24/7, since 2006.  There are no operating times, no entrance fees, and no patrolling officers to ‘maintain the peace’ and ‘ensure a safe environment’.  These aspects help to create an environment that is open and welcoming.  Pubic activity seamlessly becomes an accessible attraction, drawing the local community and visitors together.

Compare this park to a local skatepark in San Diego, CA:

 

This space was built and operated by the city of San Diego and is open to the public.  There are daily operating hours, and there is a laundry list of rules on their website if you wish to use the park (http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/centers/robbskate.shtml).  I think one of the most noticeable features is how spectators (usually parents, and rarely passersby) must sit behind a fence to watch the activities.  I understand that these measures are here to ensure the safety of the people as well as to protect the integrity of the park, but it gives a closed and uninviting feeling to this public space.  It also literally cuts off the dynamics of the skatepark from the surroundings, removing opportunities for people to just stop by and watch or even to join in.  Given the convoluted tort laws that exist here, I wonder if it would be possible to create a public space on the waterfront with a sense of  “no boundaries” in order to capture an open and inviting feeling that allow participants and spectators, locals and visitors, to interact.

-Kris

streetfilms

Biking Copenhagen- North American Perspective

This is a great intro to what it felt like to bike Copenhagen- for those who were not able to make the tour.

Recreation and Delight

Getting children to play in public space is one thing, but successfully inviting adults to interact with their surroundings is another story altogether. I was very impressed with the all-ages inclusiveness of many of the interactive elements we saw in squares and parks around Copenhagen and Malmo. I think that the key is that many of these elements are not straightforward "playgrounds." They do not prescribe a standard method of "acceptable" play/use -- they are widely open to interpretation -- and that quality makes them very welcoming. The playful use of color, material choices, placement and proportion of objects  contributes a sense of whimsy to the landscape that may help lower inhibitions to interaction.

A few of my favorites:

1. Carlsberg Industrial Playground

The spring-mounted platforms in the Carlsberg development were a totally unexpected surprise! Few of us could resist testing them out. We jumped solo and in pairs and leaped from platform to platform, seeing what interesting results we could get from different movement. 

The simple wooden benches offered a pop of color to the landscape and a comfortable view of the action.

2. Waterfront Park in Malmo

The oversized lawn furniture and abstract sculptures in the green park near Malmo's West Harbor was attractive both from afar and up-close. It offered great places to sit, climb, relax and enjoy the beautiful waterfront view.

The clumps of different furniture helped to break the wide-open space into defined areas that gave a sense of privacy without breaking up the beautiful, clear views of city, water and green space. The objects here are not childish, so adults didn't seem to feel too self-conscious to test them out.

3. West Harbour, Malmo

Sturdy plastic hammocks in one of the park areas in the center of the West Harbour residential development offered oases for napping in public! Although the hammocks were out in the open, they were separated from the nearby playground and other more active structures along the canal, making them useful as private vantage points to stretch out quietly and watch the scene unfold. The concrete stumps also offer seating for friends or a place for small children to play/climb, making this space inviting for groups of people as well.

*posted by Julia Levitt on 9/29/10

Where's Nature?

A thing I noticed again and again in Copenhagen was how the Dane's concept of "nature" or "ecology" differed so much from ours.  We all commented on how few trees there seemed to be in the city, and in our meetings with various designers, whenever a question of the "ecological benefits" of a design was raised, the concept seemed alien to them.  Aren't these supposed to be fundamental values for landscape architects?  I was really intrigued by this weird difference, and I though about it a lot, and decided to do some exploring.  On my days off, I would hop on my bike and tour-de-france it straight out of town, determined to find those "green fingers" everyone talks about.  It wasn't too hard, I found "nature" a couple of times after a twenty or thirty minute bike ride in a couple directions, and what I found really differed from the forest we might find outside of an American city.  It was very very controlled, it was nature in human hands, it was "allowed" to be there, it had paths through it, it was maintained.  It was the result of humans inhabiting the same country for thousands of years, using every square inch of it, and conciously deciding that there should be "landscape", land that looks unused, deliberate anti-city.  In the United States, we started with a vast wilderness and are basically still carving into it.  We worry about conservation, and we think about the "ecological benefits" of things we design.  In Denmark, the virgin wilderness was obliterated centuries ago, and the whole land is shaped by human hands.  So we end up with a really different mindset in Denmark.  They don't have forests that just "grew on their own", every inch of land is claimed by humans.  Sometimes the humans built buildings, sometimes the humans planted plants, and sometimes the humans created some kind of mix.  But the whole Danish landscape is very much a designed landscape.  I think it might offer a healthy opportunity to blur our dichotomized view of "nature" vs "civilization", since wild things and human things coexist everywhere throughout Denmark.
-Dan Shaw

Plaza del Sol, Sunnyvale, California

Andi Slusser
LARC 504
Build it and they will….not necessarily come. Except on Saturdays, during the Farmer’s Market. And maybe a little on Thursdays, when there’s live jazz music on nearby Murphy Avenue. And during the Art and Wine Festival in the summer, of course (Also on Murphy Avenue). But definitely not during weekday lunchtime, because the adjacent office buildings are tenantless (still), so who’s going to come? In the intensely high speed and high pressure tech industry of Silicon Valley, I’m sure innumerably more sandwiches are consumed at the computer than out in a park, regardless of the proximity or weather.

Rail commuters using the CalTrain station across the street are likely in a hurry, coming or going, so no time for them to sit and read the paper, sipping their coffee like we always imagine in public squares with plenty of seating. No schools nearby for students to enliven the space after class, and Sunnyvale isn’t exactly known for its hip music scene. Sunnyvale even has an incredibly low crime rate, so no(t many) drug dealers here. Too open (and the police station too near) for homeless folks to want to loiter.

A shame really, given the immense cost of the multi-level underground parking garage, the quirky but thoughtful orchard-inspired art and specific use of cherry trees and the generally good weather of the aptly named suburban city. 

But then again, it’s hard to judge a space after being there for eight minutes.

photo source: City of Sunnyvale Parks and Recreation Department website (http://www.sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityServices/Parks/PlazadelSol.aspx)

Critical Analysis of Public Space

Welcome to our studio blog!  We would like the participants of this year's travel study to post a reflection/critical analysis of concepts he/she learned while on the trip.  We ask that everyone post a paragraph supported by a  photo describing something that was learned or can be applied to this year's studio project: Public Space Public Life for Seattle's Central Waterfront. 

Please be thoughtful in your posts so this blog can serve as a resource for your projects. 

Please feel free to comment on other posts as well!

Thanks!