Why Public Space Matters

2023 Political Science

Author : Setha M. Low
Release : 2023
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 731/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Why Public Space Matters by : Setha M. Low

Download or read book Why Public Space Matters written by Setha M. Low. This book was released on 2023. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public spaces are vital to a healthy civic life. Even fleeting interactions in such places tend to expand people's horizons. Sidewalks, plazas, public parks, central squares, and public libraries all enhance public life in unique ways. Yet, as Setha Low details in Why Public Space Matters, we are losing public spaces to urban development and the belief that public spaces are expendable. Just as important is the broad and ongoing corporate privatization of public space. This book explores why public spaces are so vitally important today and what we can do about protecting these essential places.

Rethinking Urban Parks

2009-05-21 Political Science

Author : Setha M. Low
Release : 2009-05-21
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 21X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Rethinking Urban Parks by : Setha M. Low

Download or read book Rethinking Urban Parks written by Setha M. Low. This book was released on 2009-05-21. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of public recreation space and how urban developers can encourage ethnic diversity through planning that supports multiculturalism. Urban parks such as New York City’s Central Park provide vital public spaces where city dwellers of all races and classes can mingle safely while enjoying a variety of recreations. By coming together in these relaxed settings, different groups become comfortable with each other, thereby strengthening their communities and the democratic fabric of society. But just the opposite happens when, by design or in ignorance, parks are made inhospitable to certain groups of people. This pathfinding book argues that cultural diversity should be a key goal in designing and maintaining urban parks. Using case studies of New York City’s Prospect Park, Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay Park, and Jacob Riis Park in the Gateway National Recreation Area, as well as New York’s Ellis Island Bridge Proposal and Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, the authors identify specific ways to promote, maintain, and manage cultural diversity in urban parks. They also uncover the factors that can limit park use, including historical interpretive materials that ignore the contributions of different ethnic groups, high entrance or access fees, park usage rules that restrict ethnic activities, and park “restorations” that focus only on historical or aesthetic values. With the wealth of data in this book, urban planners, park professionals, and all concerned citizens will have the tools to create and maintain public parks that serve the needs and interests of all the public.

Watch This Space

2010-03-01 Juvenile Nonfiction

Author : Hadley Dyer
Release : 2010-03-01
Genre : Juvenile Nonfiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 973/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Watch This Space by : Hadley Dyer

Download or read book Watch This Space written by Hadley Dyer. This book was released on 2010-03-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking book examines public space - what it is, why it’s important, how to protect and expand it, and much more.

Why Place Matters

2014-02-25 Political Science

Author : Wilfred M. McClay
Release : 2014-02-25
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 183/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Why Place Matters by : Wilfred M. McClay

Download or read book Why Place Matters written by Wilfred M. McClay. This book was released on 2014-02-25. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary American society, with its emphasis on mobility and economic progress, all too often loses sight of the importance of a sense of “place” and community. Appreciating place is essential for building the strong local communities that cultivate civic engagement, public leadership, and many of the other goods that contribute to a flourishing human life. Do we, in losing our places, lose the crucial basis for healthy and resilient individual identity, and for the cultivation of public virtues? For one can’t be a citizen without being a citizen of some place in particular; one isn’t a citizen of a motel. And if these dangers are real and present ones, are there ways that intelligent public policy can begin to address them constructively, by means of reasonable and democratic innovations that are likely to attract wide public support? Why Place Matters takes these concerns seriously, and its contributors seek to discover how, given the American people as they are, and American economic and social life as it now exists—and not as those things can be imagined to be in some utopian scheme—we can find means of fostering a richer and more sustaining way of life. The book is an anthology of essays exploring the contemporary problems of place and placelessness in American society. The book includes contributions from distinguished scholars and writers such as poet Dana Gioia (former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts), geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, urbanist Witold Rybczynski, architect Philip Bess, essayists Christine Rosen and Ari Schulman, philosopher Roger Scruton, transportation planner Gary Toth, and historians Russell Jacoby and Joseph Amato.

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