My Reflection On Central Park Imagine a topographical view of Manhattan in the early 1800’s; all you see is squares and streets. This was Clinton’s Commissioner Plan- to level all of Manhattan to make way for streets and buildings. However, what were not taken to account were parks and recreational areas. This would all change in the 1850’s as landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted architect Calvert Vaux won the right to build their project- the Greensward Plan (CentralParkHistory). This plan would become Central Park, which spans two and a half miles from 59th Street to 110th Street and half a mile from Fifth Avenue to Eighth Avenue. For my second New York City trip, I decided to visit Central Park- one of the largest park’s in New …show more content…
In other words, if you look straight into Central Park you will not be able see cars driving because they are on lower ground. Moreover, Central Park offers “pedicab” and horse carriages as means of transportation around the vast and limitless park. It is a great way of getting around Central Park and having your own private tour guide of the panoramic landscape. What is amazing about central park is it has something for everyone. Baseball fields can be found throughout the park, including on the Great Lawn and the North Meadow. In addition to housing America's pastime, the park is home to a number of basketball courts, jogging paths and a swimming pool. One of the park's most popular attractions is its zoo, which survives as the nation's second-oldest publicly owned zoo. It features a petting zoo complete with pigs, goats and sheep. It also features the Wollman Memorial Skating Rink which is covered in ice for most of the year. In the summer it is the location of numerous theatrical performances. It hosted man bands, plays, and movies throughout the year. A trip to Central Park can make everyone who enters it jubilant. God’s gift to humankind is nature but, Man’s gift to New York City is Central Park. My journey through Central Park was breathtaking. One can throw all his worries and problems from the city and enjoy the natural life Central Park has to offer. Whether you go there to relax, exercise, play, or watch a concert,
The movie “The Central Park Five” was a documentary film. It is talking about five young men were involved in a rape case. One white woman was raped and left for dead in the central park in 1989. Police officers arrested five fifteen years old suspects. The government did not have enough evidence to judge these five black men and Latino Americans; however, because of the racial discrimination, the justices judged them as guilty and sentenced them to jail about 9 to 15 years. After few months, Matias Reyes confessed to the rape case and the lab test also showed that the sperm was matched. The five teenagers were released after the suspect confessed his crime. Directors of the movie, Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David Mcmahon, used
The ideal opportunity came along in my seventh-grade history class when I received a project to write about what I admire about New York City. I was a citizen here but I was no different from a tourist. I made it my purpose to see the “city that never sleeps.” I had a
The two models of urban recreation were New York’s Central Park and Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Both played a major role of how Coney Island was created because Kasson states “the two projects represented a broad common effort: to provide cultural leadership for an urban industrial society; to present a model of social order, cohesion, and tranquility for fractious people;” (pg. 11). Frederick Law Olmsted was the designer for both New York Central Park and Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of
1. Explain how the biotechnological revolution is different from past scientific changes in the world
Prospect Park is a 585-acre park located In Brooklyn, a borough in New York City. This borough in particular was in great need for an open space for activities and relaxation, which is exactly what this park provided. Parks are a very important piece of land to a town because it gives people the opportunity to improve their physical health and parks also help strengthen communities because it gives people more opportunities to interact with one another. Public parks are especially very important to have in a big city like New York City because a park gives people a chance to get out of the hustle and bustle, and relax and unwind. The two creators of Prospect Park named Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Bowyer Vaux also designed and created a park in Manhattan called Central Park. Central park is eight hundred-forty acres of city-owned land and is a piece of land that was much needed in 1857 when it was officially opened. Vaux and Olmstead became two well-known architects by building Central Park that soon became a big success, but didn’t equally benefit both the rich and the poor. Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead worked in a partnership to build Prospect Park.
In the early twentieth century, East Liberty was a flourishing business district with affordable housing for its residents. Decades later, this neighborhood’s prosperity declined as residents began fleeing to other areas and businesses were forced to shut down. This left East Liberty in diminished conditions, like the conditions depicted in John Edgar Wideman’s story of Homewood in Our Time. Urban renewal efforts were quickly adopted for East Liberty, but these efforts failed. Today, the area is in a state of continuous revitalization, which is beneficial for the economy and some citizens, but African Americans don’t always benefit from these changes. Chris Ivy explores this division in his documentary Easy of Liberty. Failed urban renewal efforts of the sixties and continuing gentrification have transformed East Liberty’s booming business district into a racially divided neighborhood.
The two buildings also differ in the way they interact with the city, since they have vastly differing neighbors. The main building is centered on Adams street and faces the Loop, the busiest area of the city. Flanking the main entrance are two large, bronze, lions that seem to protect the building from the city, while still allowing visitors to enter and exit the museum. The new Modern Wing, however, faces Chicago’s Millenium Park. The face of the building along the park side is a large face of windows. So, while the old building is trying to shut out the city to create a space for itself, the Modern Wing is opening itself up to let the park
While explaining his new daily routine, he expressed his views on the city, “I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the contrast flicker of men and women and machines give to the restless eye” (56). When he says this, his tone is a tinge of sadness but mostly acceptance. It doesn’t seem to affect or bother him that he feels solitary in a big city. He admits that he feels lonely, but he also believes other people in New York feel lonely as well. Showing that even though a big city can be exciting and filled with opportunities, it’s not always as grand as people make it
The purpose of this paper is to highlight how Robert Hammond and Josh David’s visionary idea transformed an unused, abandoned railroad line into a spectacular green space in the sky –New York’s High Line. Hammond and David were locals who believed that tearing down the railroad line was not a good idea. Meanwhile other people in the community, including property owners and Mayor Giuliani wanted the unused railroad demolished. With the help of photographer Joel Sternfeld who captured the abandoned railroad line’s overgrown greenery and fields of wildflowers that changed with the seasons, they were able to get people to recognize that this was a green space in New York city that was worth keeping.
It is fascinating to observe social interactions in a large place. More importantly, analyzing how people interact on grounds of social stratification, power, wealth, prestige, ascribed status, and achieved status. Last weekend, I visited Boston Common Park to purposely observe how people are interacting with one another. I was equipped with a notebook to jot down some important observations in light of the aforementioned elements of social interaction. My interest was drawn towards a wedding being officiated at this venue with people coming from diverse backgrounds being present at the venue. This event provided the perfect scene for identifying various ethnographic phenomena.
Perhaps the most important of all is Central Park. Central Park goes against everything Wolfe mentioned from people acting like animals, to the bad conditions of the city, and all the noises and craziness. This is the place in New York City where everyone goes to get away from it all. If someone is stressed and needs to get out of the city, but still be in the city, this is where they go. There are over 800 acres of grass, playgrounds, a carousel, castles, statues, and the Bethesda Fountain. The elegant horses equipped with a carriage and a chauffer are ready to take you for a ride around the park.
The building of Central Park was one of nineteenth-century New York’s most massive public works projects. Some 20,000 workers – Yankee engineers, Irish laborers, German gardeners, and native-born stonecutters – reshaped the site’s topography to create the pastoral landscape. After blasting out rocky
The sounds of the city penetrated the walls of the cab as we drove through the streets of Manhattan. I could hardly wait to partake in the action that was happening outside. The buildings themselves were an amazing site to behold. The buildings took on personalities of their own. Each building was bigger and more graceful than the next. When lights were added to the mix it was a dazzling combination. The city itself felt like a great big hug, and I felt overwhelmed by its power. The city allowed me to become part of it just like many others many years ago who immigrated to this awesome city. As I was looking out of the cab I finally got to see in person the sight of all sights; Times Square. The main juncture of
The website for the national and state park systems helps to enlighten the public on the subject of impending changes in policy and regulations, as well as new developments in different parks. Due to this, the parks and recreation districts judge that individuals and families will be more agreeable to the idea of traveling to parks in different states because of the easy accessibility of directions and information about the parks. Owing to the latest rise in interest of campgrounds and recreation areas, there has been an increase in funds. This new revenue has made possible the purchase of more parkland throughout the United States. Without prevailing use of the Internet, this most likely would not have been possible. The East Bay Park District has been able to purchase 1,476 of land. This is the single largest acquisition that the Park has made in over twenty years. The York Center Park District been able to purchase and protect a 20-acre area in the last five years. This is the largest area they manage. With the acquisition of supplementary parkland, it is more likely that this land will continue in its natural condition and not be converted into an urbanized region.
Space that is documented and utilized by humans, whether directly or indirectly, takes on a basic level of social utility and cultural construction. As Elias Canetti would suggest, the prospect of touch carries with it the risk of being taken and subsequently assimilated or digested (1). The predecessors to the first great urban parks in the United States, namely country estates, cemeteries, and town squares or plazas, all contribute some aesthetic and related ideological basis for a newly emerging discourse of urban parks. Parks were seen as the “poor-man’s countryside,” in reference to the country estates of the wealthy. Also, cemeteries were the first naturalistic open spaces consistently built within urban boundaries. The idea of the commons and town square is perhaps the most telling predecessor of the city park.