[Special Feature: Viewing the City Through Parks] Cities Changing Through Parks: Explorations in New York and London

2021/06/07

In a society where people, goods, money, and information flow borderlessly alongside the progress of globalization, the movement of people is currently restricted by the spread of COVID-19. While staying at home, we humans carry out social activities such as work in a compressed online space, yet we also experience uncompressed physical spaces like our homes and surrounding neighborhoods. It seems our bodies have come to seek spacious, open spaces within the city. In a lifestyle survey conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in August 2020, "spacious outdoor spaces such as parks, plazas, and terraces" topped the list of "urban spaces people want to see enhanced."

The regeneration of outdoor spaces, including parks, has progressed over the last few decades in major global cities like New York and London. On Broadway, which runs diagonally through New York's grid-patterned streets, chairs and plantings have been placed on parts of former roadways where people now relax. In London's financial district, the City, efforts are being focused on improving outdoor spaces by enhancing green spaces in even small-scale parks and installing benches on street corners. Behind the quest to create public spaces where people can comfortably and safely enjoy distinctive urban spaces—which could be called the city's identity—is a movement toward creating unique places that resist the homogenization of culture often feared in globalization.

Of course, in Japan as well, the 2017 amendment to the Urban Park Act established the Park-PFI (Public-Private Partnership for Urban Parks) system to promote the utilization of parks. Last year, amendments to the Act on Special Measures concerning Urban Reconstruction promoted the restoration and utilization of public spaces aimed at creating walkable, comfortable towns. Furthermore, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "Study Group on Urban Policy for Rapid Digitalization and the New Normal" discussed the flexible utilization of urban facilities that contribute to improving quality of life and convenience.

The background to this series of movements to find new value in public spaces, including parks, is the response to aging facilities and fiscal challenges faced by mature cities, similar to the original triggers for various initiatives in New York and London. In the initiatives of London and New York, which advanced policies a step ahead, we can see the development of mechanisms to create and continuously manage places for spending more comfortable time within global cities where diverse people live together.

In the United States during the 1970s, a wave of shrinking administrative financial resources led to the appearance of dilapidated parks that were poorly managed. New York's Central Park, which could be called the progenitor of American urban parks, was no exception.

Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, an environmental designer who began the regeneration of Central Park by forming a civic organization, submitted an article titled "32 Ways Your Time or Money Can Help Central Park" to New York magazine to recruit volunteers and donations. Within less than a week of the article's publication, many letters and checks were delivered, and the Central Park Conservancy (NYCPC) was born in late 1980 to unify existing civic groups.

The NYCPC began with environmental improvements such as repairing broken fountains and sculptures and restoring neglected plantings, and provided services such as guides for visitors and hosting music concerts. They also conducted surveys on the actual state of the park and its users, and based on those results, formulated park redevelopment plans in collaboration with the city's Parks Department, while taking responsibility for much of the securing of personnel and financial resources for implementation. Funding for activities is mainly obtained from donations, but there are many donations and volunteer activities by citizens, suggesting that Central Park and its regeneration activities are linked to the fostering of "civic pride"—citizens' attachment to their local area. It has also generated many economic ripple effects. For example, active real estate transactions and urban development are unfolding around the park, with the construction of high-rise housing and hotels progressing.

Today, park management by conservancies (nature conservation organizations) has been introduced to representative parks in many American cities. Furthermore, within New York City, a system has been created to support the operation of small, local parks by utilizing the techniques gained through NYCPC's activities, developing a mechanism where citizens are involved in the utilization and management of parks.

During the same period in the 1970s, Bryant Park on New York's 42nd Street had also become a place people avoided due to poor management. Corporations operating around the park took the lead in establishing an organization, and the mechanism they used to undertake the total redevelopment and subsequent management of the park was the BID (Business Improvement District).

A BID is a special district established to continuously improve the environment of an area where businesses are operating, performing activities such as cleaning and crime prevention based on special taxes collected from business operators. New York City has over 70 BIDs, the most in the United States.

For the regeneration of the park, the non-profit organization received advice from experts on spatial issues such as limited access to the park and dense plantings, as well as operational challenges such as the lack of response to diverse usage needs, and created a redevelopment plan. During that time, they signed an agreement with the city's Parks Department, the park's manager, to take over the regeneration and subsequent management and operation. The aforementioned BID was also a means to secure those financial resources.

In recent years, Bryant Park has become a popular spot for local businesspeople and tourists, visited by 12 million people annually. There are many reasons for its popularity, but first, seasonal flowers are always in full bloom within the clean grounds, many places to sit are provided, and people can enjoy creating their own place in the park by moving portable chairs to their preferred spots. Furthermore, there are features for everyone from children to adults, such as game equipment rentals, bookstands where newspapers and books can be read freely, and a carousel. Additionally, events ranging from passive ones like mini-concerts, street performances, and readings to active participation classes like yoga are always held for free, making it easy to join. These various features have built an image of a park where one can have a fun time even if they just drop by.

The success of Bryant Park's redevelopment and subsequent operation has certainly increased the value of surrounding real estate, and the rebuilding of surrounding structures is also progressing. The privately owned public spaces (POPS) developed alongside new urban development have become lush, comfortable spaces completely different from before—a phenomenon that could be called the "Bryant Park effect."

Behind these American movements by civic groups, non-profit organizations, and corporations to improve and utilize park environments was the initial trigger of wanting to improve parks that had fallen into ruin in the 1970s. There was also a vision to maintain the park environment restored through redevelopment using sustainable mechanisms, unaffected by the political or economic situation of the time, and to create a better urban environment through its utilization.

In the UK, the Conservative government of the 1980s promoted the provision of better administrative services through the introduction of private sector vitality, building systems that later influenced Japan's introduction of the designated manager system and PFI (Private Finance Initiative). PFI is a mechanism where public services are provided under private leadership by introducing private sector vitality, and the designated manager system is a system where the administration publicly recruits for the management of public facilities and entrusts it to a designated private organization.

However, when challenges from the rapid introduction of private sector vitality were pointed out in the 90s, the Labour Party ran for election promising to efficiently improve public services without straining finances. After becoming Prime Minister, Blair announced the aim to revitalize cities through an Urban White Paper. Simultaneously with urban development that progressed with the tailwind of the upward economy at the time and the decision to host the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, the administration promoting urban living focused on improving the urban environment and actively worked on the redevelopment of public spaces, including parks. Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London at the time, responded to this, and a representative initiative of the public space redevelopment he advanced was Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square is a representative London plaza built in front of the National Gallery to commemorate the victory of the Battle of Trafalgar in the early 19th century. At the same time, it is located between the government district and the cultural/commercial area, at a transportation hub where major roads with heavy traffic converge. The plan to reorganize the square and surrounding roads to ensure safe pedestrian access to the square—both a London tourist attraction and a transport hub—was a project that had been discussed many times before but never realized.

Through the redevelopment of the square realized early this century, the road between the National Gallery and the square was converted into a pedestrian space, and part of the retaining wall on the north side of the square was transformed into a grand staircase, making it possible to access the square safely and via the shortest distance from the main entrance of the National Gallery. In addition to improving access, it has created places for activities such as street performances in the pedestrian space, various events held in the square, and tourists relaxing on the grand staircase while looking at the square and Big Ben, leading to the creation of urban vibrancy.

This reorganization, which treats the square and surrounding roads as an integrated space, has led not only to the realization of urban policies like improving the urban environment but also to the development of cultural policies, such as an increase in events related to multicultural coexistence held in the square. The fact that a mechanism for regeneration planning and subsequent management, centered on the City of London in cooperation with the Department for Culture which formerly managed the square, was conceived at the planning stage served as a foundation for promoting the utilization of the square.

In Leicester Square, adjacent to Trafalgar Square, integrated redevelopment of the park and its surroundings was also carried out, significantly changing the atmosphere of the area. While Leicester Square, the heart of London's night economy, is crowded with many tourists, it also faced local challenges such as public safety and cleaning. With the decision to host the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics as a catalyst, the area's BID organization led the park redevelopment plan.

The aforementioned American BID mechanism was introduced to the UK in the early 2000s, and there are currently just under 70 BIDs in London. Among them, the Heart of London BID, which has been active since the very beginning, carries out activities such as cleaning and crime prevention while promoting the area to revitalize the district centered on Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

The park redevelopment of Leicester Square was advanced through collaboration between the Heart of London BID and the local authority, Westminster City Council. Through its design, the design and position of the railings surrounding the square were changed, making it possible to sit and rest on meandering benches provided along the railings without entering the square. These are heavily used by tourists during their city walks and by local workers as benches for a short break. Furthermore, by giving the railings a light design and thinning out the dense plantings, visibility of the square was improved, realizing an open park where Leicester Square, located in the center of the entertainment district, and the surrounding sidewalks are integrated. Customers enter as if drawn into the terrace seats provided by cafes facing the park, chatting while looking at the park's greenery and the people passing by on the sidewalk.

Speaking of parks that have significantly changed an area's environment, New York's High Line cannot be overlooked. This long, narrow north-south park located in southwest Manhattan was developed using the abandoned elevated tracks of a freight railway, with the Gansevoort Market Historic District at the southern end and the Clinton Urban Renewal Area at the northern end. This transformed the warehouse district, which was once a dangerous place.

In the 90s, this viaduct was caught between a civic group active in advocating for its preservation as part of the area's identity and the railway company advocating for its removal. The change to a mayor who supported the preservation movement served as a catalyst; the city established a special district in this area for the purpose of realizing unique land use, and while preserving the viaduct, the railway company was able to transfer the floor area ratio corresponding to the land area to the surrounding vicinity.

The secret to the popularity of the High Line, which is said to be visited by 8 million people annually, is likely the special experience of strolling while looking down at the New York cityscape from a park with the unique form of an elevated viaduct. Additionally, one can enjoy the unique design utilizing the abandoned tracks and eco-friendly plantings centered on native species. Multiple factors can be considered, such as the sense of security provided by the presence of staff who keep the park well-maintained and clean, and the ability to feel the urban dynamism of the development progressing nearby.

Leicester Square, which regenerated a park in the heart of the night economy into a bright and friendly place and improved the area's image, and the High Line, which regenerated a dangerous warehouse district into a new urban live-work area, have become catalysts for creating new value in their areas. Furthermore, to develop that value sustainably, both parks established mechanisms for area management through collaboration between the administration and private organizations that would centrally handle subsequent management and operation from the planning stage.

From the initiatives in New York and London, we can see that along with the reorganization of space that reinterprets parks within their respective regional and historical contexts in response to social changes and diversifying lifestyles, management to operate them sustainably is individually required. Parks, which have been developed as social capital, are being rediscovered as places closely linked to people's lives and shared spaces for mutual use, and design and management based on social capital in the area are beginning to be explored.

Such initiatives can also serve as a means to project new value for an area. Regarding the regeneration of regional cities and the regeneration and management of parks in residential areas, there is potential for unique public services to be created through collaboration between the administration and local citizens or corporations. Treating parks as regional resources and evolving from uniform ownership and management by the administration to management by a "commons" where diverse local entities collaborate can be seen as one of the foundations for sustainable urban management.