Maria Popa - Activity 3: Pubic vs. Private

In my opinion, a public space is a space to which no one can be denied access. A private place, on the other hand, is entirely open only to its owners. But this concept of ownership and restricted access is not always obvious, and it is hard to certainly label a place as either private or public. There are few public spaces left in NYC, and many of them set various restrictions on those who use them and so become increasingly privatized. According to James Kunstler, the lack of public space is due to the fact that most land use laws were “hinged on whether it might deprive somebody of the economic value of their land” (26) and public spaces are simply unprofitable.

For this activity I walked around the area from Lexington Avenue to 5Th Avenue and from 76th street to 83rd street. The area is abundant with private space and has very few public places. Madison and Park Avenue are overwhelmingly private. Other than a few fancy cafes, the buildings are mainly residential or used for small private offices, such as the Church of Scientology Celebrity Center. There were very few people going in or out of these buildings, and the streets were almost deserted both on a windy Friday afternoon, as well as on a warm and pleasant Sunday afternoon.

Lexington Avenue was crowded on both days. This is because there were always people walking to and from the subway station, but mostly because it incorporates both private and public places. Unlike Madison and Park, Lexington is not strictly residential; it is lined with small shops (delis, florists, dog kennels, liquor stores, cafes) and has apartments as well as office space above the shops. Even though these shops are not completely public, anyone can go in and no one will ask them to leave unless they are doing something the owners consider inappropriate. As Kunstler said, stores are “private space masquerading as public space” (120). During shopping hours, people can come and go without paying an admission fee, “but in reality they [are] the guests of the [owner]…this mean[s] no free speech, [and] no right of assembly” (Kunstler, 120).

The public places in this neighborhood I consider to be the steps of the Met, Central Park, and the court yard of P.S 6 Lillie Devereaux Blake School. Central Park is a public park and on both days it was used by a combination of diverse groups, such as joggers, cyclists, little children riding their bikes, nannies pushing strollers, tourists etc. Like Central Park, the steps of the Met were also used as a public place, as well as a gathering place. Although you need to give a donation to go into the museum and the security guards will chase away people they believe don’t “belong” in the lobby, the steps can be used by anyone. On Sunday afternoon there were a variety of people just sitting on the steps, eating lunch, taking pictures, reading, or simply watching the people go in and out of the museum, with no one to tell them they couldn’t do it. On Sunday, the school court yard was used by a few older men playing basketball, as well as school aged children playing in the corner, while their moms or nannies were carefully watching them from the side. Outside the school there was a sign clearly stating that the court yard is a public place while school is not in session, the only such sign I’ve seen in this area.

Ultimately, private places are restricted to the general public either by gates, locked doors, security guards or owners, while public spaces are unguarded and people feel free to do whatever they want (as long as its legal). There are few such places in New York City or any other city, because capitalistic cities are “primarily concerned with the squares of the private property” (Kunstler, 30). This idea of ownership of private property not only restricts the general public from using a certain space but it “degrade[s] the idea of public realm…and the notion that the private individual has a responsibility to this public realm” (Kunstler, 27).