In Brazil, after many years of low investments in public infrastructure such as public spaces and parks, many cities have started adopting the policy of converting street and avenues, used by vehicles during weekdays, into public areas on the weekend. Avenida Vieira Souto in Rio de Janeiro, Elevado Costa e Silva in São Paulo, Avenida Beira Rio in Porto Alegre and many others all around the country.
Even though these conversions have proved to be a great success, given by the large number of visitors and users during the times these streets become parks, the motivations behind such policies remain rather unclear. Brazil has a long history of turning temporary solutions into permanent ones. Isn't it possible that, because of such a demand for more public spaces, cities have found a cheap and convenient way of creating public areas that don't demand investments?
It is a well known fact that most successful parks around the globe are filled with equipment. Benches, litters, proper lighting and kiosks aid in the creation of an open living room, an area where people want to spend their time. What happens in these park-converted streets is just the opposite: asphalt is the only equipment. But still, people enjoy spending time there. What a casual critic may fail to perceive is that all of these "temporary parks" have one thing in common: location.
To me, the key item to determine the success of a public space is it's proper location. These temporary public spaces are all made in streets that are adjacent to major scenic features of the city. Places where people would usually want to go, just for the sake of appreciating the view, for instance. Hence why, when given the opportunity, the public will take these streets and fill them with the most varied types of activities. Running, walking, skating, biking, or just sitting on the ground, enjoying the view.
It is key for architects to understand that sometimes there is only so much that can be done to create a successful public space, many times, the solution can be simply doing nothing.
I completely agree and I find the concern about the motivations behind this specific kind of public parks very precise. Even more because this type of conversion is temporary and palliative as it doesn't actually tackles the issue of public space in it's core.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as a user of Elevado Costa e Silva in São Paulo, what it attracts me to use the asphalt park is the duality of using a purely infrastructural device in a subverted time scale. The fact that I use those roads during the week makes the experience more intriguing. The High Line for instance, due to the fact that the conversion is permanent does not provide such a feeling.