How to activate a public space?

 

Are The Park Blocks a dead space after Saturday?

Within our site, The park blocks are an evocative space on Saturdays. The market is filled with lively individuals and vendors selling arts. crafts, hot food, fruits, & vegetables. But beyond this day the park blocks are empty with little to do. The city has plans to improve the other two park blocks, with an interactive fountain and a stage for outdoor concerts but has currently spent all urban renewal funds on the farmers market pavilion. Finding cost effective solutions to make the park blocks usable on a daily basis should be high priority for the mean time. In Eugene, there is a precedent for taking an empty parking lot and creating a pod of food carts, “culinary corridor”, to activate the space. Creating an outdoor plaza to grab lunch and sit under a sheltered canopy, resembling Director Park in Portland, could be a solution to the current coldness of the park blocks. In the heart of downtown implementing this could be a great intervention to put “eyes on the street” making people the policing force of the neighborhood and enliven this dead space.

In a research paper done by Portland State University on food carts in urban spaces of Portland, some key findings where:

• Food carts have positive impacts on street vitality and neighborhood life in lower density residential neighborhoods as well as in the high density downtown area.
• A cart’s exterior appearance does not affect social interactions or the public’s overall opinion of the carts; seating availability is more important for promoting social interaction than the appearance of the cart’s exterior.
• Food carts represent beneficial employment opportunities because they provide an improved quality of life and promote social interactions between owners and customers.

Recommendations where:

• Provide space for food carts in existing publicly owned locations and consider carts in projects currently under development. Food carts represent an opportunity for the City to provide avenues for local small business development in areas they may not otherwise be able to afford rent.
• Support publicly- or privately- provided food cart site improvements that increase public amenities. Such amenities could include seating, shelter, landscaping, and pedestrian friendly sidewalks.
• Sponsor a design competition to incorporate food carts uses on sites. A cost-efficient way of increasing awareness and promoting creative design, such a competition could develop ways of incorporating food carts or smaller retail niches that may be appropriate for cart owners who want to expand.

 

Other research was done questioning how can we activate the park blocks 7 days a week and not just on Saturdays?

 

Create furnishings interactive with the public

• Finding creative interactions with everyday objects changes the way people view a space
• Millennium Park in Chicago has interactive fountains that engages the public
• Bicycle sculpture makes music when you peddle

Give back the streets to the Public

• make people feel safe in traffic
• raised sidewalks
• slow down traffic

Inclusive to everyone

• Bring back public space as a commons
• Make it comfortable
• Make it safe
• Who gets left out?

Turning space into place gives the public somewhere to unwind and become a community.

• meet new people
• place making takes the busyness of life and connects them to the here and now

Events and Activities

• markets
• concerts
• festivals
• fitness classes

Cafes and Food trucks

• creates a destination for people on lunch breaks
• becomes a destination

Places to play

• create playgrounds that spark the imagination
• the area must feel safe for the public to use

Jane Jacobs

• Eyes on the street: high levels of pedestrian activity, characterized by people walking, shopping, and socializing creates a built-in system of surveillance 
• Diverse Uses: sidewalks being used for diverse activities, such as walking, shopping, sitting, and playing 
• Community Interaction: When people engage in conversations and become familiar with each other, it creates a sense of community and belonging, which can deter criminal activities 
• Light and Visibility: street lighting should be ample to provide a feeling of security during nighttime hours. Well light sidewalks ensure that people can see each other and their surroundings, reducing the opportunity for criminal activities to occur in dark 
• Organic Surveillance: communities should rely less on police presence and more on the joint watchfulness of the people who live and work in the area 
• Gentrification Concerns: balancing revitalization with measures to protect the diversity and affordability of neighborhoods 
• Sidewalks as Social Infrastructure: sidewalks are not just pathways for pedestrians but are essential social infrastructure. They serve as the connective tissue of urban life, facilitating human interaction and fostering a sense of community. 
• Diverse Uses: sidewalks are spaces for commerce, socializing, and leisure activities 

 

Precedents

Paley Park

• comfortable movable seating
• being surrounded by other people energizes the space
• sound of water
• becomes an oasis in the summer with running water and shade (micro climate)

Director Park

• shelter protects people from the rain
• permanent restaurant activates the space
• interactive fountain gives children a place to play in the summer
• underground parking restricts planting
• stormwater

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