Week 4

 Mid 19th Century Civic Improvement: Central Park

 

For me, Central Park is one of the wonders of New York City. It is one of the most visited places in the city. With the rapid urbanization, there was civic development and improvement of life in the city. That includes more parks and recreational areas that allow a healthier environment for residents of New York City. The need for creating major public parks was crucial in the mid-19th Century. Also, the design of the park itself makes it more attractive to visitors. Attractiveness is achieved with several features that complete the picture of the park as an iconic place in New York City.

In 1853, the New York State Legislature made a law to use 750 acres of land in Central Manhattan to make the first major landscaped public park. This will improve public health and create a civic society, the same as in European cities.

In competition in 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won first place in designing Central Park. In rectangle Central Park, they planed landscapes of vast meadows and huge water surfaces. They use rectangle shapes to perfectly set all these elements of nature in one park area. They include several other elements of nature to have diverse areas, like dense planting woodlands, meandering streams, and rockwork which include caves, grottos, and cascades. All this is the opposite of everyday congestions and crowded conditions in the city.

To develop civic socialization, designers created features that will draw people to the park. The Central Park Mall is a pedestrian esplanade which provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan. Two-tiered esplanade features elaborate carvings and a central sculptural fountain called Bethesda Fountain. That eventually became Angel of the Waters when American artist Emma Stebbins was awarded the commission. Designers also include a vast field called Sheep Meadow with grass and nothing else. Park also includes several roads which are cleverly camouflaged behind dense vegetation.

Whenever I go to Central Park, I am amazed at how it can exist an oasis of peace in the center of one of the biggest cities in the world. There is plenty of space for walking, biking, hiking, enjoying nature and everything is well design and cleverly separated from traffic and overcrowding. Park attracts many artists to create there, many families to have a peaceful time with their children and many visitors of New York City to take a break from the busy city tour.