The film My Brooklyn, Citizen Jane, Human Scale, and the special lecture all showed the importance of space for individuals. The three also showed the effects that people have on public issues. Individuals have lived and made public spaces theirs. The film showed the changes in overtime in certain areas and the way people were being pushed out in these areas. Many of the people in the film Human scale recalled being in the same place over many years and were now being pushed out because of rebuilding. The films also showed that people fight back for the space they consider theirs. Jane Jacobs was one of the many people who fought against these changes and actually won the fight. The special lecture also demonstrated the power of people. The Marching Cobras took over public space and shared their message through songs, dances, and unity.  I liked the special lecture, The Marching Cobras are a great example of how you can make an impact through cultural movement.

In each film, My Brooklyn, Citizen Jane, Human Scale, and the lecture presentation public space is represented as a means in which people come together from all walks of life and things like music and culture are introduced to people in a way that unites them. My favorite quote of Citizen Jane was ” In the name of people but not for people” on the topic of demolitions happening in downtown Brooklyn and places around the city that many people go shopping, dining, and to enjoy the open space. I think people who aren’t actively participating in a community should not have a choice or a voice on what should come down or what should be built without first consulting the community. This city often focuses on the potential a place can have that could better accommodate the wealthy without thinking of the people who are already there.  This lesson made me appreciate more of the open space I have around me and opened my eyes to the unfortunate reality of gentrification and how unfair it can be for a community who didn’t have a choice in the city planning that has forced many out of their homes.

Describe the way each film (My Brooklyn, Citizen Jane, Human Scale) and the lecture presentation (Healing Spaces: Marching On! Blackness and the Spatial Politics of Performance) discuss public space and its role in cities. Which notion of public space appeals to you? How do you feel about public space in New York City?

Public space is described as an open area or place that is accessible to all people such as plazas, squares, or parks. In the film My Brooklyn, the public space was the atmosphere of the Fulton Mall. It brought a lot of people together and a variety of shopping items were available. in Citizen Jane, where there were crowded busy streets was the order of the life of the city. In Human Scale, the main strip of Broadway in Manhattan was reconstructed to provide places where people could sit and connect with the city and others on the corners of the streets. The notation that appeals to me the most is Citizen Jane, because when Jane Jacobs said, “If you can understand the city, then that city is dead,” it provided a perspective on the fact that the best things are hard to understand. I feel that there needs to be more public space in New York City because it feels constricting to be surrounded by so many tall buildings and is a reason why I don’t like to travel there so much.

Describe the way each film (My Brooklyn, Citizen Jane, Human Scale) and the lecture presentation (Healing Spaces: Marching On! Blackness and the Spatial Politics of Performance) discuss public space and its role in cities. Which notion of public space appeals to you? How to you feel about public space in New York City?

In the film Citizen Jane: Battle For the city, the conflict between power broker Robert Moses and author of ”The Life and Death of American Cities”, Jane Jacobs showed how capitalism contrives over public opinion and in terms vice versa later on. In 1934, Jane sees hope in the city and after envisioning a corruption of absolute power from Robert Moses throughout 1960, where thousands of New Yorkers living in the slums of New York are being removed from their homes to a more modernistic and idealistic approach of progression without the insight of the public and the life among the streets. It was not until 1954, where urbanism started to grow, and the system of order had started to modernize as well. It was not until Moses’ defeat in having a street through Washington Square Park where later on, the plan to renew West Village was given up showing the audacity that the people living in the area can strive for.

In the human scale, the representation of China, which is holding the fastest growing economy in the world, also focusing on agriculture, but with enough space to hold its citizens. Change can always meet with resistance.

In the lecture presentation, “Healing Spaces: Marching On! Blackness and the spatial politics of performance”, The Marching Cobras street performance shows the impact that public life can live on through traditional representation of different cultural movements, dances, and songs. The two films and the lecture showed that the life, history, and impact that different people who come together can make a “way of being” in the impacting area. Public spaces such as parks, or any form of landmass where a huge number of crowds can surmise by gathering together and perform by committing tourism, commercial, or just plain relaxing, unknowingly also perform in expansion to educational and/or beneficial to both the area and its citizens.

To answer the question, Which notion of public space appeals to me, parks are both recreational and gives a sensation of peace to both an individual or individuals. For an example given, Bryant Park, when getting out of work taking lunch there in a warm afternoon, seeing both tourists and residents is both comedically and positive to see that a person is engaging in New York City life.

To answer the question, How do I feel about public space in New York City, it depends on which borough of New York City I am in at the moment. In Manhattan, various public spaces are both a delight and a curse depending on the time of day. Queens and Brooklyn are nice, but I am only there for my own business, the Bronx and Staten Island I do not travel to. Overall, public spaces in New York City is highly beneficial since New York City is compact.

The film series and the special lecture that we attended had the same main focus: the people. The effects that people have on public decisions/issues sometimes are loud and bold because of the human instinct to protect that is theirs.

I really enjoyed the film series, and I related them mostly with my major that I am currently studying: Architecture. The relationship between public space and the human figure has been developing in a disproportional way. While the population growth rate increases, public space is being used to build more and more, and to profit to investors or developers. Our society is becoming less civil and this is affecting people to ignore different social issues, be quiet and even lose faith sometimes.

On the other hand, there are heroes just like Jane Jacobs and people from the African-American community that choose to speak up and do not let anybody decide about their present or their future. I find their acts very encouraging and insightful.

The public space in New York has been treated in some cases as a very important part of the urban planning and design, but there are a lot of other cases too, where public space is nonexistent. We should be a really sensitive generation towards public space and protect it for a better common future.