New York Week: The importance of parks

I’m in New York this week and it’s delightfully hot & humid. It really is delightful: there’s a slight breeze and shade from tall buildings is not difficult to find. To be fair, I’m spending most of the day inside with type nerds but like most people escape to the outdoors for lunch.

Most cities, I would venture, witness the same recurring summer phenomenon of take-away-toting employees gathered in city parks. Cities in social or economic turmoil—such as Lille in France—are investing in urban-renewal projects that not only rebuild mixed-use neighbourhoods (as opposed to residential enclaves) but also take care to include parks and other public gathering spaces to ensure people from different backgrounds can meet one another. It’s not a new concept but, in these days of gated communities and intolerance, an important one. The one drawback is that parks take money to maintain where there often is none.

In the Flatiron district in New York at the corner of 24th and Madison sits Madison Square Park, an area which has existed as an urban public space since 1686. Despite its long history the park had fallen into disrepair by the 1990′s and that is when the City Parks Foundation swung into action and created the Campaign for the New Madison Square Park.

The campaign “raised six million dollars for capital renovation of the park, including $2.5 million in private funds from corporate leaders, such as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York Life Insurance Company, Credit Suisse First Boston, Rudin Management, and Union Square Hospitality Group.” The Madison Square Park Conservancy, as it is now called and deftly branded, raised $4 million to fund ongoing maintenance of the park.

What is particularly striking to me is not so much that a park would develop its own conservancy as most large parks do, but that this would happen for a relatively small space in an area where real estate is at a premium. The park has a slew of programmes to attract visitors: Mad.Sq.Park.Art, Kids, Music, Plants and Reads and seems to me like a great example of what can happen when individuals and corporations commit together to supporting a cause.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 13 July, the organization is hosting the Celebrate Flatiron Chefs fundraiser. For a mere $160 you can sample foods from Italy, France, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Polynesian Islands, Spain, India and America. The open bar doesn’t hurt either. Should be a great night for green.