Title: Research on public/communal spaces.
Context: Case study of the Neighborhood of Corona in Queens, New York.
Research: Objects as tool of communication and conviviality in the public sphere.
Related project:
My Story of Corona Plaza︎︎︎
Context: Case study of the Neighborhood of Corona in Queens, New York.
Research: Objects as tool of communication and conviviality in the public sphere.
Related project:
My Story of Corona Plaza︎︎︎
Introduction:
Conviviality. This word represent for a me a need that our society must take into account.
For 10 years we have observed that the economy is becoming more and more relational. While some want to see a globalized world progressing independently of men and their spaces, others are seeing growth in local actors, small businesses and associations. Indeed, the geographical polarization of the activities develops towards the formation of a real social network. People feel more responsible and show a real concern for the environment and its inhabitants. As a result, there are more and more local projects involved in improving their community and challenging our needs for the 21st century. So, cities and campaigns see their relationships change. Thus, communities and designers work more and more together to built the common public space such as in Soweto (Johannesburg, South Africa) where art students leads by Marjetica Potrc and the local community transformed a desert and unsafe place into a communal stage. To go deeper in the process of renewal, groups of people built new self-suffucient systems that we can called « utopia » such as the AgroCité of the studio R-Urban in France. Thus, a new dynamic is growing.
In 2007, the urban population rate exceeded the 50% mark. We are now dealing with an issue of primordial space management. Outside megacities, small towns are becoming denser as well. We have arrived at a point where the lived space (perceived by our mind) must encroach on the public territory and where the social bonds must be rewired, to constitute a new space of common life. Thus, our life takes place more and more in the public space (transports, work, outings, appointments, social life, …). How can we take possession of the public space ? In which way, can we feel it as part of our personal space ? Conviviality is an answer.
Conviviality. This word represent for a me a need that our society must take into account.
For 10 years we have observed that the economy is becoming more and more relational. While some want to see a globalized world progressing independently of men and their spaces, others are seeing growth in local actors, small businesses and associations. Indeed, the geographical polarization of the activities develops towards the formation of a real social network. People feel more responsible and show a real concern for the environment and its inhabitants. As a result, there are more and more local projects involved in improving their community and challenging our needs for the 21st century. So, cities and campaigns see their relationships change. Thus, communities and designers work more and more together to built the common public space such as in Soweto (Johannesburg, South Africa) where art students leads by Marjetica Potrc and the local community transformed a desert and unsafe place into a communal stage. To go deeper in the process of renewal, groups of people built new self-suffucient systems that we can called « utopia » such as the AgroCité of the studio R-Urban in France. Thus, a new dynamic is growing.
In 2007, the urban population rate exceeded the 50% mark. We are now dealing with an issue of primordial space management. Outside megacities, small towns are becoming denser as well. We have arrived at a point where the lived space (perceived by our mind) must encroach on the public territory and where the social bonds must be rewired, to constitute a new space of common life. Thus, our life takes place more and more in the public space (transports, work, outings, appointments, social life, …). How can we take possession of the public space ? In which way, can we feel it as part of our personal space ? Conviviality is an answer.
As we can see in William H. Whyte’s movie « The social life of small urban space », people act like birds. Indeed, to stay in the space we looked for roosts. We reached a goal. Going to a point A to a B, trying to avoid any human contact (for the majority of us, it is the sad reality…). It appears that public spaces are seen more like a space of transition rather than a space of life. Even if we can critic Lofland’s categorizes of people in their way of acting in public spaces for being too « precious », it is describing a reality. People want to save their own sphere, being in the public space is an individual right.
At this point I have to add that I come from an old European city. Thus, public spaces are not designed in the same way that in the US. Indeed, public spaces are never new, we have to deal with old city patterns,non-homogeneous ones, systems and infrastructures, laws to preserve cultural spaces/buildings, small and exiguous space, … I felt when I arrived in New York that here, the public space is a real public matter. When I read the article about Private Own Public Space by Jerold S. Kayden I was chocked by how private and public space are linked. If we want to build a bigger building we have to offer public space in exchange. New York’s policy dedicates more interest and develops more facilities for its public space that I have ever seen. Those regulations and type of ownership of public spaces defines more precisely their uses. Therefore, it exists numerous types of public space that I had to discover. This fact makes me distinguish public and communal space, which was not so obvious for me coming from Europe.
At this point I have to add that I come from an old European city. Thus, public spaces are not designed in the same way that in the US. Indeed, public spaces are never new, we have to deal with old city patterns,non-homogeneous ones, systems and infrastructures, laws to preserve cultural spaces/buildings, small and exiguous space, … I felt when I arrived in New York that here, the public space is a real public matter. When I read the article about Private Own Public Space by Jerold S. Kayden I was chocked by how private and public space are linked. If we want to build a bigger building we have to offer public space in exchange. New York’s policy dedicates more interest and develops more facilities for its public space that I have ever seen. Those regulations and type of ownership of public spaces defines more precisely their uses. Therefore, it exists numerous types of public space that I had to discover. This fact makes me distinguish public and communal space, which was not so obvious for me coming from Europe.
Pictures of Corona Plaza
Research methods:
Definitions:
COMMUNITY
Group of people who share the same goods -> concerns OBJECT Group of people who share a same organisation (political, cultural, economic,...) -> concerns SYSTEM
COMMUNICATION Process by which someone (or a group) emits a message and transmits it to someone else (or group) who receives it, with possible margin of error. Designers are never guaranteed to reach their target. A same message could speaks differently. -> matter of CONTEXTUALISATION
PUBLIC SPHERE
Space open to every public. The public space is administered. It is governed and framed by laws and institutions. Each molecule is defined as a containers of it. Nothing belongs to everyone. The public never totally appropiate the space but is allowed to occupy it (as a rent). People are allowed to superimposein it their private idea of the space, itself defined by a set of facts and actions (ex: the space in which I read). -> separation SPACE (as administrated) / ACTIVITIES
COMMUNAL SPACE Space who belongs to a group of people for a defined time. Every public space can become temporary a communal space.
PRODUCT
What arises from an activity of nature or man. It is the result of a CREATION.
CONVIVIAL SPACE
A space which welcomes /invites people. dimension of OFFERED SPACE /ATTRACTION
CONVIVIALITY
«The set of autonomous and creative relationships between people on the one hand, and relationships between people and their environment on the other hand»
Conviavility for Ivan Illic:
3 essential criteria for an instrumentation or institution to be considered just or convivial:
- it must not degrade personal autonomy by making itself indispensable;
- it raises neither slave nor master;
- it broadens the personal range of action.
(French meaning: taste of meetings and feasts!)
PUBLIC SPACE
Public space is due to the mental construction of an individual. It is determined by behaviors / social codes (ex: in the metro I take my ease, my space develops reducing that of others). I speak of space in terms of bubble or rather «sphere» because evolutive and does not explode ! (flexible as a sponge)
So a public space is a personal image. When we superimpose the public space of all the people involved in a territory we obtain the communal space determined by iinstitutions or better a dimension of what the communal space could be.
OBJECTS are tools of communication.
They allow to signal a public fact which has became public in order to allow people to act (in the space /freedon of acting)
Thus, it communicates people’s sphere.
Example:
When I read a newspaper in a public space I communicate to other people that in a certain perimeter I need silence. It also means that if you need calm too, you can approach my private sphere.
Pictures from William H. Whyte’s movie,
The Social Life of Small Urban Space.
The Social Life of Small Urban Space.
Documentation:
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Case Study:
To develop my research on public space’s tool of communication and conviviality, I took as a case study a neighborhood in Queens, Corona.
I showcase my ethnographic approach of the place through a comics: My Story of Corona Plaza︎︎︎
The story of the place:
Corona was a farm land before the construction in 1853 of the Flushing Railroad (only 12 families lived there).This, bring many investors and transformed the area in an industrial, commercial and residential one.
Corona knew successive ethnics wave of immigrant. Firstly, African American and then Italian (and from other european countries) after WWII. By the 1970’s, a new wave of immigrants of Hispanic and Asian origin had discovered the area and moved into the community in large numbers. These constitute the predominant ethnic groups living in Corona today. Paul Simon, who grew up in neighboring Forest Hills, alluded to the transition in one of his popular 1972 songs:
“Goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona. See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard.”
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a Corona native. He has been quoted as saying: “I was born in the peace and greenery of Corona, Queens in 1942. And I loved it. I loved Corona, Queens. It was two-family houses. There was a little yard in the back, a little tree.”
Today most of the population is under 20 years old. Families got the power, they do everything in group (activities, meeting, businesses,...). On the plaza people come to take break, have a drink or a tacos, or to do shopping. They are families and lonely persons, they seem really relax, they have all the time that they want.
To develop my research on public space’s tool of communication and conviviality, I took as a case study a neighborhood in Queens, Corona.
I showcase my ethnographic approach of the place through a comics: My Story of Corona Plaza︎︎︎
The story of the place:
Corona was a farm land before the construction in 1853 of the Flushing Railroad (only 12 families lived there).This, bring many investors and transformed the area in an industrial, commercial and residential one.
Corona knew successive ethnics wave of immigrant. Firstly, African American and then Italian (and from other european countries) after WWII. By the 1970’s, a new wave of immigrants of Hispanic and Asian origin had discovered the area and moved into the community in large numbers. These constitute the predominant ethnic groups living in Corona today. Paul Simon, who grew up in neighboring Forest Hills, alluded to the transition in one of his popular 1972 songs:
“Goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona. See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard.”
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a Corona native. He has been quoted as saying: “I was born in the peace and greenery of Corona, Queens in 1942. And I loved it. I loved Corona, Queens. It was two-family houses. There was a little yard in the back, a little tree.”
Today most of the population is under 20 years old. Families got the power, they do everything in group (activities, meeting, businesses,...). On the plaza people come to take break, have a drink or a tacos, or to do shopping. They are families and lonely persons, they seem really relax, they have all the time that they want.
From observation to participation:
When I started to study Corona, I decided to put myself in an empirique experience. I wanted to study it in an anthropographic and ethnographic way.
This is how I proceed:
︎︎︎ Observation of the space without intervening with it. Sketches /pictures /video
Understanding of the ecology of the space (population, movement, time,…)
︎︎︎ Going to public events
Farmer’s market/ Flea market/ / Coronate festival (craft, food, concert,…)/ Queens Night market
︎︎︎ Going to public institutions
Churches/ Public library/ Queens Museum/ Louis Armstrong Museum
︎︎︎ Meeting people
︎︎︎ Coming at different time
During the week /on weeken, during school /after school
︎︎︎ Acting within the community
taking a coffee, trying to speak spanis, buying crafts, testing local food, enjoying the subway, helping people, taking a cooking class on farmers market’s day, joining the installation of theCoronate festival...
When I started to study Corona, I decided to put myself in an empirique experience. I wanted to study it in an anthropographic and ethnographic way.
This is how I proceed:
︎︎︎ Observation of the space without intervening with it. Sketches /pictures /video
Understanding of the ecology of the space (population, movement, time,…)
︎︎︎ Going to public events
Farmer’s market/ Flea market/ / Coronate festival (craft, food, concert,…)/ Queens Night market
︎︎︎ Going to public institutions
Churches/ Public library/ Queens Museum/ Louis Armstrong Museum
︎︎︎ Meeting people
︎︎︎ Coming at different time
During the week /on weeken, during school /after school
︎︎︎ Acting within the community
taking a coffee, trying to speak spanis, buying crafts, testing local food, enjoying the subway, helping people, taking a cooking class on farmers market’s day, joining the installation of theCoronate festival...
Analyse: Public uses
I observed that people use objects as tools to communicate about their private sphere in the public space. How I described it in my definitions, public space is determined (activate) by people’s spheres and which determines it is, by observation, objects (food, chairs, smartphone, cup of coffee, plastic bag, radio, …).
These observations joined the work of Lofland about categorizing people’s behaviour in the public space. I used it but through the use of objects.
A coffee at Corona Plaza.
What is it doing ? What does it determine?
The coffee is hot. The heat induces the fact that it must be either laid down or held by its owner. In this second case he limits his ability to move and plays with his impatience. Indeed, the object can be consumed only at a precise moment. To have it in the hand, to feel it, creates a stronger relationship between the object and its owner. In the square, the « consumer + coffee » group communicates to other users of the space that its time here will be short (His purpose is elsewhere). Bringing your coffee indicates a withdrawal, a unique use of the public space.
On the contrary, to put one’s coffee (as on a table) indicates a detachment from the «drink a coffee» activity. The user of the space is therefore open to potential other activities (read, listen to side, wait) and his time on site can not be identified. In addition, his relationship to the public space is stronger because he uses his design. The user imposes itself on the square, tracing its individual sphere but not necessarily private because conscious of its environment.
A speaker on Corona Plaza.
Almost everyday at the beginning of the year (when the weather was still good), retailers from the phones shop played music on the plaza. The sounds’ volume was at its maximum. This affects all people’s behaviors. By this way, the speaker turned the public space in a communal one. Indeed, we have to agree with values transmitted by the music, thus make part of a community. People who do not share these values are welcomed to leave.
A book at Corona Plaza.
To practice the activity «read in the public space» several conditions are required: calm, light and a clean table. This requires a thorough study of the space before any installation. If unfortunately too much grease stains the furniture, the user will take care of the space, serve it (cleaning, moving objects, ...) in order to occupy it. Once comfortably installed, the book determines a very wide sphere in the plaza. Indeed, it communicates a need for silence and non-interaction with the living around. Reading is an individual activity. The book thus allows the extension of the private space in the public space. Corona Plaza is not an appropriate space to read because so many people use this space in different ways. Or we should planned it carefully.
A plate of sweet at Corona Plaza.
I think that having something to eat there represents the strongest identity of the place. Most of the economic activities in Corona are food businesses which represent all the different cultures of the neighborhood. Thus, eating on the plaza makes you part of the community. Indeed, by this way we communicate that we know the place, having local behaviors (we can observe by the cleanliness of tables that many and many dishes have been ate there).
Market’s stall on Corona Plaza.
These create a new configuration of the space, bringing uses and new path of displacement. The greenmarket by applying a purpose on the space turns it into a communal space. Indeed, this activity excluded personal uses of the space such as readings activity or dance session (because of noise and space). Coming back to the project of Martha Schwartz for the Jacob Javits Plaza where it appeared that the space was used for a unique activity : having lunch, it makes me discuss the negativity of it. Which is not in Corona plaza is the permanency of infrastructures. This gives the choice to inhabitants. So what makes a good convivial space is the fact that it is always a space for temporary uses. It is successively turned in a public to a communal space and vis and versa.
Proposal:
Issue: Communication and networks
What cames out at the first sight was the problem of communication in Corona. Communities shared a space and divide their time in it for each of them (Hispanic and Asian). Each community has is own system to be informed of what is happening in the neighborhood (ex: the public library this is suppose to open to everyone is in fact only use by the hispanic community. Thus the public board is not for every publics). There is no common information, nothing is shared between them. Even for incoming people it might be useful to find a way tu communicate public information about Corona, events, what to do,…
Corona’s laundromat networks
With other students we decided to work on laundromats in the neighborhood. These private spaces used by the public offer the potentiality to be turned into a communal space. Regarding the network of laundromats and issues that we identified about communication, overcrowded schools and a lot of people feeling that they are loosing time, we have decided to propose programs in these spaces. Our purpose is to improve communication, provide services and preserve (and develop) cultural know-hows. Many programs already exist in Corona but they can not support in off the population. For example, the Public Library organises english classes (40% of the population do not speak english at all) however, it is closing early and this place is exclusively used by the hispanic community.
Laundromats are everywhere, and their use universal. As a shape and a tool they provide the possibility to duplicate services and therefore touch different populations (from Corona to Paris !). A laundromat can welcome local populations and uses and thus be the place for « a » community. However it is part of a bigger network (define by his first use) that we want to shape for a wider public. I think that if we want to create more relationship between Corona’s inhabitants, one public space open to everybody will not be used as a communal one. We can not force people to act in the public sphere. However, through a network of different semi-public spaces as laundromats we offer possibilities and curiosities. The object laundry defines a use, so if we go to a laundromat it is with a purpose. In this space everybody seems comfortable and familiar. People interact each other, avoid each other, work together. The body language to communicate in this type of space is well-known. If people are familiar with what we can call « their » space, and if new activities or facilities are added to it, I hope that users of laundromats will be curious to join these proposals and therefore the network. Step by step, it will create a community of users all across the neighborhood and then create new linkage.
The proposal that came out from the study of Corona did me understand that if we want to get out of our private sphere we need pre-existing systems. I mean, that more than tools of communication as a described before we need rules and system to which to relate. To be a group and thus get the ability to create a communal space (in a convivial way), we need structures or «infrastructures».
During one of our class we discussed how to define this world. I wish to add that infrastructures are thingh in which we trust, or want to trust because of this concept of global system. Indeed, infrastructures are what we apply at a large scale, Corona Laundromat’s Network has to be a support for the community in order to create conviviavility. Conviviality will keep the system alive.
With other students we decided to work on laundromats in the neighborhood. These private spaces used by the public offer the potentiality to be turned into a communal space. Regarding the network of laundromats and issues that we identified about communication, overcrowded schools and a lot of people feeling that they are loosing time, we have decided to propose programs in these spaces. Our purpose is to improve communication, provide services and preserve (and develop) cultural know-hows. Many programs already exist in Corona but they can not support in off the population. For example, the Public Library organises english classes (40% of the population do not speak english at all) however, it is closing early and this place is exclusively used by the hispanic community.
Laundromats are everywhere, and their use universal. As a shape and a tool they provide the possibility to duplicate services and therefore touch different populations (from Corona to Paris !). A laundromat can welcome local populations and uses and thus be the place for « a » community. However it is part of a bigger network (define by his first use) that we want to shape for a wider public. I think that if we want to create more relationship between Corona’s inhabitants, one public space open to everybody will not be used as a communal one. We can not force people to act in the public sphere. However, through a network of different semi-public spaces as laundromats we offer possibilities and curiosities. The object laundry defines a use, so if we go to a laundromat it is with a purpose. In this space everybody seems comfortable and familiar. People interact each other, avoid each other, work together. The body language to communicate in this type of space is well-known. If people are familiar with what we can call « their » space, and if new activities or facilities are added to it, I hope that users of laundromats will be curious to join these proposals and therefore the network. Step by step, it will create a community of users all across the neighborhood and then create new linkage.
The proposal that came out from the study of Corona did me understand that if we want to get out of our private sphere we need pre-existing systems. I mean, that more than tools of communication as a described before we need rules and system to which to relate. To be a group and thus get the ability to create a communal space (in a convivial way), we need structures or «infrastructures».
During one of our class we discussed how to define this world. I wish to add that infrastructures are thingh in which we trust, or want to trust because of this concept of global system. Indeed, infrastructures are what we apply at a large scale, Corona Laundromat’s Network has to be a support for the community in order to create conviviavility. Conviviality will keep the system alive.
