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Why Open Space?

Despite the breadth of posited questions, the summit's focus largely boiled down to parks. That narrowed scope almost implied that parks are the entirety of public open space rather than a subset of it, and one hopes that the next such summit will remedy this issue. That criticism aside, there were plenty of ideas to fill this worthwhile day.

No one is going to say "No" to parks as such — only in comparison to other things competing for funds. Various panelists stated as much, and so the talk quickly moved to leveraging the benefits of parks to convince voters, investors, and politicians that parks are not just icing, but the cake itself.

For instance, Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks, showed examples of how protection of natural resources — such as poppies, redwoods, and butterflies — also provides cultural and recreational benefits at many California parks.

In the case of Los Angeles State Historic Park, located on the fringe of downtown L.A., Coleman hired San Francisco-based Hargreaves Associates to remediate a brownfield site previously littered with abandoned train tracks, transforming it into a large lively green space, complete with active and passive play spaces. Coleman also mentioned the obesity epidemic and "nature deficit disorder" as further impetus for more accessible parkland.

Dr. Neal Kaufman, codirector of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities, observed that society is now discovering how environment joins genetics and lifestyles in causing chronic illnesses like obesity. He called it the "third revolution" in public health — the first revolution being sanitation design in the early 1900s, and the second being genetic breakthroughs in the mid- to late 1900s.

"We must make the healthy choice the easy choice," he proclaimed, endorsing health-promoting design (fewer elevators, more stairs) and the consideration of human health impacts in planning.

What is Urban Open Space?

Given that urban open space was repeatedly equated with parks, what constitutes a park? Are designers seeing public space differently than "park people" see it? Judging from this summit's dialogue, people in charge of parks are by necessity focused more on planted recreational areas than are "designers," who see parks as merely one type of public space.

Beyond the obvious, though, disparities were surprisingly absent. Even the politicians agreed: public spaces should be multivalent. They are to be environmental healers, healthy-lifestyle enablers, cultural havens, places of refuge, and sources of identity, all rolled into one.

"We need to redefine what we mean by 'public space,'" noted Robert Gottlieb, director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. "Water has a huge impact on planning; transportation methods have shifted in the last 100 years; and immigration continues to create a diverse public for which to design."

Larry Smith, executive director of the nonprofit group North East Trees, offered one alternative from his organization's "Green Way L.A." proposal, which combines urban park development with watershed rehabilitation and community stewardship programs. The proposal suggests that individual surface streets be transformed into responsible ecosystems via intelligent planting and green technologies, both above and below the surface, then for each "green street" to be maintained by the community that uses it.

Dedicated in July 2007, Oros Green Street is the first constructed example of the proposal in Los Angeles, and many people are eagerly watching its development.

Questioning the predisposition to create bucolic green spaces, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne portrayed landscape as a "historical construct instead of one that is biologically integral." In this time and in this arid place, he said, lush "landscape is a nostalgic idea and not a natural reality." Instead, he offered up hardscape plazas, such as at his Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, as examples of nontraditional, environmentally appropriate public spaces.

Who Owns Urban Open Space?

As referenced several times throughout the day, French philosopher Henri Lefebvre asserted in his 1967 book Right to the City that "urban strategy resting on the science of the city needs a social support and political forces to be effective."

Most panelists stopped short of Mayne's description of Los Angeles as "a timid city with a weak government and a weak mayor." Yet almost all expressed concerns with sustained governmental commitment and abilities, especially when it comes to long-term maintenance.

Nonetheless, in an impressively erudite speech, L.A. Councilman Eric Garcetti remained hopeful: "Los Angeles is well poised to re-imagine public space, and I don't believe we are bereft of grand opportunities." He did, however, acknowledge local Libertarian tendencies, and encouraged designers to seek out synergies with nongovernmental entities.

("If you have politicians that can deal with issues such as this so articulately," quipped Campbell, "you're off to a running start.")

Baldwin Hills Conservancy's David McNeill and others jumped right in, describing successful alliances with nonprofits and volunteers. Ed Uhlir, design director for Chicago's Millennium Park, noted that several aspects of this new park were named after donors, and maintenance was made possible by endowments. Tupper Thomas, president of Brooklyn's Prospect Park, described the programming importance of relationships with nonprofits, such as theirs with the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment.

"We need to get past the idea of developers as the enemy and see them as potential allies," reasoned Lewis MacAdams, founder of Friends of the Los Angeles River. Especially in L.A. — a city created almost entirely by real estate moguls — the idea that developer buy-in would not be an asset in creating and sustaining public spaces was deemed ludicrous.

Jennifer Wolch, director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Southern California, went further by lobbying for the use of planning partnerships beyond opportunistic projects. She warned that while incremental programs such as her Alleys Project take advantage of "vague terrain" — back alleys and other forgotten spaces ripe for appropriation — to create instances of neighborhood green, a region needs both planned grand spaces and ad hoc pocket parks in order to create identity.

Planned or otherwise, Campbell noticed a common thread: "It's the taking over of a space that makes it public, the act of appropriating space." Comparing successful public space to a dining room table, he noted that it creates membership while protecting its members. "The nice thing about architecture and landscape," he added, "is that they don't retain the identity of the makers after building. The idea is the scaffolding that is left up to the interpretation of the people."

And there it is: everyone owns public space on their own terms once it is created.

Unfortunately, both the act of creation and the maintenance of this creation typically run into decidedly unromantic impediments, such as limited funding, private consumer culture, and tenuous regional and political unity. Angelenos have grown accustomed to disillusionment in the face of failed master plans, and so it will be the future acts of practical creation that will ultimately determine the success of this timely and enthusiastic summit.

Public Space LA! was held at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, designed by Cesar Pelli, FAIA.

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Leigh Christy is an architect and writer living in Los Angeles.

SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Although Griffith Park provides a substantial 4,100 acres (1,660 hectares) of open space for Los Angeles, it is located at the city's edge, miles from downtown. Photo: Ruth Lozano Extra Large Image A discussion at Public Space LA entitled "What is Urban Space and Who Owns It?" featured (from left to right) moderator William Fain, Jr., of Johnson Fain, and panelists Larry Smith of North East Trees, George Hargreaves of Hargreaves Associates, Ruth Coleman of California State Parks, and architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis. Photo: Gary Garcia Even small urban parks, such as existing and planned pocket parks along the Los Angeles River, can serve as salves for both nature-deprived city dwellers and a suffering local environment, especially when part of a coordinated greenbelt. Image: Mia Lehrer + Associates; Tetra Tech, Inc.; Civitas, Inc.; and Wenk No one at the Public Space LA conference argued that Los Angeles has enough parkland, but several panelists emphasized the important roles of county, state, federal, and private parks in addition to city parks. Image: Courtesy of Johnson Fain, based on data from The Trust for Public Land Working in the absence of larger-scale master plans, nonprofit and community groups often focus on identifying problem areas on a small, local scale. Photo: Steve Cancian "Community Living Rooms" by the Central City Neighborhood Partners, designed by Steve Rasmussen Cancian, are an example of local, nongovernmental intervention in Los Angeles. Photo: Steve Cancian Dr. Jennifer Wolch, director of the USC Center for Sustainable Cities, questions the social justice of park distribution. Photo: Gary Garcia   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.