As the lunch-hour fades to afternoon, Zuccotti Park is claimed by yet another class of user: the tourist. Located around the corner from the September 11 Memorial Plaza, Zuccotti Park serves as a place of consolidation. Large, guided groups are particularly likely to use the park as a staging area. Because many of these groups are coming to or from the Memorial Plaza, Zuccotti Park can seem lopsided in the afternoon. The western side of the park hosts much activity, while the eastern edge abutting Broadway is less occupied. Seward Johnson’s bronze statue Double Check at the northwestern corner of the park depicts a man seated on a bench going through his briefcase, and is particularly popular among tourists. Johnson’s statue serves in many
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In a part of the city with towering skyscrapers, demand is sure to sometimes exceed capacity. During the morning commute, Zuccotti is an example of a common-pool resource where demand outstrips capacity so heavily that no norms can aid in efficient allocation, and the park breaks down as place. Lunchtime reveals a public-good that is constrained, but one around which customs have developed to allocate tables and benches fairly based on a system of reciprocity. Evening brings a park where capacity exceeds demand, and thus a public space in which no institutions are needed to ration space. While evening is the most pleasant time to be in Zuccotti Park, it ultimately tells us very little about how the park should be. A public space in one of the densest business districts in the country will fail at times. We ought not to aim for the evening conditions – those will never be common. Rather, Brookfield should cultivate a park that is never so overwhelmed that the visitors are unable to allocate the space between themselves. Adding more seating would both increase capacity for lunchtime visitors and discourage some foot traffic in the mornings, and therefore improve the experience all day long. Though it may cost them more to maintain, the park can far exceed its current accomplishments and function as a park all day long with a few small
In a part of the city with towering skyscrapers, demand is sure to sometimes exceed capacity. During the morning commute, Zuccotti is an example of a common-pool resource where demand outstrips capacity so heavily that no norms can aid in efficient allocation, and the park breaks down as place. Lunchtime reveals a public-good that is constrained, but one around which customs have developed to allocate tables and benches fairly based on a system of reciprocity. Evening brings a park where capacity exceeds demand, and thus a public space in which no institutions are needed to ration space. While evening is the most pleasant time to be in Zuccotti Park, it ultimately tells us very little about how the park should be. A public space in one of the densest business districts in the country will fail at times. We ought not to aim for the evening conditions – those will never be common. Rather, Brookfield should cultivate a park that is never so overwhelmed that the visitors are unable to allocate the space between themselves. Adding more seating would both increase capacity for lunchtime visitors and discourage some foot traffic in the mornings, and therefore improve the experience all day long. Though it may cost them more to maintain, the park can far exceed its current accomplishments and function as a park all day long with a few small