[Feature: Viewing the City Through Parks] Cities Changing Through Parks: Explorations in New York and London

A society where people, goods, money, and information flow borderlessly alongside the progress of globalization is currently facing restrictions on human movement due to the spread of COVID-19. While staying at home, we humans have been carrying out social activities such as work in a compressed online space; however, it seems we have also come to experience uncompressed physical spaces like our homes and surrounding neighborhoods, and our bodies have begun to seek spacious, open spaces within the city. In a lifestyle survey conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in August 2020, "spacious outdoor spaces such as parks, plazas, and terraces" topped the list of "urban spaces people want to see enhanced."

The revitalization of outdoor spaces, including parks, has progressed over the last few decades in major global cities like New York and London. On Broadway, which runs diagonally through New York's grid-patterned streets, chairs and plantings have been placed in parts of what used to be roadways, providing a place for people to relax. In London's financial district, the City, efforts are being focused on the development of outdoor spaces, such as enhancing small-scale green park spaces and installing benches on street corners. Behind the search for public spaces where people can comfortably and safely enjoy unique urban spaces—which could be called the city's identity—lies a movement toward creating unique places that resist the homogenization of culture often feared in globalization.

Of course, in Japan as well, the 2017 amendment to the Urban Park Act established the Park-PFI (Public-Private Partnership) system to promote the utilization of parks. Last year, amendments to the Act on Special Measures concerning Urban Reconstruction indicated a push for the restoration and utilization of public spaces aimed at creating walkable, comfortable towns. Furthermore, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "Study Group on Urban Policy for Rapid Digitalization and the New Normal" discussed the flexible utilization of urban facilities that contribute to improving quality of life and convenience.

Behind this series of movements to find new value in public spaces, including parks, lies the need to address aging facilities and fiscal challenges faced by mature cities—similar to the original triggers for various initiatives in New York and London. In the efforts of London and New York, which implemented policies a step ahead, we can see a development toward creating mechanisms for building and continuously managing places where diverse people can spend more comfortable time within a global city.

In the United States during the 1970s, a wave of shrinking administrative fiscal resources led to the appearance of dilapidated, poorly managed parks. New York's Central Park, which could be called the progenitor of American urban parks, was no exception.

Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, an environmental designer who began the revitalization of Central Park by forming a civic group, submitted an article to New York magazine titled "32 Ways Your Time or Money Can Help Central Park" to recruit volunteers and donations. Within less than a week of the article's publication, many letters and checks were delivered, and the Central Park Conservancy (NYCPC) was born in late 1980, consolidating existing civic groups.

The NYCPC began with environmental improvements such as repairing broken fountains and sculptures and restoring neglected plantings, and provided services such as guides for visitors and hosting music concerts. They also conducted surveys on the actual state of the park and its users, and based on those results, formulated park redevelopment plans in collaboration with the city's Parks Department, while taking responsibility for much of the recruitment of personnel and securing of financial resources for implementation. Funding is primarily obtained through donations, but there are many contributions and volunteer activities by citizens, suggesting that Central Park and its revitalization activities are linked to the fostering of "civic pride"—the attachment citizens feel toward their local area. It has also generated significant economic ripple effects. For example, active real estate transactions and urban development are unfolding around the park, with the construction of high-rise housing and hotels progressing.

Today, park management by conservancies (nature conservation organizations) has been introduced to representative parks in many American cities. Furthermore, within New York City, a system has been created to support the operation of small, local parks by utilizing the techniques gained through NYCPC's activities, expanding the mechanism for citizens to utilize and be involved in park management.

During the same period in the 1970s, Bryant Park on New York's 42nd Street was also a place people avoided due to poor management. An organization was established primarily by companies operating around the park, and the mechanism they used to take charge of the park's total redevelopment and subsequent management was the BID (Business Improvement District).

A BID is a special district established to continuously improve the environment of a business area, carrying out activities such as cleaning and crime prevention based on special taxes collected from businesses. New York City has over 70 BIDs, the most in the United States.

Toward the revitalization of the park, the non-profit organization received advice from experts on spatial issues such as limited access to the park and dense vegetation, as well as operational challenges like the lack of response to diverse usage needs, and created a redevelopment plan. During that time, they signed an agreement with the city's Parks Department, the park's manager, to take over the revitalization and subsequent management and operation. The aforementioned BID was also a means to secure the necessary financial resources.

In recent years, Bryant Park has become a popular spot for local businesspeople and tourists, visited by 12 million people annually. There are many reasons for its popularity, but first, the park is kept clean with seasonal flowers always in full bloom, and many places to sit are provided; people can create their own space in the park by moving portable chairs to their preferred spots. Furthermore, there are features for everyone from children to adults, such as game equipment rentals, bookstands where newspapers and books can be read freely, and a carousel. Additionally, events are always being held for free, ranging from passive events like mini-concerts, street performances, and poetry readings to active participation classes like yoga, making it easy to join in. These various features have built an image of a park where one can have a good time just by dropping in.

The success of Bryant Park's redevelopment and subsequent operation has certainly increased the value of surrounding real estate, and the reconstruction of surrounding buildings is also progressing. The privately owned public spaces (POPS) developed alongside new urban development have become lush, comfortable spaces—a phenomenon that could be called the "Bryant Park effect"—completely different from what existed before.

Behind these movements in the U.S. by civic groups, non-profits, and corporations to improve and utilize park environments, the initial trigger was the desire to improve the dilapidated parks of the 1970s. There was also a vision to maintain the park environments restored through redevelopment using sustainable mechanisms, unaffected by the political or economic situation of the time, and to create a better urban environment through their utilization.

In the UK, the Conservative government of the 1980s promoted the provision of better administrative services through the introduction of private sector vitality, building systems that later influenced Japan's introduction of the Designated Manager System and PFI (Private Finance Initiative). PFI is a mechanism for providing public services led by the private sector through the introduction of private vitality, while the Designated Manager System is a system where the administration publicly recruits for the management of public facilities and entrusts it to a designated private organization.

However, when challenges arising from the rapid introduction of private vitality were pointed out in the 90s, the Labour Party campaigned on the promise of efficiently improving public services without straining finances. After becoming Prime Minister, Blair announced the aim of revitalizing cities through an Urban White Paper. Simultaneously with urban development that progressed with the tailwind of an upward economy and the decision to host the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, the administration promoting urban living focused on improving the urban environment and actively worked on the redevelopment of public spaces, including parks. A representative initiative of public space redevelopment promoted by then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone in response to this was Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square is a representative London plaza built in front of the National Gallery to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in the early 19th century. At the same time, it is located between the government district and the cultural/commercial area, at a transportation hub where major roads with heavy traffic converge. The plan to reorganize the square and surrounding roads to ensure safe pedestrian access to the square—a London landmark and traffic hub—was a project that had been discussed many times before but never realized.

Through the redevelopment of the square realized at the beginning of this century, the road between the National Gallery and the square was converted into a pedestrian space, and part of the retaining wall on the north side of the square was transformed into a grand staircase, making it possible to access the square safely and via the shortest distance from the National Gallery's main entrance. In addition to improving access, it has created a place for activities such as street performances in the pedestrian space, various events held in the square, and tourists relaxing on the grand staircase while looking at the square and Big Ben, leading to the creation of urban vibrancy.

This reorganization, which treats the square and surrounding roads as an integrated space, has led not only to the realization of urban policies for improving the urban environment but also to the development of cultural policies, such as an increase in events related to multicultural coexistence held in the square. The fact that a mechanism for planning the revitalization and subsequent management was conceived at the planning stage, centered on the City of London in cooperation with the Department for Culture, which formerly managed the square, served as a foundation for promoting the utilization of the square.

In Leicester Square, which is adjacent to Trafalgar Square, integrated redevelopment of the park and its surroundings was carried out, significantly changing the atmosphere of the area. While Leicester Square, the heart of London's night economy, is crowded with many tourists, it also faced local issues such as public safety and cleaning. Taking the decision to host the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics as an opportunity, the area's BID organization led the park redevelopment plan.

The aforementioned American BID mechanism was introduced to the UK in the early 2000s, and there are currently nearly 70 BIDs in London. Among them, the Heart of London BID, which has been active since the very beginning, carries out activities such as cleaning and crime prevention while promoting the area to revitalize the district centered on Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

The redevelopment of Leicester Square park proceeded through a partnership between the Heart of London BID and the local authority, Westminster City Council. Through its design, the design and position of the railings surrounding the square were changed, making it possible to sit and rest on meandering benches installed along the railings without entering the square. These are widely used by tourists during their city walks and by local workers as benches for a short break. Furthermore, by giving the railings a light design and thinning out the dense vegetation, visibility across the square was improved, realizing an open park where Leicester Square, located in the center of the entertainment district, and the surrounding sidewalks are integrated. Customers flow into the terrace seats provided by cafes facing the park, chatting while looking at the park's greenery and the people passing by on the sidewalk.

Speaking of parks that have significantly changed an area's environment, New York's High Line cannot be overlooked. This long, narrow north-south park located in southwest Manhattan was developed using the abandoned elevated tracks of a freight railway, with the Gansevoort Market Historic District at the southern end and the Clinton Urban Renewal Area at the northern end. This completely transformed the warehouse district, which was once a dangerous place.

In the 90s, this viaduct was caught between a civic group arguing it should be preserved as part of the area's identity and the railway company advocating for its removal. The change to a mayor who supported the preservation movement served as the trigger; the city established a special district in this area for the purpose of realizing unique land use, and while preserving the viaduct, the railway company was able to transfer the floor area ratio corresponding to the land area to the surrounding vicinity.

The secret to the popularity of the High Line, which is said to be visited by 8 million people annually, is likely the special experience of strolling while looking down at the New York cityscape from a park with the unique form of an elevated viaduct. Additionally, one can enjoy the unique design utilizing the abandoned tracks and eco-friendly plantings centered on native species. There are several other factors, such as the sense of security provided by the presence of staff who keep the park well-maintained and clean, and the ability to feel the urban dynamism of the development progressing nearby.

Leicester Square, which revitalized a park in the heart of the night economy into a bright and friendly place and improved the area's image, and the High Line, which revitalized a dangerous warehouse district into a new urban live-work area, have become catalysts for creating new value in their respective areas. Furthermore, to develop that value sustainably, both parks established mechanisms for area management through partnerships between the administration and private organizations that would centrally handle subsequent management and operation from the planning stage.

From the initiatives in New York and London, we can see that as society changes and lifestyles diversify, there is an individual need for management to sustainably operate and maintain parks, alongside spatial reorganization that reinterprets parks within their respective regional and historical contexts. Parks, which have been developed as social infrastructure, are being rediscovered as places closely linked to people's lives and shared spaces for collective use, and design and management based on social capital in the area are beginning to be explored.

Such initiatives can also serve as a means to establish new value for an area. Regarding the revitalization of regional cities and the revitalization and management of parks in residential areas, there is potential for unique public services to be created through collaboration between the administration and local citizens or businesses. Viewing parks as regional resources and evolving from uniform ownership and management by the administration to management by a "commons" where diverse local stakeholders collaborate can be seen as one of the foundations for sustainable urban management.