Paley Park Plaza

Oceane Mercadal

Activity #7

After having studied William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Places I was asked to go spend some time at a plaza in New York City. I decided to give a visit to Paley Park on 53rd street between 5th and Madison Avenue. The plaza is relatively small with a giant waterfall on the back wall. Is sat at a table alone and put my head phones on pretending I was listening to music even though is wasn’t turned on. The sound coming from the waterfall locked the voices of other people; I couldn’t even hear what the couple next to me was talking about.

Just like the movie of William H. Whyte, which was shown in class I was able to observe people moving chairs as little as an inch just because it gave them the feeling of being in control. What was interesting to observe during my visit to the plaza was that even though there was a similar looking open space right next to Paley Park the concentration of people was inside the park itself. The walls of the park covered buy leaves and the few plants in large pots made you feel like you weren’t in the city any more. The waterfall also emphasizes the feeling of being in the forest as it blocks the noise coming from people surrounding you and the car traffic going on. The movies describes how a concentration of people can be found under trees because they feel protected like if they were sitting under the awning of a café.

The one affect that Paley Park fulfills the best would be the fact that “a busy place seems to be the most congenial kind of place if you want to be alone”. I personally think that the main reason for this feeling is due to the noise coming from the water. As it blocks all other noises around, you can close your eyes and imagine yourself alone near the Niagara Falls. People who were sitting in groups of two’s or three’s seemed to have to shout in order for their friends to be able to hear what they were saying.

I went to the plaza at 4pm, people were still at work, which is probably the reason why I didn’t get to observe as much of what was described in the film. However I saw that people uses edges a lot like this one man who came alone with his coffee. He sat, drank and did things with his phone, got up and left. There were also a few people who started walking up the stairs and then realized something and turned around. On my way home I passed another plaza resembling the one in the film. It was located on 53rd and Park Avenue. This one had a large waterfall, which people were able to approach compared to the on in Paley Park who had a thick metal chain telling you to back off. I think that the plaza on Park was Seagram building plaza and it was nice to see kids playing with the water running around the fountain and adults sitting with there feet in the water.

The plaza observation also allowed me to realize on thing, which is that people’s favorite activity is to observe other people. According to William H. Whyte’s video this is the number one activity of people when they go to a plaza like the girl watchers leaning against an edge and observing women like they weren’t worthy of their talents but without making a move. Going to a plaza was interesting because not only was I able to observe certain patterns but I now found a calm place to go and study during sunny days.