Activity #3 - Public vs Private by Patricia Fraser

I had spoken about this in class but forgot to write it down! So many activities, feels like not enough time! But I digress. For this assignement I walked down to 60th Street and Lexington Avenue, and crossed over to 2nd Avenue to continue on the 58th Street. In this particular area near Hunter College, alot of spaces gave the impression of being private. The majority of the buildings, especially within the side streets were residential brownstones. As I had said in class, the gates separating the homes from the sidewalks spoke clearly to me that no trespassers were allowed. Even the merchants located along Lexington Ave give off an air of privacy because you have to ring a bell and be invited into some of the stores.

I came across very few public spaces in the neighborhood. The picture above, of a residential building's open space was not very inviting. Not many people were sitting there when I walked by. William Whyte's documentary and book talks about the elements that make for a usable public space and this particular space lacked some of those elements. The most important, being sitability, was missing. There were not various places of different heights to sit. Upon close inspection the walls had very little space to sit comfortably and the spaces where you might be able to sit were in the direct line of site of the building doorman. The people sitting outside were talking to the doorman, which led me to believe that they were residents, and therefore, the seating area was private. Also there was no water source to drown out noise or enjoy, and no food carts, but there were lots of tress. One of the pictures included with this blog shows a structure that at first glance seems like an enclosed cell, but as you get closer, it is in fact a structure to sit in, although no one was there when I passed by.