Partially-Baked Idea: Our parks need much more activity
Americans are way too uptight about our park spaces
I’ve had the good fortune to travel a great deal in my life, including trips to several continents. One thing I’ve noted in the past, is how much I appreciate what other cultures do with their park spaces, to give them more human activity.
Americans in general are way too uptight about our park spaces. We seem to think they should be museum pieces. As in, they are to be looked at, but not touched or enjoyed by actual people. Very few city parks in the US actually have food and drink vendors, or any other kind of vendor. I mean, the trash - can you imagine? Someone might have to be paid to pick up trash, the horror!
I was reminded of this, on a recent trip to Mexico. Here are some vendors in a park in San Miguel de Allende: (ok, this is actually a bad photos of the BACK of some vendors. This is the curse of realizing you didn’t take as many good photos as you thought)
The fronts of those vendors open up to the park, and they sell snacks, drinks, and some tchotchkes.
And here are some vendors in a park in Mexico City:
This isn’t even the half of it. Nearly every park, large or small, has food and/or tchotchke vendors nearby.
And, this is consistent with what I’ve seen in most of Europe, in China, etc.
I’m not saying I want every park filled up with legions of cheap, tchotchke vendors and plastic garbage.
But what I am saying is, people actually like having options to have food and drink in beautiful spaces. That’s a shocking statement, I know.
But yes, we like to linger in a pretty spot with a beverage of our choice, and maybe a bite to eat. When those options are available, people actually use those spaces more. More “good” use means less crime, safer parks, and more beloved spaces. It can also mean more revenue for the park operators, and revenue for some local entrepreneurs.
In America, we only tend to put food and beverage uses in parks after a long, involved, expensive process. We spend large amounts of money to make it all look very refined.
I’m not saying that’s bad - those can be very nice. But we don’t have to do it that way. We could just allow some things to happen, and let people populate these spaces with their own ideas. What’s the harm?
I mean, the entire point of having parks in cities is for people to use them, right?
Hi Kevin, I enjoyed the piece on parks.