Walking Journal: Icky Park
As I began my walk leaving my dorm around 9:30 I was thinking if places I could possibly walk to. I remembered one time when I passed this cool little park on my walk a few weeks ago. I knew it was on the street on the right after Amatage Station so I headed that direction. At 9:55 I turned right onto North Bissell St and found the park I passed before, Icky Park.
This space (Icky Park) is a communicative space because it is in a neighborhood and is surrounded by apartments giving neighborhood/community easy access to walk there. When I walked past this park before I saw two sets of parents and their children playing in the area and using chalk on the sidewalks along the park. The parents were talking to each other while their children played. Also when I was walking into the park this morning there was another person there sitting on one of the four benches.
Because the park is surrounded by apartment buildings and homes I saw a lot of people walk past in the alley way, I even saw a few cars drive by. As I was sitting there I also noticed a lot of people walking past me. Somewhere walking with a beverage in their hands, somewhere walking in pairs, one guy was spinning in circles looking at his phone (I am assuming he was lost) and one woman stopped to let her dog sniff around.
The thing that drew me to this park the first time I passed it was the fact that it was next to the L Train. I thought the ambience of the space was super cool even though the loud noise of the train passing I still thought it was a comforting private little nook in the city. After spring time there doesn’t make describing the ambiance of the park any easier. I felt safe and calm but every once and awhile I would hear the hectic noise of the train above. What made the noise of the L bearable was the fall vibes the park was giving with the trees changing colors, cool architecture on brick buildings across the street, and a quaint seating area.
Reading Response: Gallager and her co-authors define “communicative spaces” as spaces within cities that enable citizens to engage communicatively. In other words, communication spaces are places that enable citizens to interact with others, places in which people can encounter others, places in which people can participate in civic engagement, places to meet up with people, places to play, etc. Some examples of communicative spaces are parks, plazas, public transportation, or any other public places and events. Communicative spaces are important because they open up spaces for or opportunity for communication, allowing people to build their social capitals. A social capital is any type of “beneficial interaction” people have with each other even if they are strangers. An example of a social capital is, giving someone something that they dropped, opening the door for someone, giving someone directions, saying hello to the people we know (greet our neighbors), etc. A communicative space opens up accessibility or opportunity for people to build their social capital as well. In the reading the author states that there are “…many large scale, distinctive sculptures, and architectural elements would leave visitors feeling as if the individual elements…” in Millennium Park which I can relate to my experience there. (200)
