Essay - History Urban Spaces the Purpose of This Paper is to...

History

***** Spaces

***** purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the books "The Park and the People: A History ***** Central *****" by Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, and "Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West" by William Cronon. Specifically, it will contain a comparative analysis of the two *****, including ***** role of market relationships in the use ***** urban space and conflict over ***** meaning of public ***** in cities. Today, most people take public spaces in busy ***** for granted. The parks and open space seem to have always existed, like the cities themselves. Yet, this is not the case, as *****se two works clearly indicate. Urban *****s have evolved from sheer marketable space to places where city dwellers can relax, get back ***** nature, and *****get their cares for a while. Market relationships created the economies that brought people to the cities, and the open spaces provide ***** incentive to keep them happy once they have arrived.

*****s ***** Cronon, author of ***** metropol*****, notes early in the book, "[T]he central s*****ry of ***** nineteenth-century ***** is that of an exp*****ding metropolitan economy creating every more elaborate and intimate linkages between city and country."

Thus, ***** grew as market relationships with the surrounding area grew, and parks grew ***** an influx of people from ***** ***** entered the cities seeking jobs. In addition, carving out public spaces in a market economy was often difficult, as most l*****d ***** ***** cities was privately owned, and the market economy supported private, rather than ***** ownership. Authors Rosenzweig and Blackmar refer to Central Park as an "extraordinary experiment in creating a democratic public space within a society driven by the private ***** ***** divided by class and culture."

*****, the population should never take the formation of public spaces in urban areas for granted. Ra*****r, these ***** should be enjoyed, discovered, ***** explored ***** all the people with a sense ***** gratitude that they exist at *****.

In the nineteenth century, America's cities had little to recommend *****, o*****r than business and industry. *****y were dirty, dusty, dingy, and w*****kers often lived in deplorable hous*****g. As A park for the people notes, "An artistic public space cleansed of the street's commercial excesses ***** social disorders, would offer a symbolic statement of shared civic goals that transcended emerging social conflicts."

Thus, ***** creation of ***** Park and others like it around the country served a dual purpose. It ***** a recre*****tional area ***** the workers, but ***** also made a soci*****l statement about ***** city - that industry and market conditions ***** not the only thing that ran ***** city's cogs ***** industry. People were important too ***** ***** from all occupations and lifestyles that could enjoy the park toge*****r. (At least that was the idea at first.) Alternatively, as author Cronon notes, "Putting the city outside nature meant sending humanity into the same exile."

The parks were social statements built on the foundations of *****s,