What a Park Can Do

I should have continued my Philadelphia trio at this post. I wanted to find a nice outdoor place to write, so I came to Bryant Park. But as soon as I arrived here, I couldn't help indulging in this not-big yet culturally rich park. Thus I decided to report some fresh thoughts in the park.

Urban life has a lot in common no matter where you are. People recognize a city when they walk on the streets hugged by skyscrapers and a variety of retail stores. But a real city is more defined by millions of trivial details than by a mile of landmarks. It is the trivial details that make people remember a city as itself. The trivial details may be a local stranger giving you a token when you get lost in the subway station at midnight, or a clean public toilet with baby change tables and toilet covers, or you enjoying a pleasant afternoon peacefully in a lively park in the center of the city.

Since I came to New York, I have been asked a question over and over. What's the difference between Shanghai and New York? So far the best answer I have in mind is that Shanghai is a young New York. To put it another way, they share 99% same genes. I have adapted to the New York life as soon as I moved in the apartment at lower east side, because the city survival guide here is the same as in Shanghai. What distinguishs the two is the 1% genes. In the 1%, the park plays an important role.

New York has done a great job in not only maintaining an enormous amount of public parks in the city, but also providing an accessible and recreational environment for everyone. From lower manhattan to midtown, I pass by numerous parks which are not big but host kinds of dynamic groups and activities. In Sara D. Rooselvet Park and Columbus Park near Chinatown, I saw a group of music enthusiast singing in southern China dialect and a group of old ladies doing fan dancing. It's a common scene in almost every park that two people playing chess (no matter Chinese chess or Western chess) attract a number of others watching on the side.

It feels so natural to spend hours in reading a book or chatting with friends or just enjoy a sun bath in the park. When I'm writing this post, the Bryant Park gains more leisure crowds in. You can't tell locals from tourists here. Everyone looks joyfully relaxed. 

What I want to highlight about the Bryant Park is the amenties it offers. Beside of the 2000 moveable chairs for the public and decent cuisine in the park cafe, my favorite part is the free wireless and public reading "room" in the park. I couldn't describe how nice it is to be able to hook my laptop online in an outdoor park in such a nice weather. If there were external power supply, I would stay there forever! (That reminds me of the Positive Energy Park concept we did recently. I'll do another follow-up post on that concept specifically when there's a chance.)

The Bryant Park reading room is a brilliant idea and a generous gift to the public. There is a piece of history about the reading room that I find interesting and resonating coincidentally with today's situation.

"The original Reading Room began in August of 1935 as a public response to the Depression Era job losses in New York. Many people did not have anywhere to go during the day, and no prospects for jobs. The New York Public Library opened the “Open Air Library” to give these out-of-work businessmen and intellectuals a place to go where they did not need money, a valid address, a library card, or any identification to enjoy the reading materials."

Of course, reading is always powerful, no matter when the times is good or bad. I like to end the post with a quote from Oscar Wilde:

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.