This blog has been forsaken for quite some time, due to me always forgetting my camera at home at the most perfect times. Instead i would wonder through various urban places and contemplate what this entire blog journey really meant to me. Then i thought to myself EUREKA!! Why not examine the very same urban spaces that i travel through aimlessly each day. Why not make sense of my surroundings and the things i took for granted each day. So there began my journey. I took all my pictures and made notes on them yet failed to publish them..... until today.
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| Men playing Chess on the Brian Lara Promenade. |
This is a pretty mundane activity that I would normally pass by at any given time of day on my way to City Gate in order to get to school but i put on my Geographical lenses and only then did I truly appreciate its sociological meaning.
“Cultures and climates differ all over the world,” notes architect Jan Gehl , “but people are the same. They will gather in public if you give them a good place to do it."
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| Old man relaxing on the promenade while others gather to watch chess match |
Public space can be simply defined as a social space, generally open and accessible to people, examples include :sidewalks, roads, parks, squares, beaches, public thoroughfares and public libraries. The importance of these such spaces is generally lost, under/unappreciated. The question I asked myself is "Why are Public Spaces important"? The picture begins to answer this, later post will discuss it further.
According to Jay Walljasper, public spaces are the starting point for all community,commerce and democracy. Public spaces are important because they give the ordinary person a sense of belonging. They provide a place to sit,talk, meet, relax, read and my favorite of all people watch, or in the case of elderly men a place to gather and play chess. Although their activity looks restricted to chess playing, as evidence of the photo there are more spectators than players and when questioned most of the men agreed that they enjoyed meeting up with lifelong friends, making new ones, discussing matters of the day and just having something to do in their retirement.
The points highlighted to me as to why these men came to watch and play chess religiously also sparked a light bulb in my mind. Later on I found a pattern when taking my pictures, that those persons who frequented public spaces were generally of an older age and more typically male. All of which would be discussed in further posts.
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Stay tuned for more of my Urban Public Spaces Chronicles
Sharifa
