How public spaces make cities work
-
0:01 - 0:03When people think about cities,
-
0:03 - 0:05they tend to think of certain things.
-
0:05 - 0:07They think of buildings and streets
-
0:07 - 0:10and skyscrapers, noisy cabs.
-
0:10 - 0:12But when I think about cities,
-
0:12 - 0:14I think about people.
-
0:14 - 0:17Cities are fundamentally about people,
-
0:17 - 0:19and where people go
-
0:19 - 0:21and where people meet
-
0:21 - 0:24are at the core of what makes a city work.
-
0:24 - 0:27So even more important than buildings in a city
-
0:27 - 0:30are the public spaces in between them.
-
0:30 - 0:33And today, some of the most transformative
-
0:33 - 0:34changes in cities
-
0:34 - 0:38are happening in these public spaces.
-
0:38 - 0:42So I believe that lively, enjoyable public spaces
-
0:42 - 0:45are the key to planning a great city.
-
0:45 - 0:48They are what makes it come alive.
-
0:48 - 0:52But what makes a public space work?
-
0:52 - 0:56What attracts people to successful public spaces,
-
0:56 - 0:58and what is it about unsuccessful places
-
0:58 - 1:01that keeps people away?
-
1:01 - 1:04I thought, if I could answer those questions,
-
1:04 - 1:08I could make a huge contribution to my city.
-
1:08 - 1:10But one of the more wonky things about me
-
1:10 - 1:13is that I am an animal behaviorist,
-
1:13 - 1:17and I use those skills not to study animal behavior
-
1:17 - 1:20but to study how people in cities
-
1:20 - 1:22use city public spaces.
-
1:22 - 1:26One of the first spaces that I studied
-
1:26 - 1:29was this little vest pocket park called Paley Park
-
1:29 - 1:31in midtown Manhattan.
-
1:31 - 1:35This little space became a small phenomenon,
-
1:35 - 1:38and because it had such a profound impact
-
1:38 - 1:39on New Yorkers,
-
1:39 - 1:44it made an enormous impression on me.
-
1:44 - 1:46I studied this park very early on in my career
-
1:46 - 1:48because it happened to have been built
-
1:48 - 1:49by my stepfather,
-
1:49 - 1:52so I knew that places like Paley Park
-
1:52 - 1:54didn't happen by accident.
-
1:54 - 1:57I saw firsthand that they required
-
1:57 - 1:58incredible dedication
-
1:58 - 2:02and enormous attention to detail.
-
2:02 - 2:03But what was it about this space
-
2:03 - 2:07that made it special and drew people to it?
-
2:07 - 2:10Well, I would sit in the park and watch very carefully,
-
2:10 - 2:12and first among other things
-
2:12 - 2:15were the comfortable, movable chairs.
-
2:15 - 2:17People would come in, find their own seat,
-
2:17 - 2:21move it a bit, actually, and then stay a while,
-
2:21 - 2:23and then interestingly,
-
2:23 - 2:26people themselves attracted other people,
-
2:26 - 2:28and ironically, I felt more peaceful
-
2:28 - 2:30if there were other people around.
-
2:30 - 2:32And it was green.
-
2:32 - 2:36This little park provided what New Yorkers crave:
-
2:36 - 2:39comfort and greenery.
-
2:39 - 2:40But my question was,
-
2:40 - 2:43why weren't there more places with greenery
-
2:43 - 2:46and places to sit in the middle of the city
-
2:46 - 2:48where you didn't feel alone,
-
2:48 - 2:51or like a trespasser?
-
2:51 - 2:53Unfortunately, that's not how cities
-
2:53 - 2:55were being designed.
-
2:55 - 2:59So here you see a familiar sight.
-
2:59 - 3:03This is how plazas have been
designed for generations. -
3:03 - 3:06They have that stylish, Spartan look
-
3:06 - 3:10that we often associate with modern architecture,
-
3:10 - 3:12but it's not surprising that people
-
3:12 - 3:14avoid spaces like this.
-
3:14 - 3:16They not only look desolate,
-
3:16 - 3:19they feel downright dangerous.
-
3:19 - 3:22I mean, where would you sit here?
-
3:22 - 3:25What would you do here?
-
3:25 - 3:28But architects love them.
-
3:28 - 3:32They are plinths for their creations.
-
3:32 - 3:33They might tolerate a sculpture or two,
-
3:33 - 3:35but that's about it.
-
3:35 - 3:38And for developers, they are ideal.
-
3:38 - 3:41There's nothing to water, nothing to maintain,
-
3:41 - 3:45and no undesirable people to worry about.
-
3:45 - 3:48But don't you think this is a waste?
-
3:48 - 3:51For me, becoming a city planner
-
3:51 - 3:53meant being able to truly change the city
-
3:53 - 3:56that I lived in and loved.
-
3:56 - 3:58I wanted to be able to create places
-
3:58 - 4:00that would give you the feeling that you got
-
4:00 - 4:02in Paley Park,
-
4:02 - 4:06and not allow developers to
build bleak plazas like this. -
4:06 - 4:08But over the many years,
-
4:08 - 4:10I have learned how hard it is
-
4:10 - 4:13to create successful, meaningful,
-
4:13 - 4:15enjoyable public spaces.
-
4:15 - 4:17As I learned from my stepfather,
-
4:17 - 4:19they certainly do not happen by accident,
-
4:19 - 4:22especially in a city like New York,
-
4:22 - 4:25where public space has to
be fought for to begin with, -
4:25 - 4:27and then for them to be successful,
-
4:27 - 4:29somebody has to think very hard
-
4:29 - 4:31about every detail.
-
4:31 - 4:35Now, open spaces in cities are opportunities.
-
4:35 - 4:39Yes, they are opportunities
for commercial investment, -
4:39 - 4:43but they are also opportunities for the common good
-
4:43 - 4:44of the city,
-
4:44 - 4:48and those two goals are often
not aligned with one another, -
4:48 - 4:50and therein lies the conflict.
-
4:50 - 4:53The first opportunity I had to fight
-
4:53 - 4:56for a great public open space was in the early 1980s,
-
4:56 - 4:59when I was leading a team of planners
-
4:59 - 5:02at a gigantic landfill called Battery Park City
-
5:02 - 5:04in lower Manhattan on the Hudson River.
-
5:04 - 5:07And this sandy wasteland had lain barren
-
5:07 - 5:09for 10 years,
-
5:09 - 5:11and we were told, unless we found a developer
-
5:11 - 5:14in six months, it would go bankrupt.
-
5:14 - 5:16So we came up with a radical,
-
5:16 - 5:18almost insane idea.
-
5:18 - 5:20Instead of building a park
-
5:20 - 5:22as a complement to future development,
-
5:22 - 5:24why don't we reverse that equation
-
5:24 - 5:27and build a small but very high-quality
-
5:27 - 5:29public open space first,
-
5:29 - 5:32and see if that made a difference.
-
5:32 - 5:36So we only could afford to build a two-block section
-
5:36 - 5:40of what would become a mile-long esplanade,
-
5:40 - 5:43so whatever we built had to be perfect.
-
5:43 - 5:46So just to make sure, I insisted
-
5:46 - 5:48that we build a mock-up
-
5:48 - 5:52in wood, at scale, of the railing and the sea wall.
-
5:52 - 5:55And when I sat down on that test bench
-
5:55 - 5:58with sand still swirling all around me,
-
5:58 - 6:01the railing hit exactly at eye level,
-
6:01 - 6:04blocking my view and ruining my experience
-
6:04 - 6:06at the water's edge.
-
6:06 - 6:09So you see, details really do make a difference.
-
6:09 - 6:13But design is not just how something looks,
-
6:13 - 6:19it's how your body feels on that seat in that space,
-
6:19 - 6:22and I believe that successful design always depends
-
6:22 - 6:26on that very individual experience.
-
6:26 - 6:30In this photo, everything looks very finished,
-
6:30 - 6:33but that granite edge, those lights,
-
6:33 - 6:35the back on that bench,
-
6:35 - 6:36the trees in planting,
-
6:36 - 6:39and the many different kinds of places to sit
-
6:39 - 6:42were all little battles that turned this project
-
6:42 - 6:46into a place that people wanted to be.
-
6:46 - 6:50Now, this proved very valuable 20 years later
-
6:50 - 6:52when Michael Bloomberg asked me to be
-
6:52 - 6:54his planning commissioner
-
6:54 - 6:56and put me in charge of shaping
-
6:56 - 6:58the entire city of New York.
-
6:58 - 7:00And he said to me on that very day,
-
7:00 - 7:02he said that New York was projected
-
7:02 - 7:05to grow from eight to nine million people.
-
7:05 - 7:06And he asked me,
-
7:06 - 7:08"So where are you going to put
-
7:08 - 7:11one million additional New Yorkers?"
-
7:11 - 7:14Well, I didn't have any idea.
-
7:14 - 7:17Now, you know that New York does
-
7:17 - 7:19place a high value on attracting immigrants,
-
7:19 - 7:22so we were excited about the prospect of growth,
-
7:22 - 7:25but honestly, where were we going to grow
-
7:25 - 7:29in a city that was already built out to its edges
-
7:29 - 7:31and surrounded by water?
-
7:31 - 7:33How were we going to find housing
-
7:33 - 7:35for that many new New Yorkers?
-
7:35 - 7:37And if we couldn't spread out,
-
7:37 - 7:39which was probably a good thing,
-
7:39 - 7:42where could new housing go?
-
7:42 - 7:43And what about cars?
-
7:43 - 7:47Our city couldn't possibly handle any more cars.
-
7:47 - 7:50So what were we going to do?
-
7:50 - 7:54If we couldn't spread out, we had to go up.
-
7:54 - 7:55And if we had to go up,
-
7:55 - 7:57we had to go up in places
-
7:57 - 7:59where you wouldn't need to own a car.
-
7:59 - 8:02So that meant using one of our greatest assets:
-
8:02 - 8:04our transit system.
-
8:04 - 8:06But we had never before thought
-
8:06 - 8:08of how we could make the most of it.
-
8:08 - 8:11So here was the answer to our puzzle.
-
8:11 - 8:15If we were to channel and redirect
-
8:15 - 8:17all new development around transit,
-
8:17 - 8:21we could actually handle that population increase,
-
8:21 - 8:22we thought.
-
8:22 - 8:25And so here was the plan,
-
8:25 - 8:26what we really needed to do:
-
8:26 - 8:29We needed to redo our zoning --
-
8:29 - 8:33and zoning is the city planner's regulatory tool --
-
8:33 - 8:36and basically reshape the entire city,
-
8:36 - 8:38targeting where new development could go
-
8:38 - 8:40and prohibiting any development at all
-
8:40 - 8:42in our car-oriented,
-
8:42 - 8:44suburban-style neighborhoods.
-
8:44 - 8:48Well, this was an unbelievably ambitious idea,
-
8:48 - 8:50ambitious because communities
-
8:50 - 8:54had to approve those plans.
-
8:54 - 8:57So how was I going to get this done?
-
8:57 - 9:00By listening. So I began listening,
-
9:00 - 9:03in fact, thousands of hours of listening
-
9:03 - 9:05just to establish trust.
-
9:05 - 9:07You know, communities can tell
-
9:07 - 9:09whether or not you understand their neighborhoods.
-
9:09 - 9:13It's not something you can just fake.
-
9:13 - 9:15And so I began walking.
-
9:15 - 9:18I can't tell you how many blocks I walked,
-
9:18 - 9:21in sweltering summers, in freezing winters,
-
9:21 - 9:23year after year,
-
9:23 - 9:25just so I could get to understand
-
9:25 - 9:27the DNA of each neighborhood
-
9:27 - 9:30and know what each street felt like.
-
9:30 - 9:33I became an incredibly geeky zoning expert,
-
9:33 - 9:35finding ways that zoning could address
-
9:35 - 9:37communities' concerns.
-
9:37 - 9:40So little by little, neighborhood by neighborhood,
-
9:40 - 9:41block by block,
-
9:41 - 9:43we began to set height limits
-
9:43 - 9:45so that all new development
-
9:45 - 9:48would be predictable and near transit.
-
9:48 - 9:50Over the course of 12 years,
-
9:50 - 9:53we were able to rezone
-
9:53 - 9:55124 neighborhoods,
-
9:55 - 9:5840 percent of the city,
-
9:58 - 10:0212,500 blocks, so that now,
-
10:02 - 10:0690 percent of all new development of New York
-
10:06 - 10:08is within a 10-minute walk of a subway.
-
10:08 - 10:11In other words, nobody in those new buildings
-
10:11 - 10:13needs to own a car.
-
10:13 - 10:17Well, those rezonings were exhausting
-
10:17 - 10:20and enervating and important,
-
10:20 - 10:23but rezoning was never my mission.
-
10:23 - 10:26You can't see zoning and you can't feel zoning.
-
10:26 - 10:28My mission was always to create
-
10:28 - 10:30great public spaces.
-
10:30 - 10:34So in the areas where we zoned
for significant development, -
10:34 - 10:36I was determined to create places
-
10:36 - 10:39that would make a difference in people's lives.
-
10:39 - 10:41Here you see what was
-
10:41 - 10:43two miles of abandoned, degraded waterfront
-
10:43 - 10:45in the neighborhoods of Greenpoint
-
10:45 - 10:47and Williamsburg in Brooklyn,
-
10:47 - 10:50impossible to get to and impossible to use.
-
10:50 - 10:53Now the zoning here was massive,
-
10:53 - 10:56so I felt an obligation to create
-
10:56 - 10:59magnificent parks on these waterfronts,
-
10:59 - 11:02and I spent an incredible amount of time
-
11:02 - 11:05on every square inch of these plans.
-
11:05 - 11:07I wanted to make sure that there were
-
11:07 - 11:09tree-lined paths from the upland to the water,
-
11:09 - 11:12that there were trees and plantings everywhere,
-
11:12 - 11:16and, of course, lots and lots of places to sit.
-
11:16 - 11:19Honestly, I had no idea how it would turn out.
-
11:19 - 11:21I had to have faith.
-
11:21 - 11:24But I put everything that I had studied and learned
-
11:24 - 11:26into those plans.
-
11:26 - 11:27And then it opened,
-
11:27 - 11:31and I have to tell you, it was incredible.
-
11:31 - 11:33People came from all over the city
-
11:33 - 11:34to be in these parks.
-
11:34 - 11:38I know they changed the lives
of the people who live there, -
11:38 - 11:40but they also changed New Yorkers' whole image
-
11:40 - 11:42of their city.
-
11:42 - 11:44I often come down and watch people
-
11:44 - 11:45get on this little ferry
-
11:45 - 11:47that now runs between the boroughs,
-
11:47 - 11:49and I can't tell you why,
-
11:49 - 11:50but I'm completely moved
-
11:50 - 11:52by the fact that people are using it
-
11:52 - 11:55as if it had always been there.
-
11:55 - 11:58And here is a new park in lower Manhattan.
-
11:58 - 12:01Now, the water's edge in lower Manhattan
-
12:01 - 12:04was a complete mess before 9/11.
-
12:04 - 12:05Wall Street was essentially landlocked
-
12:05 - 12:08because you couldn't get anywhere near this edge.
-
12:08 - 12:12And after 9/11, the city had very little control.
-
12:12 - 12:13But I thought if we went
-
12:13 - 12:16to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
-
12:16 - 12:19and got money to reclaim this two miles
-
12:19 - 12:20of degraded waterfront
-
12:20 - 12:22that it would have an enormous effect
-
12:22 - 12:25on the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.
-
12:25 - 12:26And it did.
-
12:26 - 12:29Lower Manhattan finally has a public waterfront
-
12:29 - 12:31on all three sides.
-
12:31 - 12:34I really love this park.
-
12:34 - 12:36You know, railings have to be higher now,
-
12:36 - 12:39so we put bar seating at the edge,
-
12:39 - 12:41and you can get so close to the water
-
12:41 - 12:42you're practically on it.
-
12:42 - 12:44And see how the railing widens
-
12:44 - 12:46and flattens out so you can lay down
-
12:46 - 12:48your lunch or your laptop.
-
12:48 - 12:49And I love when people come there
-
12:49 - 12:51and look up and they say,
-
12:51 - 12:55"Wow, there's Brooklyn, and it's so close."
-
12:55 - 12:58So what's the trick?
-
12:58 - 13:00How do you turn a park
-
13:00 - 13:03into a place that people want to be?
-
13:03 - 13:06Well, it's up to you,
-
13:06 - 13:09not as a city planner but as a human being.
-
13:09 - 13:12You don't tap into your design expertise.
-
13:12 - 13:16You tap into your humanity.
-
13:16 - 13:19I mean, would you want to go there?
-
13:19 - 13:21Would you want to stay there?
-
13:21 - 13:23Can you see into it and out of it?
-
13:23 - 13:26Are there other people there?
-
13:26 - 13:28Does it seem green and friendly?
-
13:28 - 13:31Can you find your very own seat?
-
13:31 - 13:34Well now, all over New York City,
-
13:34 - 13:36there are places where you can
-
13:36 - 13:38find your very own seat.
-
13:38 - 13:40Where there used to be parking spaces,
-
13:40 - 13:43there are now pop-up cafes.
-
13:43 - 13:45Where Broadway traffic used to run,
-
13:45 - 13:47there are now tables and chairs.
-
13:47 - 13:50Where 12 years ago, sidewalk
cafes were not allowed, -
13:50 - 13:52they are now everywhere.
-
13:52 - 13:55But claiming these spaces for public use
-
13:55 - 13:56was not simple,
-
13:56 - 13:59and it's even harder to keep them that way.
-
13:59 - 14:01So now I'm going to tell you a story
-
14:01 - 14:05about a very unusual park called the High Line.
-
14:05 - 14:07The High Line was an elevated railway.
-
14:07 - 14:14(Applause)
-
14:14 - 14:16The High Line was an elevated railway
-
14:16 - 14:18that ran through three neighborhoods
-
14:18 - 14:19on Manhattan's West Side,
-
14:19 - 14:21and when the train stopped running,
-
14:21 - 14:23it became a self-seeded landscape,
-
14:23 - 14:26a kind of a garden in the sky.
-
14:26 - 14:28And when I saw it the first time,
-
14:28 - 14:31honestly, when I went up on that old viaduct,
-
14:31 - 14:34I fell in love the way you fall in love with a person,
-
14:34 - 14:35honestly.
-
14:35 - 14:37And when I was appointed,
-
14:37 - 14:39saving the first two sections of the High Line
-
14:39 - 14:42from demolition became my first priority
-
14:42 - 14:45and my most important project.
-
14:45 - 14:48I knew if there was a day that I didn't
-
14:48 - 14:52worry about the High Line, it would come down.
-
14:52 - 14:54And the High Line,
-
14:54 - 14:56even though it is widely known now
-
14:56 - 14:58and phenomenally popular,
-
14:58 - 15:02it is the most contested public space in the city.
-
15:02 - 15:05You might see a beautiful park,
-
15:05 - 15:07but not everyone does.
-
15:07 - 15:10You know, it's true, commercial interests
-
15:10 - 15:13will always battle against public space.
-
15:13 - 15:15You might say,
-
15:15 - 15:17"How wonderful it is that more than
-
15:17 - 15:19four million people come from all over the world
-
15:19 - 15:21to visit the High Line."
-
15:21 - 15:25Well, a developer sees just one thing: customers.
-
15:25 - 15:28Hey, why not take out those plantings
-
15:28 - 15:30and have shops all along the High Line?
-
15:30 - 15:32Wouldn't that be terrific
-
15:32 - 15:34and won't it mean a lot more money for the city?
-
15:34 - 15:37Well no, it would not be terrific.
-
15:37 - 15:40It would be a mall, and not a park.
-
15:40 - 15:47(Applause)
-
15:47 - 15:49And you know what, it might mean
-
15:49 - 15:51more money for the city,
-
15:51 - 15:55but a city has to take the long view,
-
15:55 - 15:58the view for the common good.
-
15:58 - 16:02Most recently, the last section of the High Line,
-
16:02 - 16:03the third section of the High Line,
-
16:03 - 16:05the final section of the High Line,
-
16:05 - 16:08has been pitted against development interests,
-
16:08 - 16:10where some of the city's leading developers
-
16:10 - 16:13are building more than 17 million square feet
-
16:13 - 16:15at the Hudson Yards.
-
16:15 - 16:17And they came to me and proposed
-
16:17 - 16:20that they "temporarily disassemble"
-
16:20 - 16:22that third and final section.
-
16:22 - 16:25Perhaps the High Line didn't fit in
-
16:25 - 16:28with their image of a gleaming city of skyscrapers
-
16:28 - 16:29on a hill.
-
16:29 - 16:32Perhaps it was just in their way.
-
16:32 - 16:34But in any case, it took nine months
-
16:34 - 16:37of nonstop daily negotiation
-
16:37 - 16:39to finally get the signed agreement
-
16:39 - 16:41to prohibit its demolition,
-
16:41 - 16:45and that was only two years ago.
-
16:45 - 16:47So you see, no matter how popular
-
16:47 - 16:50and successful a public space may be,
-
16:50 - 16:52it can never be taken for granted.
-
16:52 - 16:55Public spaces always -- this is it saved --
-
16:55 - 16:59public spaces always need vigilant champions,
-
16:59 - 17:02not only to claim them at the outset for public use,
-
17:02 - 17:06but to design them for the people that use them,
-
17:06 - 17:08then to maintain them to ensure
-
17:08 - 17:10that they are for everyone,
-
17:10 - 17:12that they are not violated, invaded,
-
17:12 - 17:15abandoned or ignored.
-
17:15 - 17:17If there is any one lesson
-
17:17 - 17:20that I have learned in my life as a city planner,
-
17:20 - 17:23it is that public spaces have power.
-
17:23 - 17:27It's not just the number of people using them,
-
17:27 - 17:28it's the even greater number of people
-
17:28 - 17:31who feel better about their city
-
17:31 - 17:34just knowing that they are there.
-
17:34 - 17:37Public space can change how you live in a city,
-
17:37 - 17:39how you feel about a city,
-
17:39 - 17:43whether you choose one city over another,
-
17:43 - 17:46and public space is one of
the most important reasons -
17:46 - 17:49why you stay in a city.
-
17:49 - 17:51I believe that a successful city
-
17:51 - 17:54is like a fabulous party.
-
17:54 - 17:58People stay because they are having a great time.
-
17:58 - 18:00Thank you.
-
18:00 - 18:06(Applause)
-
18:06 - 18:10Thank you. (Applause)
- Title:
- How public spaces make cities work
- Speaker:
- Amanda Burden
- Description:
-
More than 8 million people are crowded together to live in New York City. What makes it possible? In part, it’s the city’s great public spaces — from tiny pocket parks to long waterfront promenades — where people can stroll and play. Amanda Burden helped plan some of the city’s newest public spaces, drawing on her experience as, surprisingly, an animal behaviorist. She shares the unexpected challenges of planning parks people love — and why it's important.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 18:28
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Madeleine Aronson accepted English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Madeleine Aronson edited English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work | ||
Madeleine Aronson edited English subtitles for How public spaces make cities work |