Programming Public Space

Public space is complicated by the interests of all who use it and those who regulate its use: residents, local businesses, city policymakers, community organizations. As art museums consider extending beyond their walls to work in local neighborhood spaces, they are confronted by bureaucratic regulation, interpersonal and cultural issues, and legacies of structural exclusion that they must overcome. Negotiating these challenges to the design and programming of public space is addressed in this chapter by looking at Corona Plaza, a popular public square in Corona cooperatively led by local partners. This is followed by a discussion of policy work connecting art and culture to shaping neighborhoods. Art activism provides avenues for a wider range of voices to be heard in influencing community development.

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   Hostile architecture or defensive architecture is an urban design tactic that often targets homeless and transient populations, placing bike racks in spaces where tents could otherwise be pitched and barriers on benches to prevent sleeping. As homelessness increases globally, hostile architecture expands as well (Rosenberger, 2017). These practices are widely criticized by urbanists, although a robust critique of the ethics behind their implementation has not yet occurred, which would better inform policymakers, urban planners, building owners, and others who have the power to make decisions their use (Licht, 2017).

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   There is a robust debate about the commons that often cites Garret Hardin’s argument that people are unable to collectively govern public space. His proclamation on the “tragedy of the commons,” based in studying cattle production, was widely accepted as inevitable and used to justify privatization of public space (Hardin, 1968). Elinor Ostrom showed how groups of people have successfully created economic, social, and technological systems to support the commons, although her argument focuses on smaller groups (Ostrom, 1990). David Harvey has challenged that theorists are too focused on modern British history, rather than looking at the greater impacts of capitalism and property ownership today that influence climate change and the future of land (Harvey, 2011).

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   The final battle on September 15, 2007, was also the culmination of Leonardo’s luchador character El Conquistador. Leonardo explained that the performance is “not only a physical battle against societal obscurity but also an internal struggle with the vulnerabilities of [my] own identity.” More information available in this interview with curator Herb Tam in NYFA Current: http://current.nyfa.org/post/73248452898/conversations-shaun-leonardo.

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   A nonprofit, economic development organization, QEDC has been doing this work in Queens since 1977: https://www.queensny.org/qedc/about/.

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   These goals were initially presented in the 2007 city report plaNYC: A Greater, Greener New York and were fully detailed in each iteration of the Plaza Program application guidelines once the program began. NYC DOT has also developed three programmatic entry points into the plaza program to ensure that funding and resources are directed at plazas that will be supported and used for an extended duration including one day plazas, temporary plazas, and permanent plazas that require longer term construction projects. More details in the applicant guidelines: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc-plaza-program-guidelines-2018.pdf.

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   The program remained a priority through the 2013 mayoral transition that included a change in DOT commissioners (R. Calixte, personal interview with author, May 5, 2015; Councilmember Julissa Ferreras’ speech on Corona Plaza, 2014). Corona Plaza is exemplary of an eligible plaza: it is connected to a roadway and may contain benches, tables, or other structures for pedestrian use. It must also meet DOT regulations: cover an area of at least 2000 square feet, have an overseeing organization take care of programming and maintenance, provide accessible public space that is otherwise out of reach, and ideally serve low- to moderate-income communities (City of New York, 2019).

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   These tactics emphasize being temporary, relatively cheap, small-scale, and welcoming to people and are referred to as “tactical urbanism” and “DIY urbanism,” among other names. There is not a prescriptive list of tactics but a general framework capturing experimental methods such as parking days in which a parking spot on a main street is taken over to become a small community space, boldly painted crosswalks, and park-lets being built on existing sidewalks. Often projects targeting community concerns are not addressed by the government or the market; therefore, interventions are often led by people and community organizations without relying on government involvement. Quick-to-build methods have also been widely critiqued as a political tool being used to promote a neoliberal, pro-capitalist agenda and reinforcing class-based inequities (Brenner, 2015; Mould, 2014). The NYC DOT Plaza Program planners consistently attempt to work against structural challenges by providing structures and support to make establishing a plaza in a marginalized community more accessible. The global implications of these practices were addressed in a 2014 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York called Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities (Gadanho, 2014).

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   Finkelpearl’s letter is cited as an example reference letter in the 2018 NYC DOT Plaza Program application packet available on the city website: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc-plaza-program-guidelines-2018.pdf.

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   Publicly available Instagram post by Tom Finkelpearl, July 14, 2018: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlMmHxKBuU7/?hl=en&taken-by=tomfinkelpearl.

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    Similar stories of change in cultural districts continue across the world in the first decades of the twenty-first century such as: Boyle Heights, Los Angeles; Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Wynwood, Miami.

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    A more thorough list of NOCD-NY’s values and actions can be found on their website: https://nocdny.org/nocd-ny-what-we-do/.

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    The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond has become a national leader in holding workshops and creating space to challenge the deeply rooted structural challenges of racism at an interpersonal level. They are based in New Orleans but have trainers in many other cities. Since 1980, over 1,000,000 people have participated in their Undoing Racism trainings and Community Organizing workshops. More information: https://www.pisab.org/.

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    Pelican Bomb was begun by two immigrant artists who both moved to New Orleans in 2011. It is an online critical forum to discuss, promote, and support contemporary art in Louisiana; in addition, these conversations were directly connected to the public through events and exhibitions at their gallery on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard. The organization ended its run in 2018 but its online presence continues. More information: http://pelicanbomb.com/.

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    The People’s Cultural Plan organizing group criticizes the DCA’s track record of continually supporting the same, larger cultural organizations with the majority of their grant funds rather than seeking out smaller groups that are emerging to serve local communities and new art forms. They also held public meetings to gather input and encourage all cultural stakeholders to push the DCA to enact a more equitable method of resource distribution. More information: https://www.peoplesculturalplan.org/.

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    Balkin details the goals of the project and connects it to larger environmental activist movements on the project website: http://www.publicsmog.org/.

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    The guidelines include criteria such as: “to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius”; “to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance”; and “to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity.” These criteria can arguably apply to Public Smog’s goal of protecting the atmosphere and therefore supporting important natural habitats through creative genius, yet the project is not affiliated with a specific member state. UNESCO has also been working to ensure diversity of representation on the list of sites beyond elite countries to be more inclusive. More information: https://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/.

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    The full manifesto is available on the Immigrant Movement International website in 12 languages. The group is looking for people to also translate it into Russian and Farsi. http://immigrant-movement.us/wordpress/migrant-manifesto/.

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    Information on the 2015 May Day Rally for Worker and Immigrant Rights call to action was promoted in a Facebook event announcement: https://www.facebook.com/events/682149868563879/?active_tab=about.

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    MPP does not directly collaborate with local schools. Artist Patrick Rowe himself works as an artist teacher, often working in public schools on behalf of an arts organization to create art lessons that meet academic curricular goals. This type of programming is supported by the New York City Department of Education and grants are available through city agencies for nonprofit arts organizations doing this work although often schools still pay a fee. MPP is something that the youth members participate in outside of school and without academic certification. I did not ask the group directly if they would like to integrate MPP into their school curriculum although one member commented in a group interview that she was planning to use her work with the collective as the focus of her college admissions essay. MPP’s logo is further discussed in Chapter 3.

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    WE Bike seeks to make the “cycling community reflect the diversity of the city” by creating programs for female identifying and gender nonconforming people “to break down barriers to cycling and build community by offering free social rides, training rides, and educational workshops.” More information about WE Bike NYC at: http://webikenyc.org/.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

   Johanna K. Taylor

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Correspondence to Johanna K. Taylor .

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