This Place Is…

Cold weather public space experiment

January 29th, 2007

It felt like we walked from one car-infested development to another in Brooklyn all day Saturday, so it was a pleasure to run into this experiment started last summer. Willoughby between Adam and Pearl Street in downtown Brooklyn is closed to cars and has been transformed into a mini public square with some moveable seating, some non-moveable seating, big planers and randomly (or strategically?) places trash cans. The purpose is to test the feasibility of closing it permanently to cars.

It was a cold and gray day, so no one was out on the metal furniture.

But a few people took advantage of the furniture to stop and adjust their bags…or maybe look for some spare change.

Though the square was mighty empty, there is an ancillary benefit to setting up people-oriented amenities within it, even in the middle of winter. It is a little island of brightness in the middle of many many streets and lanes of cars, buses and trucks. We looked lost all along our walk from Borough Hall to Adams Street, and it was in front of this friendly place that a woman stopped us to ask us if we needed directions. Lovely!

Entry Filed under: Urban Design, Ambiguous Places