Civic Center Park Essay Example for Free

Civic Center Park Essay â€Å"The noblest sort of heart is that composed of the united will of many citizens† (Robinson, p. 10), and this united will is brought forth by the City Beautiful movement. The core goals of the City Beautiful movement is to create a better city through the development of unity, civic pride, and better citizens. Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado is a prime example of the City Beautiful movement manifested into reality. With its’ grand manner architectural style it attempts to instill a sense of unity and civic pride with in the residents of the city, which in the City Beautiful style is intended to lead to better citizens over all. Civic Center Park illustrates the core goals of the City Beautiful movement through the monuments present, the design, and the location of the park its self. In the city beautiful movement it is key to create pubic space; this idea of public—shared—space is intended to create a place where all members of the community can come together in a central location. Civic Park is a large public space that is located in the center of downtown Denver, with busy streets on all sides that do not cut through the park but strategically curve around it as to simply incorporate the park into city life; this curvilinear street design is an aspect that Camillo Sitte advocated for in urban design. Also in order to create this sense of a shared public space the park is completely encircled by public buildings, which is an aspect of Grand Manner design that Sitte greatly appreciates in ancient cities (Sitte, p. 469); it creates an â€Å"unbroken frame of public buildings† (Sitte, p. 475), which produces a â€Å"†¦cohesive effect of the square†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Sitte, p. 477). From the center of the park one can spin around and view the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Public Library, City Hall, and the newly added Colorado History Museum with out leaving that one spot. The boulevards leading to this central, open space are all broad, beautifully paved, and extensively tree lined, which is a key aspect in Grand Manner design. Much of the foot traffic in the area seemed to choose to walk these paths to their destinations instead of the main roads, despite that most destinations appeared not to be within the park its self. Facilitating a sense that this area is for the public use in more aspects than just a park. Another way in which Civic Center Park is reaching out to the public is through the program â€Å"Grow Local†. Near the center of the park is a space of land that has been cultivated into a community garden, where the food that is produced is donated to local non-profits and is cared for by volunteers in the community. The goal of the â€Å"Grow Local† foundation is to â€Å"promote local food, local community, and local economy† (Civic Center Park sign). This program that is central in the park entirely focuses on the betterment and unity of the community surrounding Civic Center Park. It establishes a connection amongst the citizens of Denver for it is completely local and is supported by the immediate community for the immediate community, which is a key concept in the City Beautiful movement. This aspect of having an open public space surrounded by civic buildings is a core City Beautiful ideology, for it turns the entire area into public domain. All that can be seen is open to the public, allowing the citizens to feel united and a part of something larger—their city. This connection helps to produce pride in the citizens, for when one feels connected they also feel a sense of responsibility. As Robinson put it in his paper, Improvement in City Life, â€Å"the happier people of the rising city beautiful will grow in love for it, in pride in it. They will be better citizens, because better instructed, more artistic, and filled with civic pride† (Robinson, p. 10). With responsibility also comes pride when the area is one that is favorable and beautiful as is intended in the grand manner design that was used in the creation of civic park. The desire of having a population that has civic pride, as is the goal in the City Beautiful movement, is that this pride will lead to better citizens. If one takes pride in there community they will then want to better their community and make it a better place to live for all. They will be inspired by their built environment to be better than before. With in Civic Center Park there are a wide variety of monuments, statues, and plaques that cover the landscape. Many of these monuments, statues, and plaques carry a common theme, the theme of patriotism. This theme of patriotism is portrayed through monuments and such that commemorate Civil War and World War II heroes, the military branches, and the beginnings of our nation. Many of these monuments, statues, and plaques are not focused solely on Denver or even Colorado, but on the nation as a whole. One plaque that is positioned on a large dark stone structure is dedicated to Sadie M. Likens, whom did great work aiding survivors of the Civil War. The plaque does not state weather or not she was a Colorado native or if she has any connection to Denver at all, it can be assumed but the connection is not concretely conveyed. Another example of this is the giant flagpole with an American flag that stands in direct line of sight of City Hall. This is not beneficial to Denver’s civic identity, for it causes â€Å"local characteristics [to] gradually disappear† (Sitte, p. 473). While this is a representation of the people’s identity and unity as a nation, it does nothing for the identity and unity of the people as members of Denver or even Colorado. A tall monument that resamples the Washington monument also stands in Civic Center Park and commemorates each branch of the United States military. This too only connects the people to their national identity and not to their identity and unity as an immediate community. While this may be viewed as advantageous, for it â€Å"attend[s] to everyone’s past† (Hayden, p. 69), it is not focused enough on the immediate community to promote the ideologies of City Beautiful. While the monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus is â€Å"socially inclusive† (Hayden, p. 70), for it celebrates the discovery and beginning of the peoples’ nation, it has no true connection to the unique background of the community. These monuments need to be more focused on Colorado and Denver’s histor and culture in order for them to better â€Å"nurture citizens public memory, to encompass shared time in the form of shred territory† (Hayden 72), as is one of the main goals of the City Beautiful Movement and the main purpose of monuments, statues, and plaques. The Statue of â€Å"Joe P. Martinez, Colorado’s first congressional medal of honor recipient of World War II† (Civic Center Park monument), in Civic Center Park is a statue that better connects the nations history with Colorado’s history; for, it commemorates a Colorado native that was in a war that effected all citizens of both the nation and Colorado. Another beneficial aspect of theses monuments is that they show a type of timeline, in that they â€Å"[help] to create, celebrate and cement this progressive narrative of natural history† (Savage, p. 2). This is also represented through the monument of the Ten Commandments that is located at one of the entrances to the park. This nation was founded on religious beliefs and therefor it has a religious beginnings and this is portrayed in the park despite the fact that our nation—for the most part—has moved away from these beginnings. Having it at the beginning of the park represents the forward movement of our nation. There were some statues, monuments, and plaques in Civic Center Park that did focus more on Colorado history, which is a closer tie to the community; however, there still did not seem to be any that were specific to Denver. Two statues that stood out as strongly representing Colorado’s collective past were the â€Å"Bronco Buster† (a statue of a cowboy on a horse) and the â€Å"On the War Trail† (a statue of a Native American on a horse). As a western state Colorado has a strong history involving Native Americans and ranching. Colorado still continues to be associated with such things in the present as well. Cowboys and Native Americans are a part of Colorado’s collective identity weather or not people have an actual, personal association with them. These statues are not just mementos of the past but representations of the present, they are not â€Å"an obsolete marker of the past but an agent of consciousness in a changing world† (Savage, p. 5). Another monument that represent Colorado’s history instead of the nations are the paintings of the â€Å"Trapper and the Prospector†, which represent early, frontier life in Colorado. These paintings represent how western life in Colorado began and how the beginnings of life in Colorado as people know it today. While all of the monuments, statues, and plaques mentioned previously help to establish unity and identity on a national and state level they lack the ability to establish them on a community and city level. The incorporation of more monuments, statues, and plaques that represent Denver’s history and identity—which Civic Center park is significantly lacking—would greatly serve the cause of building Denver’s civic identity. For, the people would feel more connected to one another and to their immediate community. This would also allow a place â€Å"in which humans can display their culture† (Sitte, p. 467), which, as Lewis Mumford believes is the most important part of a city. The culture of the people of the community cannot be displayed if the monuments present do not represent the immediate area. In Civic Center park the majority of the monuments, statues, and plaques focus on commemorating heroes, such as the Civil war monument, the World War II statue, and the Columbus monument. All of these recognized people that made a difference and were beneficial to the nation; none of them were portrayed as victims. These types of monuments stimulate consciousness, in that they cause people to view this nation as a proud one. They bring forth the notion that our nation is one of victors and heroes and therefor one should find pride in it. The monuments I found the most engaging at Civic Center park were the ones that have a greater focus on Colorado and less on the nation. I feel as though they have a more relevant place in a park in Denver thats main purpose is to promote Denver’s civic identity. In particular I enjoyed the â€Å"Trapper and the Prospector† paintings that resided inside the coliseum type structure. I feel as though they best represented Colorado’s history. They also are the most intricate monuments and evoked the most consciousness about the past and the present. Civic Center Park is full of people there for all different reasons. There are those, such as my self, that are there to observe and view the monuments (few), there are those that are there on commute to another location (many), there are those ‘hanging out’ in groups (the majority), there are those that seemed to view it as a place of residence (good portion), and then there are those that seemed to be just enjoying the park alone (few). I was a bit taken back by how few people seemed to be in Civic Park to view the monuments and enjoy the aesthetic aspects of the park. There were only a handful of people that were utilizing the benches as a place to just sit and enjoy the park and I saw only one other couple that even bothered to glance at the statues. Those in the park that were just commuting to another location tended to stay on the grand boulevard pathways and did not interact with those off of the boulevards. They did not seem to interact with any other part of the built environment other than the path in which they walked and the arches in which they passed under. I believe that City Beautiful advocates would be pleased with the fact that members of the community use the park as a part of their daily lives; however, they would probably not be too pleased with the aspect that many of the foot traffic does not interact with the monuments or the open space that is provided. I believe that they would be more pleased if some of the foot traffic stopped once in a while and enjoyed the area more and truly took it all in. If the people of the community are not taking in the sites around them then the park is not serving the function that is intended. In the City Beautiful ideology the park should instill civic pride and the monuments should educate, memorialize, and commemorate according to Kostof, and they cannot do this if the citizens ignore them all. Those that seem the most comfortable in the park were those that were ‘hanging out’ in groups that all massed around a central area. This large mass of various smaller groups positioned its self around the top of the coliseums type structure along one of the main walkways in the center of Civic Center Park. When I walked past this mass I was called out to and asked on more than one occasion, â€Å"Hey girlie, wanna smoke some reefer?† as one man put it. I politely declined the offers and was usually met with annoyed shrugs or rude comments. A majority of the people in this crowd seemed to be selling something of unsavory quality or interacting in activities of the same sort. The fact that this seems to be the dominant presence in Civic Center Park portrays that the goal for it to produce civic pride and better citizens has fallen short. I also asked some Denver locals about what connotation Civic Center Park has and all of them proceeded to inform me that it is where one goes to purchase drugs if you ever want any. From this I have derived that the park is not viewed as a place of civic pride, but viewed as a less savory part of the city. City Beautiful advocates would be extremely disturbed by what is taking place in Civic Center Park, for it is doing the opposite of its purpose and nothing, or very little, is being done to change this. Structurally, architecturally, and aesthetically Civic Center Park is every thing that a City Beautiful advocate could ever dream of; however, the actual response of the people to the park is nothing like that imagined. Aesthetically, Civic Center Park has greatly exemplified City Beautiful and Grand Manner ideologies. Civic Center Park is adjacent to the Denver Public Library, which is a building that extrudes public space to the utmost. A library is thought of as a place that is solely for public use; people can borrow from it with no pay, use its facilities for no pay, and it sponsors many public events. Its only purpose is to serve the public, and no part of it is off limits to anyone. The Denver art Museum is also adjacent to Civic Center Park, which is another building that is dedicated to the public. A museums main purpose is to educate and benefit the community in which they are a part of. The fact that all of the buildings that surround Civic Center Park are dedicated to the enhancement and benefit of the public is the exact ideology behind Grand Manner and City Beautiful design. This is indeed what civic â€Å"aesthetic progress† should look like. To add to this â€Å"civic aesthetic† progress is that the Colorado History Museum has also been place near Civic Center Park in the Civic Center Cultural complex. This addition is good in a City Beautiful context for it is another public building that is dedicated to the immediate community. It is a building that will create unity in the community, for it is focused solely on Colorado’s history and culture, which is an aspect that all the people of the community have in common with one another. â€Å"A more inclusive landscape history can also stimulate new approaches to urban design, encourage designers, artists, and writers, as well as citizens, to contribute to an urban art of creating a heightened sense of place in the city† (Hayden 73), which is what the City Beautiful planers of Civic Center park aimed to do. In many ways Civic Center park succeeded in creating a City Beautiful, Grand Manner, public space; however, it has failed to influence the public in the way that is intended. I find that the monuments and such in the park should be more locally focused in order to create the civic pride and unity that City Beautiful advocates envisioned.