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HISTORICAL RESEARCH Back to top	HISTORICAL RESEARCH The Sheep's Meadow is located at the south end of Central Park in New York City. The park itself was built in 1853 after three years of debate. People with money and power had argued New York needed it to secure an international reputation for itself, since cities like London and Paris had such public parks. As a result, some small communities of poorer New Yorkers were uprooted: including Irish, Germans and African-Americans. And at first, vendors who sold their wares via commercial carriage were not allowed to take their carriages into the park for an afternoon or Sunday ride with the family, even though wealthier people with expensive, non-commercial carriages could roam the park at will. Boys who wanted to play ball in the park had to have a note from the principal of the school, and there were no concerts or other public events on Sundays, the working class' only day off. This all changed over time however and today the park hosts sports enthusiasts of all kinds, people from all walks of life, and is in general a haven from the rush and bustle that is New York City life. The Sheeps' Meadow exists because the original plans for building the park included an area that was to be used for military parades and dress rehearsals. Public opinion succeeded in changing the intended use however and it was determined that military events were not appropriate for a park intended to be for use by the "people." Around 1874 there was a shepherd who kept sheep in a barn that has since been transformed into Tavern on the Green. Twice a day the shepherd would take the sheep across the street to graze, stopping all traffic while they crossed. This was put to a stop in 1934 by Robert Moses who claimed the sheep were a health hazard. Since then it has been a site for large gatherings including the 1969 moon landing watch, gatherings of hippies in the 1960s, many concerts, and all kinds of sporting events. Today it is largely used for picnicing; relaxing; reading; cloud-watching; kite flying; a place to take the children; sports such as frisbee, practicing martial arts and yoga, and basketball and rollerblading in surrounding areas.

OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH Back to top	OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH I visited the meadow several times over a period of about three weeks and recorded observations about the meadow itself, the quality of light and the people who use it. PEOPLE Each time I visited, an area of about 1/4 of the size of the whole meadow, located in the center and the lowest part of the bowl, was empty, while the rest of the meadow would be regularly dotted with people lounging, and cuddling, playing frisbee and playing with their kids. When I went into the center and sat down, others followed eventually; but not many, and they did not stay long. Everyone seemed to prefer to be near a tree or a rock outcropping. If those places were taken, people seemed to find a place near other people as if the proximity to the people near the trees (for example) was a connection to the trees, or as if being alone under the wide open sky was too much to bear. Thankfully there are no vending carts or other commercial enterprises anywhere to be seen, other than Tavern on the Green. But it's outside the trees and across the street and can't really be seen from the meadow anyway. The only visible structure (other than the backdrop of skyscrapers) is a bathroom, but it too, is outside the circle of trees and hidden among them. I didn't even notice it until my second time there. There are no billboards. Surprisingly there is no trash on the ground. No radio. No neon. No artificial lights. In fact, if there were no other people in the meadow and you could manage to not hear the faint sounds of the city's people (honking, cars ...), it would seem as if there was no city. I imagine the only thing missing would be the stars at night, which no doubt are obscured there by the glow of the city lights, as in all other parts of the city. The people in the meadow seem to engage in three main activities: sitting still, walking slowly, or actively running around. No one there seems to be doing anything that looks like work. I didn't see a single laptop or notebook or documents. Although I did see the very occasional cell phone, and plenty of novels and headphones, kites and frisbees, picnics and suntan lotion. Families tended to be located on the northwest and northeast sides, people invloved in frisbee or other group sports on the southeast side, people alone with their music or thoughts, or involved in solitary sports on the south/southwest side, and sort of a blend of type in the spaces in between. The mood of every single person there seemed to be happy and relaxed. I never noticed anyone fighting. I never saw any loud, unruly groups of people. (Although one day I did see a flasher who seemed particularly interested in having his picture taken!) People do not seem to interact with anyone they did not arrive with, reinforcing the feeling of being alone while also surrounded by people. Unlike on the streets of New York, almost no one looks anyone else in the eyes there, or seems to be in any way affected by the actions of others. Time seems to be marked more by the motion of the shadows across the grass than by watches or cell phones. As it gets darker, people begin to leave, the more active ones staying longer than the families or the loungers. Clearly, this natural, open space is somewhere people go to clear their minds, relax their bodies, and uplift their spirits. MEADOW The meadow is 15 acres. It takes about 20-30 minutes to stroll around the circumference and about 10 minutes to walk from edge to edge through the center point. It is completely covered in soft, lush, well-tended grass and is ringed by tall trees (what look to be oak, elm, and birch) and the skyscrapers beyond them. There are two outcroppings of natural rock on the south side, and a chain link fence around the circumference which on its north side is covered in a leafy vine. There are four main entrances, one each in the approximate corners of the meadow. They are defined simply by openings in the otherwise all-encompassing fence. Each opening has a short dirt path defining the many footsteps of the millions of people who visit the meadow. Outside the fence on the north side is a path where one can view many different varieties of violets. On the east are basketball courts. On the west is the street in which many bicyclists, joggers and rollerbladers travel, as well as Tavern on the Green. And on the south side is a simple path for walking, biking or rollerblading. There are a great many very friendly squirrels which come to you if you make the right kind of clicking noise. There are also butterflies and towards sunset, giant dragonflies which are probably there to feast on the many little bugs that hover over the grass, and which viciously attack humans. Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be any birds. In the sunlight, the grass is so green and alive it seems to be glowing. It is long, and soft, and very inviting for a tired body, as evidenced by the many people lounging upon it. The treetops also catch the sun but then create a dark shadowy region under their branches. This area seems to be a favorite for couples and people wanting to think. The treetops also go practically unnoticed in favor of cloud formations, or the bright blue of the open sky. On a cloudy day, the textures and colors are subtler, yet still contain the same power. The grass shimmers like silver instead of the yellow glow it has in the sun. The rock outcroppings suddenly seem like major elements in the landscape instead of border decorations, as their grey color is enhanced and drawn out by an overcast sky. The trees become more noticeable since their tops are the only thing that receives any light and thus they contrast more sharply with the sky. At the end of the day, the light fades fast and creates a dramatic show of light and shadow among the trees and people lying and playing on the grass. The shape of the land is like a shallow bowl, where the edges are higher than than the center. But its slopes are gentle and inviting and seem to rise up to meet you as walk along. The trees ringing the edges are arranged mostly at random yet still seem to be set there on purpose to spike the bowl and keep it connected to the ground. They also serve as a vital transition point from the relative tranquility of the meadow to the noise of the city and streets beyond. The air there is light and heavy at the same time. It is light in the sense that it is a large open space in the middle of a dense, concrete city. Sound does not carry far, making it seem as though you were there all alone even though you can see others all around. The many frisbees in the air highlight the expanse of open air and define it's openness and lightness through the many paths they trace through it. But it is heavy in the sense that one can feel the city pressing in on the trees from all sides, trying to get in, and that while the air is fresh and open, the bowl shape of the ground makes it seem almost as if the air were pressing the ground down into that shape, and that you too should succumb, and lie down, and perhaps dream.

THEORETICAL RESEARCH Back to top	THEORETICAL RESEARCH To learn more about how and why people behave the way do they in groups and/or in public spaces, I read some books and an article on the subject (listed above), the relevant points of which I shall summarize here rather quickly. There seems to be some general consensus that there are four types of "personal" space, labelled intimate (contact within about 1.5 feet), personal (about 1.5-4 feet), social (about 4-12 feet) and public (about 12 feet and up). The specific distances vary by culture, activity, housing conditions, and other factors but the overall categories seem to hold true. Even on a crowded subway, where one might be expected to maintain a social distance, people compensate for the lack of distance by averting their eyes and making sure not to touch anyone else. There was also some consensus that people like to stake out territory either by their physical presence in a place (at a table in a library for example) or by using a personal object if they intend to leave for a time (like leaving a backpack or coat at the library table, for example). This simple act works very effectively in keeping a space free. Both of these cases were clearly evident at the Sheep Meadow. The texts researched also discussed human perception of space. I was particularly interested in the idea of sequence and transition created by simply moving around an object. How this works becomes very clear if you play pool, as you conciously move around the table to better see the relative positions of the balls. The meadow is a perfect environment for this due to its open spaces and bowl shape. Everytime you move at all, a different scene reveals itself composed of the contrasting sizes of people (from perspective). One author discussed the idea of the "legibility" of a space and of its offering both "prospect" and "refuge" for the person in it. By this he meant that for a person to fell safe and comfortable in a space, he or she needs to be able to visually understand the space, how it works, where it goes, etc. The meadow is extremely legible then, in that you can see all of it at once from nearly any vantage point. prospect was defined to mean the prospect of escaping the space should some sort of danger arise. in the meadow then, perhaps the feeling of being trapped is due to the fact that while you can escape from your current position in the meadow quite easily, the exits are for the most part hidden by trees and shadow. Of course then refuge is the ability to find a place of safety in the space. Thus the people in the meadow sitting near trees and fences and rocks and eachother. The other relevant issue in this vein is the idea of "spatial security." This is defined as a person being able to, in a public space, find a location to sit or stand where they won't be bothered by others and also where they won't be in anyone's way. Part of the strategy of arranging the sunflowers is to leave spaces such that if they are occupied, the people in them will be in the way of others. One other relevant issue that came out of the research was the idea of participation in planning a space. Four types were defined : enforced (in which planners try to cause specific behavior by the structure of the space), passive (in which planners seem to primarily survey people to see what they want), active (which involves a dialogue between planner and user), and finally spontaneous (in which the user takes the initiative and seeks to impose their own will). I'm interested to see if people just accept the sunflowers as I would arrange them, if they will seek to find out who put them there and why, or if they will simply move them to suit their own needs.






	REFERENCES
	The Experience of Place by Tony Hiss Psychology & the Environment by Claude Levy-Leboyer People in Places by Farbstein & Kantrowitz Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte Learning About Human Spatial Behavior by Attila Lawrence The Sunflower House	Martha Stewart on Sunflowers Central Park Conservancy Terraserver: Maps NYC Department of Planning Prior Lake, MN, Department of Planning Chelsea Garden Center 321 Bowery Florist Grove St & 7th Avenue Ceco International Lighting 212-206-8280