Urban DiariesThis book presents a new approach to the issues of urban landscape design. Improvisation is a clear departure from the typical institutional or economically-driven approaches to design in the inner city. It allows sociocultural patterns and everyday activities to shape space. This study explores scenes of life in the community of West Oakland, California. It focuses on activities in and around several Model Cities parks, reveals limitations in their intention and use, and builds on observations of life in the parks to develop theoretical designs inspired by improvisation. |
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25th Street Park activities African American automobile basketball beer benches blighted blues club borhood building California car shops church commercial community center concrete corner counter created cultural dance Day Five Day Four Day Three Demographics diversity driveway economic edge environment everyday facilities familiar feet floor Freeway and I-980 freeway ramps freeway's Galen Cranz garden Grove Shafter Park housing improvisation institutional Jane Jacobs jazz Johnny Gill kids Landscape Art Leah Levy Lerup living Luther King Jr MacArthur Freeway Martin Luther King Mile High Club Model Cities Program neigh neighbor Once open spaces park's patterns physical planners play equipment programmatic prostitute public space quadrant recreational recycling center residential residents rib crib roof San Pablo Avenue sandbox seats shadow shelter sidewalk social Spacemaker Press steel structure theater Tim Harvey transformed trees truck Urban Diaries urban landscape urban minipark wall Walter Hood West Oakland yard