Myrtle Avenue was so fun when i went there. i keep thinking about it because the nice thing wasn’t some massive attraction or a big plan. it was just being in a place where there was room to hang out. you could stop, sit down, look around, talk, do nothing for a bit. cities should be full of places like that.
i mean the Myrtle Avenue Plaza in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. it’s a pedestrian space with trees, plants, seating and room for events. The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership says the plaza has 42 trees, hundreds of perennial plants and different kinds of seating. none of that sounds revolutionary. that’s probably what i like about it. someone made space for people, then put things there that make people want to stay.
not everything needs to be an activity
so many places are designed like you’re meant to pass through quickly or pay for the right to be there. get a coffee, buy lunch, go to the ticketed thing, keep moving. Myrtle Avenue felt more generous than that. i could enjoy being there without needing to justify it with a purchase or a schedule.
the NYC Department of Transportation describes plazas as reclaimed streets for public use. that’s such a simple idea and it makes such a difference: give some street space back to people and let the neighbourhood decide what it can be. a place to meet, eat, sit, listen, bring kids, or just kill half an hour. suddenly the street is somewhere you can be, not just something you have to cross.
i don’t even need to remember every detail of what was happening the day i went. i remember the feeling: it was easy to have fun there. nobody had to tell me what the fun part was. the space did its job and left the rest to us.
make room, then let people use it
we need more of this in London too. little pockets where people can sit outside without being in the way. squares with actual seating, trees, shade, and stuff going on sometimes. streets where you can bump into a friend and stay for a while instead of checking the time and getting swept along.
it doesn’t have to be a giant redevelopment or some expensive “destination”. Myrtle Avenue started with a very ordinary question: could this bit of road work better for the people who live around it? the plaza was shaped through local planning workshops and turned part of an asphalt service road into a public space. The partnership’s opening write-up says the space was built for recreation and community events, with benches and tables among the changes.
that’s the bit i want more places to copy. make a bit of room, put in somewhere to sit, give people a reason to gather, then don’t overcomplicate it. people already know how to have fun together. they need somewhere they’re allowed to.
Myrtle Avenue reminded me that a city can make an ordinary afternoon feel good just by getting out of the way a little. i had fun there. we should build more places where that can happen.