The American Benchmark of Central Park

Central Park is a classic location in a classic historical city gleaming with life.

But it’s also wildly ahead of the curve in term of its purpose, its importance, and its necessity in an ever-changing world full of uncertainty related to climate, politics, health, and the overall collective community.

I feel like Central Park has been referenced and romanticized to a point in which we forget it how crucial it is that it never actually loses its personality, its placement within one of the biggest cities in the entire world.

This was a manmade piece of nature crafted in the central heart of a giant bustling city that can destroy people with its overwhelming emotional weight. Long before New York City actually became the size it is today (Remember that Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens would join the city limits later), Central Park was an architectural miracle, even if it did involve stripping minorities from their 5 acres of land----so I’m not going to ignore that part(…and I’ll take this moment to remind everyone that reparations are truly needed to bridge the obvious economical and social gap between White America and Black America…but that subject is for another day.)

But the end result was a giant, multi-mile breath of fresh air amongst the smog, stress, and competitive movement.

And we need more Central Parks today more than ever.

Before I advance this discussion, let me describe to you why it works in the first place: Central Park’s mission is to provide green space above all else, regardless of its obvious real estate value. Not only that, but the variety is incredible: open fields, old buildings from the past, baseball fields, dog parks, large hiking trails, small forest area, dozens of playgrounds, vendors everywhere, large manmade lakes, over 500 species of animals living within its borders, an entire damn zoo on one corner, and of course we can’t forget about the bonkers-massive MET being within reach. You can spend nearly your entire life living in New York City and still not fully experience everything this urban park has to offer---there’s 50+ miles of trails in this park alone.

And we don’t see enough of these parks in the country, or even in the entire world. We don’t see enough of an effort to preserve green space, nor do we see enough of an effort to even create green space for the people living within the city borders. As someone living in Orlando with access to about a dozen large themed parks, people in Central Florida don’t suffer from this, even though Downtown Orlando can still greatly benefit from a larger Lake Eola Park space. As a matter of fact, in spite of terrible politicians this century, Florida is one of the top places in the United States for parks and trails.

Funny enough, I’m not talking about the larger cities either. I’m talking about the medium and smaller cities and towns scattered throughout the country, those who don’t offer much outside neighborhoods, fast food joints, and giant strip malls. Parks creates socialization, it creates positive energy, and lessens the chances of finding entire swaths of populations stuck at home, and potentially digging too deep into vices whether it be social media or drugs. Parks create walking space, breathing room, and more opportunities to just enjoy the fruits of life, try to enjoy a slice of life while battling in this backwards, mixed-up world.

Central Park is no longer the largest park in New York City, nor is it the most spacious, greenest, or most diverse. But similar to how the older and smaller Disneyland would set the template for others to follow, Central Park is the bar to surpass in the 21st century if you’re trying to build a viable green space within your city for your people----and not many places have been able to quite accomplish this. This country doesn’t have enough examples of this.

The modern world of social media, economical gaps between demographics, and the polarizing world of American politics has resulted in more Americans refraining from socializing in larger spaces of diversity, preferring to remain in our smaller more familiar social circles has become more of the norm. Central Park remains the antithesis of this aspect of 21st century life in the United States, its the Guy Fieri of American parks---impossible to hate because of its openness and inclusion, even when there are some questionable decisions along the way (Central Park was built on the ashes of Seneca Village, and Guy Fieri remains a bit too close to Kid Rock and Donald Trump despite their…everything..)

Central Park’s existence is partly why there are substantial numbers of New Yorkers who are content in living their entire lives within New York City, and some never even traveling outside the city limits. New York City does indeed have a little bit of everything, giving the city a great advantage over most big cities---the city has its beaches, mountains, urban areas, rural corners, parks, above-ground and underground transportation to reach all of it, and most importantly an abundance of social spaces where you can meet just about anyone from anywhere. To some, New York City is the entire world, there’s no need to see what’s beyond.

Even if I don’t agree with the mindset (especially after discovering what Canada has to offer), its hard to argue the sentiment when you have 20 million plus within the metropolitan limits and Central Park being one of its primary sources of the city’s evolution, variety, and cultural representation of what the United States should be across all 50 states. Central Park is New York City, and is a sample size of America’s potential, as well as an example of what most of the country is missing for social, economic, and environmental purposes.