Christopher's Pocket park
|In the neighborhood of West Lawn in south Chicago, there is lines dividing areas not by neighborhoods or street lines, but by gang lines. Many parks in the region are territory to nearby gangs, many in-between. I see families out in the parks with their child on a tight leash, metaphorically. It seems that taking a child to the park has become a chore. You might ask “what then are parks good for?” The answer to that is the same reason parks exist, to expose our children, as well as ourselves, to open space, fresh air and to have fun. Thankfully we have come up with a solution to multiple problems. It’s called a pocket park, the park that meets the requirement of a park, is small and compact to help promote public interaction within neighbors, and in very convent in distance for residential areas.
I see a strong need for a pocket park in my earlier mentioned neighborhood, West Lawn. This park will include everything from common everyday park play sets, to a wall for creative expression. This pocket park will encourage the neighborhood to get out of the house and interact with each other, as well to better the community and enrich the area.