Social Life in a Public Place Writing Assignment

Social Life in a Public Place
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Social Life in a Public Place
Introduction
Central Park in the city of New York is a beautiful urban park located in Manhattan. It is one of the most important and biggest public parks in the city, occupying an area of about 340 hectares. A large number of social activities take place in this park every day, which is visited by millions of visitors annually (Fisher, 2014). This essay describes the social life that I observed in New York’s Central Park. The observation occurred when I made a trip to New York City during the summer. It was a Saturday afternoon between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm. The weather was mostly sunny and clear.
Central Park has many activities outside of recreational opportunities and attracts people like teenagers and seniors, as well as people who are simply looking for a place to walk or sit. There are places in the shade, there are sidewalks, and even opportunities for visitors and city residents to buy a cup of coffee or a sandwich. This is important since it shows that the urban public park offers many reasons for city residents and visitors alike to go to New York’s Central Park (Kailing, 2017). Many people use the park.
I walked around Central Park and observed activities in various areas within the park, including swimming pools, picnic areas, gymnastics-equipped areas, a proper running track, tennis courts, spectator stands, basketball courts, multipurpose fields, and large wooded and grassy areas. During the observations, I saw all kinds of people, including both the poor and the rich, using these areas within New York’s Central Park. While in that place, I watched city residents and visitors doing all sorts of activities, ranging from jogging and walking to relaxing and engaging in many fun activities. What I particularly observed were people of all sorts of life engaging in physical activities. I realized that this public park plays an essential role in facilitating physical activity (Whyte, 1980). People were jogging and walking around in the large, attractive public open spaces within the park. There were specific facilities within the park in which the city residents engaged in exercise, sports, and other vigorous activities. Besides physical activities, there were city residents who were relaxing, whom it seems were there to have a breath of fresh air or experience the beauty of nature, and engage in activities like games, such as chess. Also, I saw people socializing with neighbors and friends.
The most common activities that I observed at New York’s Central Park were picnicking or sitting, using the playground, people playing...