Axel Stelter

Final Research Paper

CWR4B, Fall 2009, UCB

People′s Park ­ the Last Public Space

During the violent turbulences of the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s, about

100 Berkeley residents captured a piece of corporate land, owned by the University of

California, at 2100 Haste Street. They brought flowers, trees, shovels and food to the

site. The people of Berkeley built themselves a park on a piece of land which did not

belong to them and simply justified their actions to the city and university with the words:

"We are using the land better than you used it: It′s ours!"(Frank Bardacke)i. Besides the

political impact of this event, the residents of Berkeley created a public space out of

corporate land with their own hands and their own ideas. Their park was supposed to

symbolize everything they had fought for in the last decade, especially the right to free

speech and their idea of the equality of all humans. The idea that all humans, whether

black or white, rich or poor, should be treated and seen equally lives on the idea of a

public park like the People′s Park in Berkeley.

Public spaces in generally defined as areas or places that can be accessed by all

people. There are no restrictions on gender, race or socio-economic status. Public

spaces do not require any permission or fees to be entered. Many streets, parks and

public buildings are public spaces.ii According to this definition, public spaces must be

idealistic islands of social gathering and freedom existing in the urban landscape, like

People′s Park in Berkeley. Unfortunately the number of these special places has

already decreased because of the privatization process in the capitalistically ruled

United States. I believe that most of the public places that still exist in our urban

environment can hardly be considered "public spaces", because they are often and

controlled and designed to be intolerant to anything and anyone that does not match the

corresponding urban built surroundings or demography. Although the number of real

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public spaces is declining, People′s Park still symbolizes the values of liberty of the

1960′s, because any person is allowed in the park at any time and those users govern

the activities that take place within it. The park also fosters social gatherings and public

community events, and maintains a spirit of activism. Thus the park also fully enforces

the idea of open access and equality of users in public spaces. This is important

because there is a strong correlation between the amount of "real" public spaces and

the degree of the sociality of our urban society.

Activism in the Park

Berkeley is considered to be one of the most liberal, progressive and tolerant city

cities in the country. Here we can see extreme cases of intolerant and reserved public

spaces among real public spaces. People′s Park is a real public place proven in its

history and in its current importance as a center point regarding political activism.

"We have a serious situation out there. People think it is about volleyball at the

park but it is not. It′s about a group of people who think they can use violence and we

won′t accept that."iii

Michael Brown 1991 (Berkeley City Manager)

People′s Park still represents a real public place because its recent history has

shown how it fosters activism and protests. The fact that persistent activism has been

allowed to occur shows how the government and public interact. The biggest, most

recent protest situated in People′s Park was - as the sociologist Don Mitchell calls it - an

exercise of "public rights in a public space"iv. Expanding corporate capitalism, and

consequently the disappearance of public spaces frightened people who thought they

would lose social rights and control over the park. This fear was specifically expressed

in the 1991 riots surrounding the issue of the sand volleyball courts being built in the

park by the university. Before that, the university had intended to re-establish their

ownership of the piece of land that it practically lost in 1969, which it had planned to

build new dormitories for students. This agenda mobilized the people because they

wanted to maintain the park as it was. Activists and residents of the park (homeless

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people) realized that "

Only

by taking and maintaining control over People′s Park could

oppositional political activity be represented and advanced."v

This attitude led to the protests themselves which started the 1st of August in

1991, when more than a dozen activists were captured by the police. The protesters

tried to stop the bulldozers which started to remove soil and grass from People′s Park in

order to make room for the volleyball courts. That same day activists and police battled

violently. For the next weeks the riots continued with the police shooting wooden bullets

into the crowds and protesters throwing rocks and bottles of urine at the police. vi These

conflicts show how powerfully the values of the 1960′s have been sustained and how

the park is the unique as one of the last existing "real" public places.

Eventually the people - activists and homeless people together - won in 1999

when the University uninstalled the volleyball courts because of constant sabotage and

infrequent usage.vii

As an example of many other riots and protests, the 1991 riots and its

consequences allowed the park to exist until the present day. Back then, the activism

could achieve its goals because the existing site embodied the power gained through its

history. The simple fact of People′s Park being a real public space, supporting unlimited

socializing, communication and community, promoted a successful protest.

People′s Park Symbiosis with the Community

Other than being a breeding ground for activism, People′s Park also enhances

the Berkeley community′s ability to socialize and to organize public events. The

fostering of communication is an important characteristic of a real public space because

it is a necessity of a functioning democracy. The park′s fostering of community is also a

symbiosis, because ­ as the Berkeley Daily Planet says ­ many people believe that "it

is the community that keeps the park running"viii.

The first aspects of a community enhancing feature of the public space People′s

Park are the community gardens on the west end of the park. Anyone in the Berkeley

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