Ways to Engage Public Space
Met by moon to sea, sea to sand and sand to you,
Let me orchestrate your heart strings,
whispering my guidance for you in this night,
Let me breathe life into you,
as you break into the blue blankets. Allow me to curl and cradle you in my arms,
I will unveil my inner beauty beyond your imagination. Entwine and embrace your senses with me,
Hear the heartbeats of millions that share us
Poetry provides for me a safe and private experience with the waterfront at the Wynyard Quarter. The medium of poetry itself sets as a vehicle for articulating and framing experience and explorations in life's meanings (Gold, 2016). Inspired by Anne Mikoleit and Moritz Pürckhauer's book, 'Urban Code-100 Lessons for Understanding the City,' my poetry exactly depicts the method of observing my surroundings beyond the average observer. In Mikoleit and Pürckhauer's book, it offers 100 'lessons' of critical observations in bite-sized truths and essays of how to read the urban life as an attentive and engaged observing pedestrian. The urban literacy reinforces the precise and odd sightings captured at a sidewalk level- giving the reader relevance to their experience when they, themselves, walk through the urban environment (Mikoleit & Pürckhauer, 2011).
In my experience with the Wynyard Quarter, I wanted to go beyond the role as an pedestrian and instead, escape to a imaginative fantasy of a fictional character. As exactly that, I metaphorically became the ocean bed alluring the human to immerse herself into nature's offering by using all her senses. The ocean is an abstract of a man; the protector and provider for her as she embarks on learning how nature responds to her touch. The ocean asks her hand in trust to let herself open up to him, and to see beyond the surface level. To see beyond his masculine exterior and into the life he encapsulates within him. As such, the waves of the ocean is unquestionably powerful in his storms and is also incredibly admirable during its calm lapses. Within the ocean bed, the ocean holds responsible to homes of millions of specimens and provides something as large as life. Thus, comparing the man's love to her as great as nature and life in itself. She responds to the touch by accepting
his affection and allows herself to be entangled with lust as she makes love to the ocean. The nurture she receives is rewarded when they share 'the heartbeats of millions' of a baby beginning to breathe life. This poem aims to connect and touch upon larger issues of life’s meaning by developing a spiritual appreciation of life.
Now, if I were to recreate another resurgence of Wynyard Quarter, I can imagine metaphorically that the container is a bird's nest. While the cemented structure may not be a compassionate comfort for the young, the pillars act as barriers against the cold, wind and rain to shelter the inside. The structure’s circular base closes in like a nest as protection, but the gaps in between them, invites and opens up for a gathering of people or the birds. This openness acts as a safe haven, allowing people to shelter here, then to freely disperse out. To compare the poetic and now visual recreations of the Wynyard Quarter, the similarities of the comparisons is that I saw a nurturing aspect in both depictions. The poem of the wave being an abstract to a man in love with the human, and then this bird haven, shows that the Wynyard Quarter environment is intended for gathering and connecting. It is with engaging in this public space through different modes of observations that allows me to realise the environment's purpose and offerings. The aspect of nurturing in a place evident of industrialism and machinery, shows me that abandoned places should not permanently leave traces of fear.
Furthermore, these observations can be pushed more from Anne Mikoleit and Moritz Pürckhauer's inspiring methods of acting as an observant and attentive pedestrian. From pushing my imagination through the roles of becoming nature, (the ocean) and by
becoming an animal (the bird); I can see a sophisticated sense of play is developed through imagination.
Guy Debord’s, ‘Bureau of Public Secrets: Theory of the Derive,’ introduces a different technique called ‘derive;’ to explore and experience what a space has to offer, not simply done just by observation, but by inducing a response from the viewer by interaction and through play (Debord, G. (2012). The concept of play is seen as highly valuable, Froebel believes that the value of spontaneous play is invested with symbolic significance. He emphasises the value of free play as an integrating mechanism which stimulates language and reveals the unity of feelings, thoughts and actions (Bennett, N. 1997).
Using my imagination is a practice of play done by acting out different role-plays. By placing myself physically and mentally at Wynyard Quarter, my reality and fantasy integrates together to form a distinctive method of engaging in public space. This in turn, gathers an internal transitioning of temporary escapism where I am able to place myself in two places at the same place.
How a derive differentiates from a simple stroll or walk involves my interrogation of how it works or what happens if I pull or push this? An active response to what the space offers answers, ‘How can we make explorations of city-scape engaging?’ If space provides the public with elements of play, the public’s curiousity will be initiated. What makes a public space successful is determined by the regulation and mass of people that use this space, the safety of it and for the design to be low maintenance. To add engagement within the space, it is as simple as adding planks across the waters surrounding the containers or having the playground and wind chime installation. These elements suit the audiences of old and young, offering peaceful strolls or a derive through the climbing of the scenery platforms.
If the public space was to be replaced with the same inner-city qualities that look into developing the needs of tourists and enhancing commerce, we are forgetting about the needs of the old and young generations who seek for leisure, play and relaxation from the urban bustle. Our lifestyles would confine and restrict us from the balance of play and work, the city itself would become a place that people strain to visit. Not only that, but where public space educates the historic values behind it, people would become oblivious of what creates the value of the place. What I have gained significantly from this practice, is that the way that you choose to respond to a place will reflect on the outcome of engagement gained.
