New York City’s Central Park is considered to be one of the most well known urban parks in the world. Central Park is also known as the first park in the United States to have been constructed through landscaping. It offers many recreational activities, entertainment, and cultural related information for New Yorkers and tourists alike. It is one of the main areas of New York to be widely appreciated by visitors aside from the Statue of Liberty because of its beautiful scenery and enormous size. These features of Central Park contribute to New York City’s cultural history as well as the economy and has continued to make major economic impacts throughout the years.
The initial idea regarding the design and construction of Central Park revolved around landscape architect and writer Frederick Law Olmsted. Due to the poor living conditions of the industrial areas of New York City, plans were encouraged by city leaders and individuals driven by communal responsibility to build an urban park that would provide New Yorkers with a beautiful public space that would drive people to visit the natural aspect of New York City. According to the article, 160 Years of Central Park: A Brief History, by Tricia kang, “Olmsted’s vision for Central Park was inspired by Birkenhead Park, widely acknowledged as the first publicly funded park in England.
Built in response to poor living conditions in the surrounding industrial areas, Birkenhead Park was built for public use, a novel idea at a time when European parks were often housed on formal estates.” Aside from the general reasons as to why the park was constructed, Olmsted also believed that the park could be an area that those of different cultural backgrounds and economic statuses could enjoy together. The construction of Central Park was a leading factor for the development of immigrant cultures within the urban life of New York City. Between the year 1820 and 1850 there were two massive waves of immigration that had affected the socio-economic conditions of the city.
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Around the 1840s there were high numbers of Irish and German immigrants fleeing their countries and migrating to New York City. These immigrants had fled due to famines and political instabilities that were conflicting with their lives, therefore adjusting to the way of life in New York City proved to be extremely difficult. Since many of them were poor in their own countries they brought along their poverty to the city as well. Wooden shanty towns became more prominent on the outskirts of town, large numbers of these immigrants were unemployed and homeless as well, the rising poverty became hard to ignore especially after many had believed that immigrants were the cause of cholera outbreaks and other illnesses that were affecting and polluting the city.
As a result many saw the foundation of Central Park as a solution to the problems that people blamed immigrants for, they believed that poor immigrants could become more “civilized” if they had access to areas that were outside of their economic class and rich with culture. Although those of higher economic statuses supported the construction of Central Park with the ideal goal of the foundation being to gradually help the poor coexist with the elites in a particular area of high capacity this goal was not meet to the fullest. Some of the members of higher economic classes viewed the park more as an area to regulate poor immigrants and others living in similar conditions, therefore certain city officials had increased the presence of police officers within the park mainly so the rich could feel more comfortable.
The level of appreciation for the diversity in cultures in New York City has gradually shifted throughout the years. Regarding the cultural presence in Central Park, today there is more of a widely appreciated opinion on immigrants and the cultural diversity within New York City especially in Central Park where a lot of activities relating to the vast cultures of New York can be explored. Central Park features many cultural events that take place as well as restaurants, stores, museums, and activities that heavily revolve around the cultures of people from all over the world. This is only natural due to the overall diversity of New York City increasing since the 1800s. After the park was finally established in 1857, commerce in New York City grew leading to the park having a major economic impact for the city in the future.
In more recent years Central Park has been a significant contributor to New York City’s Economy. The park is one of the biggest focal points of the activity of expensive enterprises and major events that attract many New Yorkers and tourists to the area affecting the city’s economy in more ways than one. Due to large populations of visitors flowing into central park many business leaders and economic campaigns have become heavily present in the park which is beneficial for the city. The visitors who come to Central Park contribute to city’s economy through the services they pay for such as, lodging/dorming, shopping, dining, and the various methods of transportation the Park has to offer. Surrounding infrastructures also have a major role to play in the economic developments of Central park.
There are forty-three museums located within the Central Park area. According to Official Museum Directory, in 2014 they had a total of approximately 19.6 million visitors. Due to the massive numbers of visitors that are present around the area the museums around Central Park become a hub of employers offering job positions for those seeking it. According to the data retrieved by the Central Park Conservancy “In 2014, the 38 institutions in the Central Park area for which data were available employed more than 6,500 people in full- and part-time positions – nearly 60 percent of all museum employment in New York City.”
The level of employment museums alone provide is essential to the growth of the economy within the city because of the important location of these museums around Central Park that typically receive millions of visitors. Aside from museums surrounding the area of Central Park, hotels are also heavily present and also contribute to the economic gain of the city. The hotel rooms around the area are of high quality, they also have many advertises related to Central Park therefore visitors leaving the park are encouraged to check in. According to the New York State Department of Labor, “hotels and other compliances in Manhattan employed 44,299 workers, with average annual wages of approximately $61,500 and aggregate annual wages of about $2.73 billion.”
These hotels account for 35 percent of hotel employment Manhattan and judging by the data provided by the New York State Department of Labor, the commerce pertaining to lodging services alone around Central Park are heavily influential to the city’s economy, it’s location similar to the museums are leading factors to the economic growth. Central Park has also been famous due to the movies and television shows being filmed in the area. These instances have been helpful in establishing Central Park as a venue for film and television production which is also another reason as to why the park has become such an iconic location to people all over the world. During 2014 the Central Park Conservancy organization gave out permits for 164 film shoots within the area.
These productions have tremendously helped draw audiences to Central Park. One of the other notable economic developments achieved through the construction of the park is the surrounding real property. Although the park’s impact on real property has varied throughout history in recent years the property values around Central Park have seen major increases. In 2014, the total Department of Finance market value for all properties within the Central Park area concluded that the value “was $154.2 billion – 45.4 percent of the total market value of all property in Manhattan, and 18 percent of the total market value of all real property in New York City.” Since Central Park has an effect on property values this also affects tax receipts.
Due to the well maintained quality of Central Park it has attracted many to invest in these properties. In 2003, a study by Ernst & Young New Yorkers for Parks reviewed the investment results of several city parks including Central Park and found that the data showed that real estate values were higher on in areas closest to well-managed and maintained parks. Central Park shows how important it is to maintaining an urban park because of the beneficial economic results it can have. Central Park attracts more than 25 million visitors a year therefore it is essential to consider factors as such.
Central Park had had a major influence on the cultural and economic aspects of New York City. It has become one of the most highly visited areas of New York because of the activities it has to offer ranging from recreation, business opportunities, and cultural exploration. The park is accessible to all which fosters great social equity as well as economic gain to the city. It has greatly shaped the lives of many New Yorkers and continues to contribute to the vitality of the New York experience for residents and tourists as well.
