“Our public spaces are as profound as we allow them to be. They are our shared spaces and reflect what matters to us as a community and as individuals…At their greatest, our public spaces can nourish our well-being and help us see that we’re not alone as we try to make sense of our lives. They can help us grieve together and celebrate together and console one another and be alone together. Each passerby is another person full of longing, anxiety, fear, and wonder. With more ways to share public space, the people around us can not only help us make better places, they can help us become more compassionate humans” -Candy Chang, Artist
This is the first quote you read upon entering Wonderspaces, an immersive art museum located in Scottsdale.
And it is absolutely true, public spaces are central to community health and vibrancy. A public space is defined as a location that is both open and accessible to the general public. Things that are considered public spaces include beaches, roads, public squares, community centers, and parks.
There is no negating the positive impact of public spaces on our hyper-individualistic nation.The U.S is, unfortunately, incredibly individualistic, lacking a sense of shared community. If you need help, you need to know the right company, insurance, person, to call, and it’ll likely be someone void of empathy or consternation for you. It will feel incredibly systematic and you’ll be thrown around while trying to solve a basic problem—calling insurance, calling companies, following the routine to fixing a problem. Whereas other nations have a more shared sense of purpose, and their culture embraces community much more than the U.S. In America, problems are seen as potential money makers. You need surgery? Hopefully you have insurance! You’re addicted to drugs that Big Pharma got you addicted to? Hope you can afford rehab! Your ceiling is leaking due to poor infrastructure? Hopefully you have bought sound home insurance!
Moreover, since our economy is focused on competition, the people within the nation naturally morph into this tainted system. What is the point in being empathetic to your neighbors, when the system you adhere to encourages you to try and climb the social ladder and find your way at the top, likely stepping on your neighbors in the process? Unbalanced social classes and a lack of equity are critical to the success of capitalism. In order for there to be greatness (billionaires) there has to be severe poverty, too. Functions of poverty rely on poor people in order to keep the crooked system afloat. Who will work the low tier jobs if everyone has enough money to live comfortably? Who will buy the day-old bread? Who will be houseless in the streets and serve as a reminder for the middle class on why they must go to work? U.S capitalism has no desire to eliminate poverty because poverty serves a profound purpose in the country–It keeps the division of social classes alive and well, marking clear distinctions between the levels of hierarchy. The system is a curse that invites people who would likely be naturally empathetic to one another, to view each other as a potential threat. It discourages community.
However, there is one place where competition and disdain become futile, lacking relevance, and that is in a public space. Public spaces bring us together and encourage community in a common area. We often make friends at public parks while also immersing ourselves in a public sphere that’s sole purpose is to make the community more vibrant. Public space’s sole purpose is to encourage community engagement, whether it be with our families, friends, or strangers.
For example, a public park brings other early risers to its tennis courts, where like-minded folk can exercise in a way that brings them joy with fellow community members they likely would not know elsewhere. This bolsters the individual’s health as they are exercising, increasing their happiness as they engage in a hobby they enjoy, and boosting their sense of community, as they are meeting their neighbors in a public setting. Moreover, the general presence of greenery is good for humans to get lost in—nature is incredibly healing! Our parks are scenic areas with the most enchanting shades of green—large trees, vivacious bushes, vibrant flowers, sparkling grass, and so on.
Public parks are funded by the government as a way to invest in the community. Spending more on community welfare is important to combatting larger issues within society. If children are immersed in sports, kids clubs, etc, under strong guidance, there is less capability for susceptible children to steer off into a places that will lead them into a darker path, such as crime, becoming victims of drug usage, abandoning their education, and more.
If we invest in public spaces, we are saying that our community is worth it. We are worth the extra money to ensure our happiness levels are met!
I am the biggest advocate of public spaces. I know how much I thrive in parks and nature, and I want that same joy for everyone.
This is why I scoffed upon reading the quote I mentioned earlier upon entry to Wonderspaces. Remember the quote? The quote romanticizing public spaces for all their glory? Now, what business does that melodic quote have in Wonderspaces? It is cheap, lazy capitalism at best. For one, it costs about $24 to get into the art museum, therefore eliminating any credibility it might have had to consider itself a “public space.” Public spaces are generally free and accessible! The museum is, very clearly, a private space. It is a tourist attraction, more laughably, a tourist attraction located in North Scottsdale, one of the most anti-houseless , anti-public communities in the state. All over Scottsdale you will find the egregious signs that discourage residents from giving money to the houseless, encouraging you to donate to organizations instead.
Scottsdale, the same city that axed the development of the light rail, being the home of Wonderspaces, a paradoxical private-public space, is pure comedy at best. Scottsdale has routinely voted against developments that would make the city more welcoming and more city-like. Years ago, when the idea of extending the light rail tracks to Scottsdale was proposed, the shameful city council voted against it, arguing “that the ‘millionaires who come here to Scottsdale didn’t come here to hop the rail,” and “installing a light rail would be too costly and that the rapid development of technology like self-driving cars would soon outpace that of a light rail” (KTAR News). Another resident of Scottsdale read a letter to state her beliefs, citing that she had to “close up and move shop after the light rail moved in by her store near Seventh and Highland avenues in Phoenix and brought crime and “vagrants” to the neighborhood” (KTAR News).
Public transit is the backbone of a prosperous society. It is unsustainable to proclaim everyone must stay stagnant exactly where they are; migration is the pillar of society, most notably of American society! Moreover, the language of “vagrants” is a deliberate dehumanization tactic in order to instill fear in the listeners. Thoughtless leaders are often pointing to issues and finding short term solutions such as trespassing homeless folk. This “solution,” creates a very short lived effect, as it does not address root issues of homelessness but rather just pushes it further out. Scottsdale is efficient in being inefficient when it comes to problem solving—their most frequent course is to ignore issues until it is too late, dehumanize the issue once it is brought up, and then move the issue to a lower income area. The Scottsdale solution to homelessness is criminalization, which is a cycle that will forever keep innocent people subjugated through no fault of their own. If you are a policy maker with the capability of helping someone, is it not your moral obligation to help them? The other statements noted, such as “millionaires do not come here to hop the rail,” and comments about self-driving cars speak volumes to the type of people Scottsdale City Council want to represent—the flagrantly rich. There is little room for anyone else, not the middle class, and most certainly not the lower class. Scottsdale’s core fundamental belief is in the eradication of lower income people from the area. The city of Scottsdale is for the ”public,” so long as the public have their pockets lined up. These morally bankrupt council-members and community members do not even make an attempt to hide their blatant disregard for the lower income. Rather, they immediately prioritize the millionaires and their comfort, ignoring larger societal issues in a shallow attempt to keep the rich happy. Though, wouldn’t you argue that the poor need comfort more than the rich? The rich can, very easily, buy comfort wherever they deem fit. The poor, on the other hand, are regularly abused by abysmal public policy and careless politicians.
It is no secret that Scottsdale is anti-poor, but pro-public spaces. How does one balance this unique juxtaposition? How can you be pick and choose with who gets to enjoy your public spaces? If someone with the appearance of being a houseless person is wandering around a park, they will likely be forced elsewhere for “trespassing.” Whereas if someone has the appearance of wealth, they are free to enjoy the public space. I have always been fascinated by this very clear act of discrimination. You must look at someone and make a judgement on their character based off their outward appearance; is that not blatant discrimination? If I, a person with a house, go to a park one day dressed a little run down, someone would reserve the right to call the police and kick me out of a public space that was quite literally designed for people to freely exist in. Nobody asked for proof of residency, it is all solely based on outward appearance. How is it a “public space,” if we so narrowly define who is and who is not allowed to enjoy it? Interestingly enough, Scottsdale spent $117 million on Community Facilities in 2022- 2023 according to their annual budget report, showing a commitment to spaces but not to the idea of public. Their public spaces are, exclusively, for those who fit the general profile of a Scottsdale resident (rich.)
I found Wonderspaces to be an incredibly dull establishment, but especially when the first quote they present is something so hollow and out of place. The quotes placement there does an incredible job at portraying bleak capitalism and the shallowness of cities/people consumed by their class status. I wondered, did everyone see this quote and immediately revel in its beauty? Because truthfully, the quote is beautiful. I have an intense love for public spaces. I also have a severe detestation for companies that take art, poetry, quotes, and twist them into something void of meaning. That quote has absolutely no business being on that wall. That wall is a private space, not public! It is not accessible to all by any means, the same way the city of Scottsdale is not open to all. It is open solely to those who fit the status quo.
I believe we should all be a little more thoughtful in what we do. Attempts to tug at our heartstrings are often very strategic, done with purpose, as marketing efforts. Take a nice photo of the quote and the exhibits, post them on your social media, and give the company more fame. At the end of the day, though, companies are still just that—companies. And they’ll take whatever words, string them into a semi-legible context, and feed them to the easily willed audience. If Wonderspaces wants to give the impression that they are a “public space,” I invite them to remove the $24 charge to walk around a little room for 40 minutes looking at artwork. Then, you can honestly call yourself a public space. Until then, we should all be more diligent in what we consume, avoiding whatever companies spoon-feed us in order to achieve some shallow idea they hide under the guise of “depth.”
We can, absolutely, devote ourselves to better causes, actually investing in public spaces, rather than relishing in spaces that are only accessible to us if we have enough money, dress right, and act right. If we want to achieve that sense of community, we will have to abandon this individualistic culture that the U.S is so fond of, and rather advocate for a just, equitable community for all inhabitants. There is no fundamental difference between me and you aside from circumstance. At the end of the day, everyone is deserving of a prosperous life, filled with joy, and free of endless burdens. Our differences are worth celebrating, together, rather than being something that ostracizes us. I hope this blog post encourages you all to be a little bit kinder to fellow community members, and a little bit more critical of companies that exploit our innate passion for a sense of community.
Sources
Sahara Sajjadi 