With some time to kill between dinner and “Moulin Rouge” the other night, my wife and I went to Boston Public Garden.
It was a beautiful early evening in Boston, a perfect time to go the park.
We walked around for a little while, before settling down on a bench and listening to the brass quartet that had staked out a place to perform and drawn a small crowd on the green.
Boston has always had good buskers in the subway stations and parks. Our guess has always been that it’s Berklee College of Music students looking to earn a few bucks.
If people were planning big cities today, would they include the great public spaces like Boston Public Garden or Central Park in New York City?
Or would the land be considered too valuable for housing, or especially business?
Or if there were parks, would they be free and open to anyone, the only requirement being able to get there and walk through the entrance, and people could stay as long as they liked?
Or would parks become “monetized,” as a source of income instead of a public good?
A Silly Place 