How to Improve a “Pocket Park” Thanks to Albert Camus?
11 September 2023 - Hubert Mansion
I never see anyone in this small urban park in Magog (Qc, Canada). In other words, it doesn't pass the ultimate test of any public amenity: the number of visitors.
I don't doubt the good will of the Magog municipality, which thought it was doing the right thing by creating an additional green space. I have no doubt that this kind of initiative will multiply in the years to come, given the climate "crisis".
This is what we call a "pocket park". Cheaper, more accessible and more frequent than large parks, it offers an island of rest and freshness just a few steps from home, encourages attachment to the neighborhood, encounters between neighbors and the greening of local political discourse.
But why was it designed the way it was? Why so many mistakes?
All it would have needed to be attractive would have been for its designers to have read Albert Camus and, better still, to possess some notions of environmental psychology.
"We need spaces where we can rest from history", wrote the French philosopher with great aptness. Places where we can stop thinking about the events that beset us on a daily basis, particularly in cities.
Environmental psychology has extensively explored the conditions of such refuges, and is only waiting for urban planners...
Changing public benches
Most public benches found in parks, including this one, are too stiff for lovers, too hard to relax on and designed perhaps to look ahead, but not at the person you're talking to. Their design hasn't really changed since 1852, but today there are modules much more suited to visitors' needs. And if we're going to change them, let's take the opportunity to move them, because contemplating Honda Civics and garbage cans isn't the most effective way to escape the daily grind, is it Albert?
Feeling protected
To accentuate the impression of refuge and withdrawal from everyday life, a hedge around the perimeter of the park would create the impression of an enclosed space, essential to the feeling of rest. The space would become an urban haven. By greening the facades around the pocket park, birds and natural sounds would be immediately attracted.
Consider the trees
Trees should be chosen on the basis of a number of practical and aesthetic criteria, which doesn't seem to have been the case. Firstly, by favoring species with a wide canopy, which would provide shade for people sitting on the benches and their pets. Secondly, their ability to capture fine particles, which would be multiplied by the greening of facades. And last but not least, their fragrance, because the sense of smell, which is very important for psychological restoration, is an aspect that is often neglected.
A small fountain would certainly enhance the space, but I want to keep it affordable. All that remains is to name this micro-park which, to my knowledge, doesn't have a name. I suggest that the City of Magog name it Albert-Camus and engrave his beautiful thought on the plaque. After all, sometimes the thought of withdrawing from history is enough to make you forget it.
Hubert Mansion is the cofounder of l’Université dans la Nature.
Philosopher and writer, he is notably the author of Réconcilier, vers une identité environnementale (Nullius in Verba, 2023) and presents the series La nature et les mots (Youtube).
