A Study Of New York Central Park's Creating,Management,Usage And Influences (1851-1876)

In the 1850s New York Central Park was built, as the first modern large-scale urban park, with a glorious history of more than 150 years. Because of its innovative design concepts and methods, New York Central Park has been regarded as a model of modern public space. Known as the Manhattan of "urban green lung" and the New York City's "backyard", Central Park plays an important part in New Yorker's daily life, which even can be regarded as a symbol of New York and the United States.The thesis selects the period from 1851 to 1876 when New York Central Park undergoes building, management, usage and influence, the initiative period as well as in the late 19th century. The first period of New York Central Park (1851-1876) has a tremendous impact on development of Central Park. However, it was during this period that Central Park's building, management, usage and influence had been marked with a deep impression of the ages, which was a microcosm of change and development of New York City as well as other cities in the United States.The thesis is divided into three major parts, namely preface,the main text and conclusion, the main text included four chapters.In the preface, the historical and practical meaning of study is firstly introduced. Then present research situation included foreign (mainly during the middle and late 19th century) and domestic is reviewed in order to make clear about feasibility and necessity. Finally the basic clue and outline of the paper is introduced in this part.Chapter one probes into the historical background and proposal of New York City's large-scale urban park. During the mid-19th century, natives who harbor the inclination of building large-scale urban park under complex motivations and the local development level and the social elites' promotion all led to Jones Wood plans.Chapter two focuses on proposal of New York Central Park plans and building of Central Park. Central Park final won with winding experiences. Along with the Central Park plan's appearance, the central district of Manhattan was concerned in the mid-19th century. Since the central district was expropriated and the Central Park plan was adopted, New York Central Park started building in full swing.Chapter Three further analyzes New York Central Park's management and usage during the 1857-1876. F·L.Olmsted, in charge of New York Central Park (1857-1861) and Andrew Green, the president of Board of Commissioners of the Central Park and Central Park's comptroller, both had a significant impact on Central Park's management and usage. However, New York Central Park was not a "People's Park" as people had expected but an "Elite Park" actually during 1860s-1870s.Chapter Four analyzes New York Central Park's influences for American urbanization in the middle and late 19th century. Central Park took more than eight hundred acres from real estate market in New York City, to some degree, making land prices of New York City roar and a positive impact on the development in the middle and late 19th century. New York Central Park's success had a huge demonstrative effect and landscape architects of Central Park represented by F·L.Olmsted promoted the urban parks movement in the United States in the middle and late 19th century.The concluding chapter, based on preface and the main text, has a comprehensive evaluation on New York Central Park's influence. Furthermore, I point out New York Central Park's design concept, timely update, impacts on arts and cultural activities as well as its innovation of management and operation pattern. The idea of F·L.Olmsted is that solving urban problems by means of park, which gives us certain reference.