Resumen de El parc central a la metròpoli contemporània: una definició crítica
Joan Florit Femenias
Today, urbanity is a growing phenomenon and it is expected to be the most populated human habitat during this century. In this context, a series of large metropolis with contents and attributes stand out over smaller cities. To test a critical definition of one of the constituent elements that form part of the specific qualities of big contemporary metropolises, as it is in this case, its related central parks, is the objective of this study. Without this being a necessary element or even being present in all cities of the world, it can be found a significant presence of these large parks in its interior, as well as a definition of their content and pending composition, given the differences that exist between the different cases and the live process of consolidation in which the majority are found. Thus, in order to define the urban entity of these free spaces with a preferent role among all the open space systems of the metropolis, as particularly suitable spaces at the metropolitan scale for collective leisure satisfaction, the present study addresses this goal through three distinct and interrelated pathways. In the first chapter the state of affairs on four-core subject areas related to partial aspects of the nature of central parks of the metropolis are displayed. The four content areas are addressed: the role of green urban spaces and the cultural drift that from urban gardens to the central park have become part of the city. The role played by the major international urban events in the constitution and composition of these unique spaces. The concept of urban collective leisure that these large parks aim to satisfy with metropolitan projection as the main utility. The significant and potential contributions of large parks to the environmental balance of the metropolis. The second chapter explores the origin of the metropolitan central park. Through the study of the history of several cases of varied nature, an open panoramic overview of how and when these great urban parks were born, about the ways in which the land became public property or on the various chosen objectives in the formation of these vast open spaces, as well as the effect that each particular history has in its architecture. Finally, the third chapter deals with the response to the main hypothesis guiding this research. Through the use of a varied selected set of partial arguments, a critical and personal definition of the concept of central park is proposed, while trying to clarify the qualities of its architecture and the urban conflict associated with this particular metropolitan piece: It caters to a first group of arguments related to a diverse range of reasons that served as a sprouting seed for the constitution of a central park. Furthermore, the definition of the urban condition of the central park is approached in terms of urban general entity and its internal balance: the openness, public, equipment, strategic and artistic status of these great parks are discovered. It incorporates, in turn, a reflection on the exerted effect by the different construction modes of in the internal architecture of the resulting park effect. That's how this thesis proposes a critical definition of the concept of the metropolitan central park, discovering in the specificity of a few varied cases those solids qualitative assorted arguments that demonstrate their uniqueness. Furthermore, the definition of the central park is completed with an exposition of its promotional character of findings and innovations that contribute to the enrichment of the architecture of the metropolis and the progress of urbanism. However, the described attributes or qualities that are an indispensable condition of any central park do not fulfill this entire description. It is precisely in the differences that cases that are different have when conjugated, and the emphasis in each case is placed in each of the various arguments.
