South Oxford Park

South Oxford Park in Brooklyn, NY is a genuine urban oasis adjoining South Oxford and Cumberland Streets. The park provides a flexible space for either passive or interactive engagement; the vital - “third place,” essential to most city dwellers.
The once vacant lot was transformed thanks to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, which recognized the potential and likely benefits for area residents. Emmanuel Thingue a landscape architect with the city identified the site’s remarkable advantage for an urban park. Notwithstanding the ruble and weeds at that time, Thingue stated to Landscape Architecture Magazine’s June 2008 issue, the virtues the site possessed: “unobstructed sky in every direction and no tall buildings to eat up the sun or throw long shadows.”
The park which opened to the public on June of 2007 certainly took advantage of its prominent location and layout. Consequently, the charming park of approximately an acre, feels airy, lively and the various programmatic elements facilitate casual interaction among park visitors; - the open lawn, children play area, tennis courts; all provide an assortment of activities for a broad segment of the community to gather and intermingle. Moreover, unlike the other public spaces visited thus far, this park main objective is to solidify the character of this community, not act as a tourist attraction. The network of neighborhood parks amidst the residential corridors provide social cohesion for the overhaul social and ecological integrity of the metropolitan region a indispensable factor in a era of growing environmental consciousness.