Typologies in San Francisco

of this space has importance in many different levels of the social life of this community. This PS serves social purposes of two kinds: social coexistence and community management. In morphological terms, this space is the smallest of the three mentioned by Carmen and is likewise different in layout.

It is relevant for neighbourhoods to have such spaces that provide possibilities for community involvement and discussion, since they provide a platform for them to express their concerns and strengthen their social fabric.

The third PS described by Carmen is a large brownfield located between the previous two spaces and the stone wall surrounding the golf club. In the past, neighbours have been told that it would be the continuation of the Atotonilco Boulevard. After more than 30 years of this space being underdeveloped, the community believes it is very unlikely to happen because it would need to the pass across the golf club, an upper-class neighbourhood.

The site serves as a place where people gather throughout all the week. During the weekdays, some people go for morning walks, just like Carmen expressed:

Other neighbours get together there in the evening, around 6 p.m., after their working shifts. Parents take their children to play because there is plenty of space. On the weekends, the activities change. It is used for playing football. There can be fitted two street football pitches, both of them have lines marked with lime powder and a pair of goals, each. Matches take place on the weekends. As Carmen states: The Brownfield

“…my granddaughter is the one that goes there with me. We go for a walk, and I like it because in the morning the place is gorgeous, I enjoy it”

“They don’t have toilets; they don’t have anything. So, they use it Saturday and Sunday all day long, so I don’t like it because they make bad use of it. And because of that we have problems because some people take advantage of those spaces and make a profit.”

The lack of infrastructure and the irresponsible actions of some users cause tensions between the users and the rest of the community. Throughout the rest of the week, the organizer of the matches sweeps the area and keeps it clean. He is a member of the community and charges a fee for those who want to play in it. Carmen explained:

“I have made a petition a while ago that if it is nobody’s property then the government should take over it. For example, the man that organizes the football games by just sweeping and cleaning it, he thinks he owns the place and he is the one who decides about it… I would like the municipality to take over that space.”

As declared by Carmen, the lack of a clear ownership has made it evident that appropriation is more complex than is seems. Human relations in a community PS in Leon

can be affected, positively or negatively, by the PS and the dynamics around them. Sometimes, the presence of the authorities serves as a moderator between local conflicts.

As part of this research, Carmen was asked to also share a photograph taken by her that represented the PS in her neighbourhood. The image could be from any place, it just needed to be a characteristic space that reflected the essence of PS in her community. FIG. 49 is the image provided by Carmen.

The scene portrayed by Carmen was described by her as one of the many efforts that her community has been making for years to build a better place for themselves. In the image, we can see the team that was commissioned by the municipality to clean the roads and public spaces in San Francisco. These activities are meaningful for Carmen since she enjoys teamwork, especially when it leads to improving the image of a place that she is so fond of.

In the image 9 people can be identified: 5 adult men, 3 adult women and 1 girl. The 8 adults form part of the 15 people group that the municipal government hired for temporary jobs. As was explained before, the residents of San Francisco have been economically struck by the COVID-19 pandemic. Carmen mentioned that many of her neighbours have lost their jobs over the past months. Additional

Carmen has also been asked about her perception of PS found throughout the rest of the city. To her, the quality of these spaces is similar. She does not think there are major variations in different parts of the city in quality, and expressed:

“... I have seen that in many neighbourhoods, they (the municipality) have given care to this kind of places, not just in some. The way the municipality has done it in parts so that everybody has decent spaces to play sports, everything well.

I fell it has been done very well. I would give them a good grade.”

The municipality has rehabilitated PS throughout different areas of the city. As highlighted by Carmen, these projects are carried out progressively, starting in some neighbourhoods and moving on to others as soon as they have finished.

She is aware that the residents of those communities in need of renewed PS can be impatient to have reformations happen in a near future. From her own perspective, it is an effective way for the authorities to carry out these projects. This is because the benefits of incorporating newer and more dignified outdoor facilities will have larger impact in the communities.

User Perspective.

to the evident aesthetic benefit that this program has, it provides income opportunities for those with economic needs. The presence of a child in the scene next to her mother and a broom communicates that it is a family-friendly environment. Different tools that they are using can also be distinguished. Most of them use brooms to sweep the paving in the square. One man has a shovel while standing next to the bushes; the man next to him has a handsaw for cutting off some branches from a tree; the woman that can be seen between them is holding a rake up against another tree, possibly to remove something from it.

FIG 49. San Francisco and its PS (Carmen,research participant, 2021). The PS shown is the neighbourhood’s square. From the angle where the image was taken some solid elements can be perceived, such as the one where the girl is leaning. The purpose of this elements is unknown because they are too high to be seating elements. However, they may work as ischiatic support benches, just like the girl in the image is using it for. Another element of urban furniture found is the lamp post, in this image it can only be identified one. Because of the closeness of the treetops, the light may be obstructed by them. It would be important to design the layout of lighting fixtures harmonious to the distribution of the vegetation.

As it was explained before, the greenery found in this square is a feature not widely found in the rest of the neighbourhood. Four varieties of plants can be observed. In the foreground, a tall tree with one thick log and a leafy treetop, providing a large shade. Next to it, there are some medium-sized bushes that have grown in the perimeter of the green area. Behind them, other variety of bushes is seen, with shorter hight and smaller leaves; these do not fill the area uniformly, some patches of soil can be seen throughout. In between them, there is another species of tree, this one with several thinner logs, the treetop is less dense, and its leaves are smaller; these trees are found in the around the pavement in the centre of the space.

In the background, on the right side, the brownfield can be seen, as there are the two white football goals. Behind them, there is the stone wall that delimits the golf club. On the back of the left side there is the church, as its yellow wall is visible. Carmen took this photograph on the 16 de Julio street facing towards Inocencio III street. FIG. 50 shows a diagram of this.

Conclusions.

As it was explained in previous chapters, PS cannot be measured wholly through morphological characteristics and quantitative tools, as they represent only the spatial dimension. Appropriation is the social component of these PS, it is a qualitative aspect, and for it to be as accurate as possible it requires from the insight of its users. For these reasons, the present research was carried in two part, the first consists of the analysis of quantitative data gathered from secondary sources and the second one is quantitative data provided by a regular user from one PS in one of the areas analysed in the first part.

After interviewing Carmen, the user, it became evident that appropriation is much more complex than I had initially thought. It became clearer that appropriation is not just a person sitting in a bench at a park, many aspects play a role in it. In this case, the politics in different levels. It comprises the community getting together and making decisions about their own neighbourhood and PS; also involves residents to exercise power over a piece of land that does not belong to them but do not let anyone else decide about it. As well as the municipal government of Leon the impact it has that they intervene a PS in a neglected area, and that they implement social programs that involve the local community to work.