Public parks are like public libraries, they're mostly just homeless shelters and places to deal drugs. As a city dweller I really don't get this rosy presentation of them that acts like they're somehow gifts to the community.
I have very fond memories of walking out of the air-conditioned shopping mall above the Waterfront MRT station and then walking through Mount Faber Park, Henderson Waves, Southern Ridges Park, Kent Ridge Park, and then back into an air-conditioned shopping mall at Kent Ridge MRT.
I took one of those walks almost every day, and in many cases co-workers or friends decided to join, because with the MRT system it's just so easy to quickly zip over to nature in your lunch break.
It's difficult to access this objectively, but I'm 100% convinced that this was a major factor in making my time in Singapore some of the most productive months I've ever had.
Also in Italy, the town squares were usually full with families and the elderly, sipping coffee and reading newspapers. But it was well understood that just by being there, they signal that they're available for you to just talk to people. Again, I felt like the strong communal spirit of having talked to 100+ neighbors in your village was fantastic, even if you only did small-talk about the newspaper.
Now if you could reduce the depression rate and related issues by 10% with a new well-maintained park. That'd be a significant GDP boost, so the economic value of such parks is probably in the billions of $$$.
Homeless People in public library? Maybe ask your Government why that is.
In case you're not aware, there's plenty of people in the US who dislike the "all concrete walls" look of suburbia and instead would prefer more communal living areas - even within big cities - to be modeled after Italy or Singapore.
So it makes a lot of sense to look at Singapore, even if you don't travel there yourself, for inspiration on how to combine skyscrapers and nature to make residents happy.
Public parks are great. Some are shitty, but we all need space to roam and play. Most parks are not in shitty, run down neighborhoods and don’t fit your stereotype.
If you have access to internet you can learn so much nowadays, obviously its a matter of having access to the internet, something not everyone has.
Today’s kids have different problems, such as the huge amounts of disinformation and manipulation in media. The information we find today is harder to trust; and the conversations we have online are less about discovery or debate and more about political allegiances or getting attention.
Information I learned from books (with recommendations from my local librarian) was much more reliable imo, and the nature of books is such that they encourage more thorough understanding of their subjects. Now I can find nearly anything I need online, but that’s because I already have a huge amount of knowledge and know how to determine if a source is trustworthy.
But man, if Khan Academy existed in my childhood...
In regards to "and the conversations we have online are less about discovery or debate" I partly agree partly disagree. I am part of various internet forums and some of them are very Web 1.0 still: good conversations, you get to know some people well (I even met some IRL). Part of me thinks its about persons willingness to find information themselves.
>Information I learned from books (with recommendations from my local librarian) was much more reliable imo, and the nature of books is such that they encourage more thorough understanding of their subjects. I agree, so many tech tutorials and articles are plain wrong.
I think that's worth saving.
I'm not American but that's a concept as foreign to me as someone claiming they don't need roads because they're just for drunk drivers.
It’s also very important not to provide services in areas near parks. The local library had a nice playground where the kids would do Easter egg hunts and play during the farmers market. During the pandemic they extended their wifi to cover the park and bam tents popped up and the space was lost. The entire block became unsafe. Then some do gooders showed up and started feeding the campers and bam now the entire area is wall to wall tents and they are overflowing to adjacent areas.
Maybe Italy and Singapore just have a lot less homeless than the US?
In my experience, people camping in public places was mostly tourists, usually students.
It might be that your experience is mostly due to you living in an area with very high income inequality.
BTW: It's not about responsibility, it's about protecting the public and/or the Addict, do you think it changes anything if you tell the addict that he is responsible for something...man he has much bigger problems.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/the-needle-park-_25-years-on-th...
Don't let them take over..help them, it's better for everyone.