@article{1477571,
      recid = {1477571},
      author = {Campo, Daniel, },
      title = {The Accidental Playground : Brooklyn Waterfront Narratives  of the Undesigned and Unplanned /},
      pages = {1 online resource (304 p.) :},
      abstract = {The Accidental Playground explores the remarkable  landscape created by individuals and small groups who  occupied and rebuilt an abandoned Brooklyn waterfront.  While local residents, activists, garbage haulers, real  estate developers, speculators, and two city  administrations fought over the fate of the former Brooklyn  Eastern District Terminal (BEDT), others simply took to  this decaying edge, transforming it into a unique venue for  leisure, creative, and everyday practices. These occupiers  and do-it-yourself builders created their own waterfront  parks and civic spaces absent every resource needed for  successful urban development, including plans, designs,  capital, professional assistance, consensus, and permission  from the waterfront's owners. Amid trash, ruins, weeds,  homeless encampments, and the operation of an active  garbage transfer station, they inadvertently created the  "Brooklyn Riviera" and made this waterfront a destination  that offered much more than its panoramic vistas of the  Manhattan skyline. The terminal evolved into the home turf  for unusual and sometimes spectacular recreational, social,  and creative subcultures, including the skateboarders who  built a short-lived but nationally renowned skatepark, a  twenty-five-piece "public" marching band, fire performance  troupes, artists, photographers, and filmmakers. At the  same time it served the basic recreational needs of local  residents. Collapsing piers became great places to catch  fish, sunbathe, or take in the views; the foundation of a  demolished warehouse became an ideal place to picnic,  practice music, or do an art project; rubble-strewn earth  became a compelling setting for film and fashion shoots; a  broken bulkhead became a beach; and thick patches of weeds  dotted by ailanthus trees became a jungle. These  reclamations, all but ignored by city and state governments  and property interests that were set to transform this  waterfront, momentarily added to the distinctive cultural  landscape of the city's most bohemian and rapidly changing  neighborhood.Drawing on a rich mix of documentary  strategies, including observation, ethnography,  photography, and first-person narrative, Daniel Campo  probes this accidental playground, allowing those who  created it to share and examine their own narratives,  perspectives, and conflicts. The multiple constituencies of  this waterfront were surprisingly diverse, their stories  colorful and provocative. When taken together, Campo  argues, they suggest a radical reimagining of urban parks  and public spaces, and the practices by which they are  created and maintained. The Accidental Playground, which  treats readers to an utterly compelling story, is an  exciting and distinctive contribution to the growing  literature on unplanned spaces and practices in cities  today.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1477571},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823251902},
}