NZ Visual Diary - entry 340

two boys - Te Komititanga Square

Tucked in a corner of Te Komititanga Square, the two boys sat alone. Their mutual company was sufficient. They were enjoying themselves, watching the large holiday crowd in the square and, I suspect from their animated conversation as they gazed, sharing stories about what they observed.

I caught them comfortably lost in thought, the fellow on the left still amused by the story his friend had shared a few moments before I captured this photograph.

It was the first full day of the summer holiday for school-aged kids, and families filled the square, eager to see the massive Christmas tree and oversized baubles on display across the grounds of the square. Nearby in the harbour a large cruise ship was moored, its passengers disembarked for the layover in Auckland. An acrobatic busker had just begun his afternoon performance in the centre of the square.

It was a good day for people-watching. Such is the vibe in one of Auckland’s prime public squares . . . as it is with civic spaces across cities elsewhere.

For an insightful perspective on the importance of civic spaces in urban areas, you might check-out the work of Dr. Elijah Anderson, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, whose book The Cosmopolitan Canopy anchored a first-year seminar I taught at the University of Kentucky for a number of years.