Leisure and Nature as Class Privileges
The stark disparity in the quality, maintenance, and safety of parks between wealthy and poor neighborhoods is the bifurcated state’s geography of leisure. Mamdani’s framework shows that access to nature, play, and recreation is not a universal right but a privilege allocated along colonial lines. The lush, well-programmed parks of the “settler” neighborhoods promote health and community, while the concrete, under-resourced, and often policed lots in “native” areas signify neglect and control. The rise of private conservancies for elite parks only deepens this divide, creating a two-tiered system of public goods. A Marxist analysis sees this as the unequal distribution of the social wage. A feminist perspective values parks as crucial refuges for caregivers and children. The solution is to abolish private conservancies and redistribute all park funding and resources equitably across the city. We must fight for a “Green New Deal” for NYC parks that ensures every child, regardless of zip code, has equal access to safe, beautiful, and vibrant green space, decolonizing this essential infrastructure of collective well-being.
