M. Paul Friedberg, a panorama architect whose playgrounds, pocket parks and plazas remodeled once-gritty areas of New York Metropolis, utilizing acquainted city supplies to take action, died on Feb. 15 in Manhattan. He was 93.
His demise, in a hospital, was introduced by Dorit Shahar, his spouse.
Mr. Friedberg grew up in rural Pennsylvania, however he believed within the promise of cities — their variety and density — to create happier, more healthy societies. Like his good friend the sociologist William Whyte, he felt that public areas have been profitable provided that individuals used them, and that parks and plazas must be as inviting and versatile as doable.
“A wall is an obstruction, and a ledge is a spot to sit down,” Mr. Friedberg preferred to say, quoting Mr. Whyte. He was bullish on ledges and steps, and used them usually.
His early work was a part of a wave of civic reform within the mid-Nineteen Sixties, led by Mayor John V. Lindsay and his parks commissioner, Thomas Hoving, who needed to make town’s parks and public areas extra inclusive and enjoyable. When Mr. Lindsay took workplace, Mr. Friedberg had already designed an revolutionary park and playground for the Jacob Riis Homes, the general public housing advanced on Manhattan’s Decrease East Facet.
He was impressed by the journey playgrounds bobbing up in Europe, the place designers had noticed kids taking part in within the rubble after World Battle II. “They realized kids actually didn’t want formal play environments,” Mr. Friedberg told The New York Times in 1999. “They gave kids saws and drills and packing containers and referred to as them journey playgrounds.”
