My Favorite “Public Space” – the Subway

After studying public spaces, some in the South Bronx as part of our group project with the Department of Transportation last semester, and writing a 32-page comparative analysis on public spaces in NYC and Kathmandu, I would like to call myself sort of an expert, and feel confident making the following conclusion: Subways make for the best public space.

For my purposes here, I define public space as the transformation- purposeful, circumstantial or serendipitous- of space into a place where people gather intentionally, or even unintentionally, to become part of a community, feeling a sense of connection.

Every time someone asks, “So what’s your favorite thing about New York City?” My reply rolls off the tip of my tongue: "Subways…”

There’s always a pause then. It's like they’re waiting for me to say...BAZZINGA! and then they go,

• “Why?”
• “They’re so dirty!”
• “They’re not that safe…”
• “They stink like piss and weed”

I think I even said that when I first came to New York City… but hear me out!

Most benches, even in public parks, often are not facing each other, but the seats in subway cars do face each other, which puts you in close proximity to other people, from a diverse set of circumstances, in a space open to anyone who can afford the fare (or not), for a set duration of time, and makes it a perfect setting to have impromptu conversations, chime in to the gossip among a friend group or between a couple, smile at random kids, and be annoyed by a screaming toddler.

“Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share a common life. What matters is that people of different backgrounds and social positions encounter one another, and bump up against one another, in the course of everyday life. For this is how we learn to negotiate and abide our differences, and how we come to care for the common good.”

– Michael J. Sandel

I just quoted a philosopher, so you know I am serious about this.

Last semester I stumbled upon this quote, and my immediate thought was, the subway! The subway helps make New York more democratic. It's not a perfect democracy, far from it, but the subway plays an active role in creating democratic places in the city.

Subways- cars and station platforms- create space for people to come together— finance bros dressed in crisp suits and polished shoes, sleep deprived college students, either returning from a party at 3 am or leaving for classes at 9, service workers taking naps during their early morning ride back home, unhoused individuals sleeping on the benches that are designed to keep them out (at some stations they’ve been removed and replaced with stupid leaning bars), undocumented women selling candies and fruits with their baby on their back, CEOs typing emails and trying to join a Zoom call on their cell in the very small window of time they have between leaving their office and getting on the train, entrepreneurs trying to catch up on work with a book in hand, commuters slowing their pace to take in the performances, singers drawing people out of their routine, dancers fist bumping upside down, all kinds of people—old, young, rich, poor, newcomers, old-timers, queer, straight, racist, homophobic, kind, calm, loud—and it is open to anyone who has $3 or can jump or slide through the turnstiles.

When I think of NYC and its diversity, the subway captures its true essence!!

The subway has been in operation for 121 years; there are 22+ subway lines and 472 subway stations with 5.5 million daily riders! The numbers are CRAZY. But what happens inside those subway stations, and in what ways each one of those individuals interacts with the subway, is what fascinates me.

Here are my personal stories, my encounters, my journey though the New York City subway…