Talk:Urban beach

I'm thinking of splitting this page into two separate pages, one for splash-pads which are spaces whos sole use is intended to be waterplay, and another for urban beaches that combine various uses, including waterplay.

I would welcome comments anyone has in that regard. Glogger 12:25, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * Please remove the overlap, when people start editing both copies it will be cumbersome to merge the two versions.--Patrick 21:53, 2004 Sep 24 (UTC)

There should be a mention of the Thames-side beach in London.

This article needs cleaning
Glogger, you've done an excelent job getting all this together, but I'm afraid IMO it's a bit rambling in places, and some of it is uneccesary, unencyclopedic or repetative and the page might read better if some of these bits were cut out. I also think that moving the details of specifc examples to their own pages to reduce the size of this article would make it read better. I've listed this on the Cleanup page so that you and others can comment on my proposals. --Joe D 19:42, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Electrode Connectors?!
Sorry, but the person in the photo is obviously not connected to any brain control device. Some vandal is messing with the article. I'll have to fix it.

I take it back, didn't see the other photo, but the description made it sound far fetched.

Worldwide view???
I'm wondering... is my concept of Urban Beach different from the English language one? Is this a regional view of Urban Beach concept? Because at least in Spain, and I think in the UK and Europe, Urban Beach refers to an actual beach that is completely surrounded by a city, like it happens in San Sebastián,Cannes,Brighton or Barcelona. These urban beaches are normally next to a promenade or avenue and have a very architecural environment. I think this view should be added to the article... am I wrong?

I reject the notion that a urban beach needs to have access to the water or any water. These are features that will make any beach appealing. They are not however, IMHO, featurest that are required. I appreciate the work un the urban playa at PS1, but the concept of a beach in NYC is many years older than that. I am the operator of Water Taxi Beach in NYC and operated the Beach in Brooklyn Bridge Park for 5 weeks this summer. The BBP Beach did have a swimming pool, and Water Taxi Beach has a misting system. --70.198.58.15 18:14, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Nightlife
"Some urban beaches such as Dundas Square have no fences around them and operate 24 hours a day. On hot summer nights they infuse the city with beach culture. Whereas during the day, it is mostly children, joggers, and concertgoers who play in the water, while adults sit around the periphery, reading their newspapers. During the evenings, after a few drinks at a nearby pub or cafe, it is not uncommon for middle-aged business executives to let go of their inhibitions, and to into the fountains with their children. At other times, the one or two brave grownups who do run through the sprinkers are cheered on by hundreds of onlookers who are still too inhibited to play in the water" something is wrong with the tone of this section. It needs to be wikified.Michael Cook 17:52, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

List of Urban Beaches
The list does not follow any pattern and should be revised/rewritten. 21:53, 18 Jun 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup
I just did a big cleanup of outdated and unreferenced material such as 'The 330 Dundas Street urban beach is listed as a finalist in the Coram international design competition, and will be presented at the competition in Amsterdam in October of 2004'. Some unnecessary and irrelevant information were also removed. I also added a global point of view of the topic instead of focusing just in the city of Toronto as it was before. 22:03, 18 Jun 2007 (UTC)

Wikification
Add the "wikify" tag mainly because of the "Economic case for urban beaches" section, but I think the whole article should be reviewed.

What about the swimwear section? It's written in a first person perspective and is not a quote - 71.192.108.214 (talk) 15:24, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

"Sustainable" section sounds moronic
It makes no sense whatsoever. Here is a particularly glaring part "Since silicon and sand are related, silicon provides the clean grit-free medium for the beach surface". This is supposed to be a "since this, that", right? Well, what's the connection between silicon-sand relatedness and its use as the floor there? And overall, what's it all about? They put a bunch of solar panels somewhere and now call it "sustainable"? I mean, for crying out loud! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.24.104.52 (talk) 21:02, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

How are the examples "beaches," urban or otherwise??
I'm sorry, but this definition of "urban beach" is so broad as to make no sense. Of the Toronto examples, only one, HTO, can reasonably be called a beach at all. Yonge-Dundas Square is a square that happens to have a "hidden fountain" water feature. But a large proportion of squares have water features in the form of fountains, hidden or otherwise; where this feature is not the primary focus of the space, where there is not sand or a sand-like surface, and/or where people do not habitually sunbathe in a beach-like fashion, the space is a square or piazza or plaza or park or common or somesuch, not an urban beach. Apologies for the rant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.248.181.164 (talk) 04:37, 11 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree. This article deals with two opposing ideas of what an urban beach is. One idea is that of a water play area with fountains that you can run around in, etc. Eg. Dundas Square, Playa Urbana. The other idea is that of a man-made beach with sand, beach umbrellas, sunbathers etc. Eg. HTO, the Eagle Street Beach by Eric Rudd and Paris Plage. So what exactly is an urban beach!? - kollision (talk) 04:48, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I also agree. This article needs a complete rewrite - splash pads have nothing to do with it.    Dgthom (talk) 19:21, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Redefinition and Rewrite
I have completed a complete rewrite of the article to be consistent with the use of the term as employed in dozens of media articles about urban beaches. More references and photos can be added, of course, and perhaps the previous version could be employed under "urbeach" or some other term but the article now reads as one would expect it to read after reading elsewhere about urban beaches. Please add any proper urban beaches that I have missed. Dgthom (talk) 05:51, 18 August 2012 (UTC)