Greeley Square Park in Manhattan makes visitors feel comfortable, mentally and physically. Because of its design, it’s much more than just a place to pause a march across the city for a few minutes.
The park is filled with lots of lightweight furniture that can be repositioned to serve groups of various sizes or single visitors. The chairs can be angled so that individuals can make plenty of eye contact when they wish with people they know (or want to get to know) or none when it's time to be alone. Since national cultures vary a lot in how much eye contact they prefer and how close they choose to stand or sit from others, for example, this furniture-related flexibility is particularly important in New York City, which is home to people who grew up all over the planet.
Being able to position tables and seats as they choose helps users feel in control of their environment, which cuts stress levels. There are many stressors in New York, from apparently random and loud noises to loads of nearby people to cars that seem blind to bikers and pedestrians to potential pickpockets, and feeling in control helps keep humans from collapsing psychologically under the burden of these “challenges.” On a warm summer day, the shade in the park also helps deal directly with heat stress.
The greenery in the park is lush and leafy—just the sort of vegetation that helps us restock our levels of mental energy after we’ve depleted them doing focused thinking (such as knowledge work). The leafy vegetation also helps keep tension levels, generally, in check.
Greeley Square Park is a mental and physical oasis in the midst of Manhattan’s environmental crush. It is definitely a place that works for its users and its city.