| Abstract: | In this cross-cultural and historical contrast to the American park style, we see an eighteenth-century Viennese park, the Prater. This park has long been a showcase for the panoply of Viennese popular culture (“To be Viennese has long meant to visit the Prater”), serving as a generous stage for the mixing of classes and cultures. Here was a crossroad where immigrants, travelers, ethnics and the lower echelons could observe and mingle with the middle and upper reaches of society; a living laboratory of acculturation to the life of a cosmopolitan city. Together with the Schoenbrunn Zoo and other mainstays of the recreational outing, the park also provides an early example of environmental awareness in a rapidly expanding area calling for a balance between urban growth and green space. These effects indicate that popular culture, even within the limited realm of entertainment such as the amusement park, carries more serious implications for social and environmental issues. |
