What is the importance of Prospect Park in the novel, The Love Affair of Nathaniel P?

Many events in the novel occur at Prospect Park, described as idyllic, and compared to other parks Nate had visited, "didn't feel rickety and abandoned" (115). People went to this park with "wooded hills, rolling meadows, crescent-shaped pond with requisite ducks and swans" (115) to do all sorts of activities such as running, biking, walking, playing little league, etc. He described the park as "a liberal integrationist's wet dream: multiracial, multiethnic, multiclass" (115).