Park It Right Here: all about those urban green spaces
A couple of weeks ago, we explored urban plazas as an important typology of public space. This week I’d like to talk about parks. Parks can refer to national parks, landscaped grounds of country estates, neighborhood playgrounds and more. For this post, I’ll be focusing on urban parks.
Here are 5 things to know about urban parks
1. They’re the lungs of the city.
Urban parks were my first introduction to the importance of green open space in cities. I spent the early part of my childhood in Hong Kong. Amid all the skyscrapers and highrises, one of my best memories is playing in Sha Tin Park near my home. At 20 acres, it has playgrounds, gardens, amphitheaters, bike paths, and event areas. It is connected closely to residential complexes, large retail malls, hotels, and transit. In a city that has a lack of open space within highly-dense neighborhoods, the well-connected park is a welcome respite for all types of visitors.
Urban parks serve as the lungs of cities. They provide recreational and green open space for dense environments. Historically, urban parks were created in few different ways: in Europe, many were originally the landscaped grounds of royal palaces and wealthy estates, and gradually transformed into public parks. Hyde Park in London and Łazienki Park in Warsaw are examples.
When cities began to grow rapidly, areas were set aside to provide ‘natural’ landscapes for people to escape the bustling city. Central Park in New York and Boston Common in Boston were created for that specific purpose.
In other cases, parks were placed in neighborhoods that lacked any recreational and green space for local residents. Columbus Park in Lower Manhattan was first built for the tenements (which was controversial at the time), but as New York changed, it has now become a well-used park for the Chinese community.
2. They come in all sizes
When urban parks are mentioned, most people’s minds immediately jump to famous large parks. But do you know parks come in different sizes? Besides large urban parks and smaller neighborhood parks, there are also pocket parks (aka parkettes) and privately owned public spaces (aka POPS).
Pocket parks utilize small or irregularly shaped parcels that would otherwise be left unused. A number of cities even have programs in place to identify small spaces for new pocket parks. One of the most iconic examples of a pocket park is the 0.1 acre Paley Park in New York City, with its waterfall and movable seating, nestled betweens high rises.
Privately owned public spaces are produced through municipal initiatives that offer developers incentives if they agree to open part of their private property to the public. The Ford Foundation headquartered in New York provides a lush indoor garden.
The public sun terrace at 100 1st Street in San Francisco is a flight of stairs up from street level with trees and grass, distinctive seating, and nooks for larger or smaller groups. It serves local residents and provides outdoor seating for workers during lunchtime.
3. They conjure different ideas of nature
Many historical urban parks were built to bring nature into the city. Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, for example, introduced a kind of idealized nature into the city that many people enjoy.
However, Golden Gate Park’s design ignored the original ecology, which was mainly windswept sand dunes. When the nearby Crissy Field airfield was closed in 1994, the area was transformed into a park that aimed to restore the original ecology. Sand dunes and tidal wetlands were re-introduced to the area and featured native species and open space for nearby residents.
Other contemporary urban parks take a different approach. Instead of introducing “nature” into the city, these parks acknowledge the act of design and therefore flaunt it. In Dallas, Kylde Warren Park and Main Street Garden Park provide green space in the city through sculpted landscape, designed elements, unique outdoor furniture, and programmed spaces.
4. They often accommodate contrasting uses
These contemporary parks also highlight the facts that parks are historically a series of contrasting programmed spaces. In Regent’s Park, there’s a lake for boating, gardens, university grounds, an open air theater, and a hill that has a clear view of central London.
In Beijing, a large urban park was developed around the Temple of Heaven. The park has gathering points for tourists and local residents, historic Chinese gardens, tea houses, chess tables, and areas for recreation like tai chi, badminton, and dancing.
Washington Square Park in New York is mostly dominated by the iconic arch and central fountain. However, it’s also popular with locals because of its playgrounds, dog run, and open lawn area.
The active open programming attracts people to gather, but the quieter shaded nooks within these parks also provide quiet space for people to linger and contemplate.
5. They’re new and old, but all require maintenance
Urban parks are having a renaissance in many cities. For some projects, large parks have become a tool to revitalize downtowns. Millennium Park in Chicago and Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn are prime examples as they create much needed public green space in dense urban areas.
These two parks are made possible through major private donations and public private partnership and have wealthy foundations behind their maintenance and programming.
In recent years, there is a trend for municipalities to focus more on the new development of parks, and less on maintaining and sprucing up existing ones. A degree of maintenance of any outdoor space is crucial and it’s been an ongoing challenge to allocate funds for many existing neighborhood parks.
Another challenge is that oftentimes underprivileged neighborhoods don’t have access to a park or open space within walking distance. Thankfully organizations like the New York Restoration Project and Trust for Public Land work hard to serve those neglected areas.
A park system needs to be comprehensive in order to serve the whole city. Finding that balance of destination parks and smaller ones is essential.
The topic of park planning and associated costs are complicated issues that require another post. However, as I describe and advocate for the importance of public green space, I would be remiss to disregard the conflicts of creating new parks and maintaining the existing ones. Even though it can be difficult and contentious, cities must not shy away. All cities and neighborhoods deserve a pair of lungs to help them breathe and relax.
