Urban parks advocates from across the country traveled to Washington, DC, on Tuesday, April 20th to lobby members of congress in support of city parks. Forty park professionals participated in City Parks Alliance Day on the Hill, which consisted of a legislative overview, training session, and congressional office visits. Participants then attended the the Congressional [...]
Filed under: funding | Tagged: federal policy | Leave a Comment »
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized 22 of New York’s residents and community organizations for their work in environmental protection with its “Environmental Quality Award.” Among those recognized were a handful of outstanding organizations who work in New York City’s parks and public spaces, including GrowNYC, Brooklyn’s El [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, partnerships, renewal | Tagged: awards, epa | Leave a Comment »
Architect Manit Rastogi is seeking to transform the canals of Delhi, India by using new technology to treat sewage and turning the now polluted corridors into a network of bike and pedestrian greenways. In a report and the below video on CNN, Rastogi says the city “will then be interconnected with an eco-friendly and safe [...]
Filed under: international, renewal, transportation | Tagged: delhi, india | 2 Comments »
The Congressional Urban Parks Task Force met this week, where panelists emphasized the economic value of urban parks and praised the Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Acts (H.R. 3734). The Dirt published a thorough summary. Blair Kamin critiques the green roof movement in Chicago, highlighting the successes of the City Hall Roof and Millennium Park [...]
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Steven Litt of the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks at the efforts of Indianapolis over the past 30 years to build a riverfront park, museums and other attractions to give the city a feeling of place. The story behind the design of City Garden, the new downtown park that is the buzz of St. Louis, featured [...]
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How can parks fit into the smart growth movement? Kaid Benfield, director of NRDC’s Smart Growth Program writes two nice posts about what he calls the environmental paradox of smart growth. He notes in his first post: Environmental impacts will occur with development; to limit them, we must concentrate them, and this can mean increasing [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, planning | Tagged: density, smart growth | Leave a Comment »
First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative kicked into gear last week with a summit of federal government leaders, researchers on childhood obesity and others. The Washington Post article on the event indicates some progress in making sure things like schoolyards and parks are part of the mix: Obama gathered about 100 suits, profs, politicos [...]
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Some great before and after photos of the High Line in New York City from Hyperallergic. The verdict seems to be in that elevated parks are cool. David Brooks writes that future American growth is going to be found in suburban villages. Suburbs looking to create “centers” might find just that in more traditional urban [...]
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Bicycline magazine is out with its list of the United States’ Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities. The top ten are, in order: Minneapolis, Portland, Boulder, Seattle, Eugene (Oregon), San Francisco, Madison (Wisc.), New York, Tuscon and Chicago. Reading through the top 50, it’s not hard to see that a great park system contributes to these rankings [...]
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Great cities have great parks, and great parks have great horticulture. One person who knows the most about this is Lynden Miller, the director of the Central Park Conservatory Garden and public garden designer of many of New York City’s other outdoor oases. Drawing on lessons learned from revitalizing the Conservatory Garden, Madison Square Park, [...]
Filed under: facilities, green infrastructure, maintenance/management, partnerships | Tagged: books, horticulture | 1 Comment »
