We’ve written before about how the town’s new traffic circle has successfully managed traffic flow at a busy five-way intersection, diverted thousands of gallons of untreated stormwater away from the nearby creek, and become the town center by bringing residents together in an attractive public space.  The more recent news is how the traffic roundabout is spurring local economic development with the construction of a multimodal transportation station adjacent to the circle, courtesy of a U.S. Department of Transportation grant.  Both the transportation hub, which will eventually have high-speed rail service and create an estimated 400-500 new jobs, and the circle take advantage of the town’s existing infrastructure, bus service, and the historic central business district to attract even more residents to the new town center.

The one-third-acre roundabout does much more than move cars. It invites pedestrians with shade trees, benches, lighting, bike parking, green space, and a water feature. People have lunch, read, and play music, and the open space invites community gatherings such as a holiday caroling event. It is the anchor for a community-wide revitalization and is part of Uptown Normal’s LEED-ND Silver recognition.

A popular rails-to-trails conversion, the Constitution Trail, leads to and around the roundabout, helping both to revitalize Normal and to bring people from surrounding areas to Normal’s central district. A new Children’s Discovery Museum on the edge of the roundabout already receives over 140,000 visitors per year, and a hotel and conference enter have recently opened nearby. One indication of the success of the redevelopment is that property values in the district have increased by about 30 percent since 2004.

According to the short video, this traffic circle was almost banned to pedestrians.  It’s a good thing town officials fought back.

Read more about the project here, as well as the other winners from the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.

From all of us at City Parks Blog, thanks for reading, commenting and inspiring us this past year with all of your park stories and successes.  We look forward to hearing how park development and redevelopment is changing your city.  Happy New Year and all the best in 2012

Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza. Credit: Coleen Gentles.

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence has named the Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza as a 2011 Silver Medal recipient. The Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza emerged from a 15-year community effort to shape the form and content of the city’s last major redevelopment area, and is a testament to the power of civic involvement in the realization of great urban spaces.

When Santa Fe’s 50-acre rail yard was threatened by private development in the early 1990s, the city mobilized to purchase and protect the historic site for a local vision. With involvement from over 6,000 community members, a master plan was developed and implemented over the next decade through a unique partnership between the newly created nonprofit Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation (SFRCC) and The Trust for Public Land.

The plan called for redevelopment that would protect the integrity of adjoining historic neighborhoods, retain the railyard’s “authentic, gritty, rugged” architectural quality, encourage alternative modes of transportation, create a pedestrian-oriented environment, and provide significant amounts of park and open space. The project – exclusive of the park and open space – was developed and managed by SFRCC, while the Railyard Park Stewards group was formed to care for the park and provide enhanced programming.

The result is a 12-acre vibrant, multi-use park and public plaza in the heart of Santa Fe. Many dimensions of Santa Fe converge here: history, water use, local agriculture, transportation, education, arts and culture, and community. There are commercial and cultural facilities, the twice-weekly Santa Fe Farmers Market, a pedestrian and bicycle path, and a commuter rail connection for Northern New Mexico within the Railyard’s historic depot. As the “family room” of Santa Fe, the Railyard complements the city’s “living room” in the historic Santa Fe Plaza by providing additional space for arts, festivals, and day-to-day life. The new pedestrian and bicycle path parallels the tracks deep into Santa Fe’s southern neighborhoods – the first of several pathways that will link the park and plaza to districts throughout the city and beyond.

Other 2011 Silver Medal recipients of The Rudy Bruner Award include Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York, a community-initiated, 85-acre park that preserves 1.3 miles of riverfront for public use; Civic Space Park, a vitalizing public space in downtown Phoenix, made possible through an innovative town-and-gown partnership; and Gary Comer Youth Center and Gary Comer College Prep, which support education and youth programs that bring new opportunities to Chicago’s Grand Crossing neighborhood. The 2011 Gold Medal recipient is The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center in Dallas, Texas, which provides shelter and services to help clients transition to sustained independence.

Established in 1986 and now in its 13th award cycle, The Rudy Bruner Award has recognized more than 65 projects that demonstrate excellence in urban placemaking. The Award was created by Simeon Bruner, in honor of his late father, to foster a better understanding of the role of architecture in the urban environment and has become one of America’s leading forums for the discussion of issues related to urban architecture, planning, and revitalization. The Rudy Bruner Award has been recognized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Environmental Design Research Associates.

The Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza, along with three fellow Silver Medalists, will receive a $10,000 prize. The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center in Dallas, this year’s Gold Medal recipient, will receive a $50,000 prize.

Case studies of the 2011 award winners will be published this fall. Past publications are available online here.

Balsley, along with Willis Winters from the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department and Karen Palus from the Tampa Parks and Recreation Department, discussed their strategies behind designing Main Street Garden and Curtis Hixon Park in a session at the 2010 American Society of Landscape Architects Annual Meeting and Expo in Washington, D.C. The panel discussed their experiences and provided excellent insight into what it takes to develop a successful urban park.

Main Street Garden, Dallas. Credit: Neff Conner (Flickr Feed)

In 2001, Dallas was jolted by a decision unlike any other before. The Boeing Company chose to move its headquarters to Chicago rather than Dallas because there was a lack of vibrancy in the city center. At the time, only 240 people lived in downtown Dallas, all in a single apartment building. The numerous city employees vacated the area after their nine-to-five workdays and no real thought was given to attracting residents to live in the business district. This lack of a 24-hour tenant presence resulted in a stagnant city center, a place that Boeing did not want to call home for its new corporate headquarters. The decision was a wake-up call for city officials and a new emphasis was placed on revitalizing their downtown, with particular interest in urban parks.

In response, Balsley’s firm was selected to design Main Street Garden, a 1.7-acre park occupying a full city block on the east end of downtown. The site with its historic buildings offered an excellent opportunity to bring life back into the city’s center. As Winters said, “Main Street Garden served as the reason to revitalize the buildings surrounding the area.”

Main Street Garden was designed with an inviting streetscape encouraging people to stop and visit, not just pass through the park on their lunch break. Innovative lighting techniques such as study shelters encouraged use well into the evening hours. Other design elements included a large lawn that can be adapted to multiple uses, a green roof canopy over a concession kiosk, café and dining terrace, botanical garden, urban dog run, playground, stage and an interactive stream fountain that has proven to be popular with children of all ages.

As Balsley discussed the project, he explained that creating a successful design for the park is only part of the job. A large part of the work is managing an oftentimes-contentious public process. He offered some tips for success including:

• Share your experiences: Be open about your past experiences, offering insight into your successes and setbacks.
• Form client/designer collaboration: Work with your client encouraging communication and teamwork.
• Advocate for a committee format: Be open to the idea of a community process.
• Maintain reasonable expectations: Encourage stakeholders to understand what is possible and what may be unachievable.
• Listen, and prove it: Encourage an open dialogue and act upon what you hear.
• Avoid preconceived notions: Be open to all ideas and viewpoints.
• Hang your ego outside the door: Avoid the “designer knows best” mentality.

Palus who shared the background behind the redevelopment of Curtis Hixon Park emphasized Balsley’s advice. “This is a story of a city that invested in its people by creating a meaningful public space,” she said. However, the park had many organizations and interested parties who had conflicting opinions as to how the park should be developed. Recognizing that differing ideas would be a challenge, the stakeholders agreed to be open to all options, yet keep in mind that the park would be developed for the benefit of the entire city, not one specific group. After navigating the public process, the result was a dynamic park that has proven to be a central gathering space for the entire city.

Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa. Credit: Graham Coreil-Allen (Flickr Feed)

Like his previous work at Main Street Garden, Balsley designed 6.0-acre Curtis Hixon Park with attention to incorporating the park into its present surroundings. Special awareness was given to connecting the park to adjacent cultural assets such as Kiley Garden and the Tampa Museum of Art. This was achieved through a terraced lawn and a promenade garden at the edges of the park. At the street entrance is a large Louver water fountain, frequently used by children and adults to cool down during the hot Tampa summers. When the water sprays upwards, it distorts the view of the park, revealing and hiding different features. The park also has a playground and dog park and even incorporates a segment of the Riverwalk, connecting the David Straz Performing Arts Center to the Glazer Children’s Museum and the Tampa Museum of Art. The paving along the Riverwalk contains a mechanism for misting and creates “fog clouds,” another clever strategy to promote cooling in the summers. Within the park is a large lawn sloping towards the river, featuring what Balsley described as “urban rafts,” large platforms rising out of the slope for sitting, lounging or gathering. These “urban rafts” have become a central part of the park, attracting both people watchers and visitors who want to be seen. People watching was a prominent feature in the design, with both overlooks and rotating chairs incorporated for users to choose views of the waterfront or park.

An attractive park is an essential part of a vibrant city. Both Main Street Garden and Curtis Hixon Park have strong elements that bring visitors to their parks. They also connect to the surrounding area, encouraging growth of businesses and housing. It would be interesting to see how usership has increased at these parks since their openings.

And for those who will be in Dallas today, Peter Harnik will be giving a presentation entitled “Rebirth of the City Park” at the 21st Century City Conference. Come learn more about the efforts the park movement has played in Dallas.

Credit: Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects

But the true innovation comes from the sustainable infrastructure used to create the traffic roundabout.  Apparently the water in the public fountain is actually cleansed and re-circulated stormwater from five main streets leading to the traffic circle.  Although not safe for drinking, it is perfectly fine for toe-dipping as these kids would gladly testify.  And as soon as those London plane trees grow a little more fuller, I imagine this will be a relaxing place for a good book or a picnic.

We’ve posted before about how parks can be great green places, regardless of size.  Washington D.C.’s Dupont Circle is a nice example of a vibrant urban park that is heavily used in the midst of a busy downtown.

The new Circle in Normal is only one component of the city’s plans for redevelopment of the downtown area.  As the residents of Normal find increasing popularity in their new park, perhaps now is a good reminder of the five characteristics of Great Green Places:

• Landscape: a place that is successful uniting site planning and landscape design;
• Mixed Use: a place that demonstrates a variety of retail, housing, and commercial uses;
• Sense of Place: a place that physically embraces its history and culture;
• Streetscape: a place that is pedestrian-friendly with activated public spaces; and
• Transit Options: a place that encourages and supports multiple forms of transportation including subway, bus, and biking.

It’s only when looking at sustainability from a holistic view, can we truly see the transformation in a community.

For more pictures and technical details regarding the Circle in Uptown Normal, visit the Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects website.

For years I’ve been hearing bits and pieces about the massive, multi-billion-dollar project to fix Dallas. No, not everything about Dallas, just one of its biggest challenges – creating parkland along its river, the Trinity.

This is the story that came out, in fits and starts, in that riveting ASLA workshop, told by landscape architect Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, engineer James Parrish, park official Willis Winters and park advocate Gail Thomas. Each focused a bit tightly on his or her specific issue, but ultimately, prodded by some audience questions, the full story in its complexity came through.

Dallas’ problem is a doozy and its solution is a double-doozy, although whether it’s sustainable is another question.

Trinity Lakes Vision Plan

The challenge of the Trinity River, like other desert waterways, is that it fluctuates wildly from the usual trickle to the occasional roaring deluge. Building the surrounding city to respect the deluges means pulling the buildings and streets hundreds or thousands of yards back from the regular river channel, leaving a wide swath of deadening nothingness. Conversely, building the surrounding city right up against the normal trickle means courting periodic catastrophic floods.

Dallas, with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has split the difference, building quite a distance away from the river (but not really far enough for true flood safety) then adding high levees to protect against the worst of the crests. This leaves a wide stony area alongside the river, relegated historically to an out-of-sight, out-of-mind status by the high levees.

If Dallas were an eastern or northern city, the Trinity would have a broad greenspace alongside it, as Washington, D.C. has alongside the Potomac or Minneapolis by the Mississippi. But there’s not enough rain in Dallas, and irrigation for a big park would be way too expensive. However, there is one source of water for a Trinity River Park — the sinks, bathtubs and toilets of the 1.2 million residents of Dallas. Turns out that the city’s wastewater treatment plant produces about 50 million gallons of relatively clean water per day. That regular flow enters the Trinity, day in and day out, but it does so downstream from downtown. That’s enough water not only to irrigate a park but to actually create a brand new lake in the normally dry gulch, as well.

A big part of the story is political — how a controversial multi-billion-dollar project got through the political process, beginning as a highway program and gradually morphing into something ecological and place-making over the decades. Other big issues involve engineering — how to design a lake that doesn’t stagnate and eutrophy between floods; and also how to make a park inviting to users without breaching the high concrete levees that surround it. The answers are complex (one seems to involve tilting the lake’s bottom so that it flows upstream), and I’m heading to Dallas in November for the 21st Century City Conference to try and understand them better.

But one big question — the 50-million-gallon question — didn’t come up. The cleaned wastewater, upon which rests this whole perpetual motion machine, will need to be pumped uphill about three or four miles.

I’ll be the first to admit that many if not most urban parks aren’t traditionally sustainable. I’m sure that if the power were shut off in Chicago’s Millennium Park or San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park or Houston’s Buffalo Bayou all kinds of things would go haywire. But I also know that one of the most basic rules of infrastructure is that water flows downhill.

Interestingly, 1,000 miles west of Dallas, Phoenix has a similar problem but deals with it differently. There, so much water is taken out of the Salt River that it actually dries up above the city and there is nothing but a wide empty gully through town. Then, downstream it reappears, thanks to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Phoenix hasn’t tried to create a lake in the city, but it has used the sewer outflow in a network of manmade wetlands to attract wildlife.

Phoenix started with one big physical advantage over Dallas — the city’s downtown wasn’t built near the Salt River and has no real connection to the waterway. Now it has two: its river-and-park solution comes a lot closer to sustainability.

The only way Dallas’ new Trinity River Park will ever be sustainable is if the power used to pump its life-giving water is generated renewably, using solar or wind. This is another reason for park advocates and clean energy advocates to work side-by-side together.

“We never thought we’d get the job,” admitted Warren T. Byrd, Jr., a principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBWLA). “We were concerned by our lack of experience with sculptural gardens.” 

But after being narrowed down to seven finalists, and rescheduling their interview due to a crippling snow storm, the Virginia firm managed to fly to St. Louis, meet with the panel of judges and win the bid. 

Their challenge: develop a three-acre “urban oasis that is a hybrid between a sculpture garden, a botanic garden and a city park” on two of the 15-block Gateway Mall. Located between Eighth, Tenth, Market and Chestnut Streets and within walking distance of the Gateway Arch, the site was once dotted with buildings. These buildings were torn down 20-30 years ago and the site was vacant. After studying wind direction, sunlight, pedestrian access, and topography, NBWLA decided to draw on local and regional hydrology and geology, particularly the presence of the Mississippi River, and incorporate all these elements into their final design. 

Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels. Credit: Gewel Maker (Flickr Feed)

The tricky part was incorporating the 23 sculptures already purchased by the Gateway Foundation as a gift to the city. The sculptures had to be open and accessible; there were not to be any “Do Not Touch” signs. 

The land is owned by the city of St. Louis; the non-profit Gateway Foundation owns the sculptures and provided the funding for the design and construction. 

Some highlights of the final design include a green/grey black granite meander wall, stones with multiple finishes, pavement that can withstand lots of water at a less than 5% grade, ramps imbedded into stairs, a giant TV displaying “video art,” a 2,000 square-foot café that seats 80 people inside and out, and the fountains. 

Split Basin. Credit: Gewel Maker (Flickr Feed)

Three fountains were incorporated into the park: the entry basin, 34 feet in diameter with a thin sheet of water sliding off the Eros Benato sculpture; the split basin – named for a waterfall that “breaks” the basin into two parts – 190 feet long, 20 feet wide and 16 inches deep (the upper part turns into a reflecting pool and became such a popular swimming hole for youngsters that lifeguards were hired); and the spray basin, with 104 jets – the most spray jets in any active fountain in the country – that is choreographed to 10 different musical selections, running three-fourths of the year. Nearby are plenty of seats for parents wishing to stay dry. 

The horticultural elements incorporate almost 80 percent native plants and 32 large trees. The trees line an urban promenade along Market Street and mark the old property and foundation boundaries. 

The final price tag for the project came to just under $30 million and took about 28 months to complete, from design and construction phase to opening day. The project incorporated sustainability strategies into the design, with green roofs for the café and maintenance building, rain gardens (internally imbedded and on street level), LED lights for security and safety, and porous/pervious pavement. 

Citygarden will be permanently endowed and long-term maintenance plans are in the works. St. Louis’ newest park has been a big success and truly transformed the downtown. For more information about Citygarden, go here.

Credit: Alan Miles NYC (Flickr Feed)

Of the many unique activities New York is known for, the most entertaining this summer involved closing roads and opening pools, specifically dumpster swimming pools.  

For the third summer in a row, New York’s Department of Transportation presented the Summer Streets program, closing almost seven miles of posh Park Avenue to motor vehicles from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park. Numerous residents and visitors came out to run, walk, bike, blade, play and even swim on the first three Saturdays in August.  

There were many free activities to choose from including attending concerts and theater productions, a group bike ride set to music, yoga, fitness and dance classes, and of course, pool parties in a dumpster. Wait, swimming in a dumpster? Who ever thought shipping containers used for trash could serve a higher purpose?  

The unique dumpster swimming pools, located near Grand Central Station, enticed New Yorkers to grab their swimsuits and make a splash in the streets. Three clean, unused, garbage dumpsters were repurposed into portable, code-compliant swimming pools. The 8-feet by 22-feet pools, 3 to 4 ½ feet deep, all had protective liners (with felt on the bottom) and their own built-in water filtration system. Even though the pools came with lifeguards and 5-foot wide wrap-around metal decks (with a nonstick rubber surface to prevent slipping) swim time was limited to 10 people a session. And just like permanent pools, there were even showers for rinsing, hammocks and bean bag chairs for lounging and stalls for changing underneath a colorful cabana. The dumpster pools were created by design company Marco-Sea and actually debuted last summer in Brooklyn. This year, the pools moved to Manhattan and drew more attention.  

Considering much of the Mid Atlantic and Northeast broke records with all-time-high temperatures this summer, dipping (because diving is actually prohibited) into a re-imagined swimming pool sounds like a mighty fine way to cool off

Some great photos of the dumpster pools can be found here.

Credit: Steve Punter (Flickr Feed)

Sometimes all it takes is an unusual piece of greenery to draw visitors to a part of town not very known on tourist maps. London, England’s Trafalgar Square temporarily received a laurel and thuja hedge maze at the foot of Nelson’s Column earlier this month as part of the West End Partnership’s summer marketing program. 

The program is geared towards tourists who usually bypass Theatreland in London’s West End for more popular locals such as Big Ben and the Change of the Guard. Measuring 98 feet by 66 feet, and almost 8 feet high, the labyrinth was divided into different sections, with the name of a West End street at each segment. Blue plaques with each street name provided quirky, little-known facts about the landmark. Those who reached the center of the maze were rewarded with different cultural shows and performances each day. (There was no cost to enter the maze.)  

The importance of plazas and squares in crowded downtown areas cannot be over emphasized. Having public spaces for a breath of fresh air from stuffy office buildings, smelly buses and crowded subways can be a haven to residents and tourists in cities. Looking at an aerial view of Trafalgar Square, the hedge maze was a major source of greenery in the immediate area.  

The planted hedge remained for five days to the amusement of office workers and visitors. Just months away from the release of the next Harry Potter movie, perhaps grownups and children alike were half expecting to see flying red sparks and hovering Dementors in the maze   

The aerial views and a fun video of the construction of the maze can be found here.

Gold Medal Park, nestled in the Mill District mixed-use neighborhood in Minneapolis has been a draw for downtown residents.

More parents with children are living in downtown Minneapolis neighborhoods, says a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. We’ve reported on this trend in places such as Portland, and have made the case that cities need to provide the parks and playgrounds that parents want if they are to have truly diverse neighborhoods from young to old.

The article makes it pretty clear what downtown parents want — parks and playgrounds.  Given the lack of backyards and schools in the downtown Minneapolis area, a group of parents “agreed the single thing most necessary to make the neighborhood more livable was a playground” and they started lobbying the city. A playground is now being built. A city council aide says also that “there’s been a noticeable increase in the number of young children living downtown, which is supported by the number of calls we’ve gotten requesting family-friendly areas.” (The city also recently built Gold Medal Park along the riverfront, which is cited as another draw.)

There is an issue of space — and developers and planners may be reluctant to take land away from buildings. But a lot of recreational activity can fit into a one or two-acre site (i.e. about one square block), more units can be added to buildings to make up for it and more people — parents in this case — will want to live in this setting. In the end, perhaps the real test of what makes a neighborhood livable is whether it is kid-friendly — and parks are necessary to making that happen.