Visions of Closing Roads and Creating Parks

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Coleen Gentles

A previous post highlighted a few cities that closed roads through parks to increase pedestrian and non-motorized use. We’ve recently learned about a proposal to temporarily close streets to traffic during weekends and holidays in Buenos Aires and bring in portable playground equipment and benches to turn these roads into parks. A video of this [...]

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Green Gyms and Medical Miles: Promoting Public Health with Parks

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Ryan Donahue

We’ve previously looked at ways in which the medical community is using exercise prescriptions as a way to combat obesity and inactivity.  Park prescriptions are only a portion of the spectrum of exercise prescription programs. Fortunately, the growing awareness of the benefits of outdoor exercise – in addition to the cooperation of parks departments, environmental [...]

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Of Parks, Podiums and Penumbras: How Density Changes Development

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Ryan Donahue

Cities that increase density by building skywards can inadvertently end up with impersonal streetscapes defined by monotonous walls of glass and concrete. Toronto has avoided the issue of dark, canyon-like streetscapes by mandating that buildings offer a human-scale street presence. Most large buildings are composed of a “podium” base, with towers receding from the street [...]

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Urban Parks and Accessibility

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Jordan Thaler

Access to city parks has always been an important and ongoing topic for planners, landscape architects, and city officials. In the early days, urban parks were only found in upper-class neighborhoods, as those individuals realized the potential for city parks and had the means to create these spaces as well. Parks have since become a [...]

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London’s A-Mazing Trafalgar Square

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Coleen Gentles

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 [...]

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San Juan: The Walkable City

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Coleen Gentles

 San Juan, Puerto Rico recently released a new plan to make the city more liveable and walkable. Titled The Walkable City, the plan calls for a redesign of the Isleta district, an island which is home to Old San Juan, the oldest planned city in the Americas. Isleta is separated from mainland Puerto Rico by a [...]

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Elevated and Decked: Sydney’s Paddington Reservoir Gardens

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Coleen Gentles

 A recent article in the World Architecture News showcases Sydney’s newest urban park, Paddington Reservoir Gardens. Originally completed in 1878, the reservoir operated until 1899 when it then became a workshop/garage. The site officially closed in 1990 after a roof collapsed. The former reservoir was slated to be capped and decked with parkland, until architects [...]

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Some news from around…

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Elissa Hoagland Izmailyan

Denver’s cemeteries grow into the role of public parks with free concerts, art displays and elegant gardens (Denver Post). ASLA’s The Dirt provides a detailed summary of Peter Harnik’s Wednesday presentation of his new book, which discusses ways to incorporate parks into built-out cities (and guidance on how to plan for them). Earth Policy Institute’s [...]

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Enslischer Garten: Munich’s Back Yard

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Ben Welle

Englischer Garten is probably the most well-known large municipal park in Munich, and perhaps the city’s most visited. Its landscape, features and pleasant gardens offer both respite from the city to relax or space to play (or “spielen” in German). Along one of its ponds, the park’s beautiful outdoor beer garden is one of the [...]

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Beijing’s Olympic Park, Post Olympics

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Ben Welle

Beijing’s new Olympic Forest Park, constructed for the 2008 summer Olympics was just profiled in the Bangkok Post (in English). The city’s largest park, at 680 hectres (about 1,680 acres) is proving to be a popular place with residents after the games left town. From the news story: As the park was to be used [...]

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