From Dumps to Destinations: Converting Landfills to Parks

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Peter Harnik

A tenth excerpt from the recently released book published by Island Press called Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities. In this post, we look at some cities who have created parkland from capped landfills. New parks can be fashioned out of old garbage dumps. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Balloon Park in Albuquerque, Cesar Chavez Park in [...]

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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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Going From “Parkway” to “Park”

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Peter Harnik

A third excerpt from the recently released book published by Island Press called Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities. In this post, we look at some examples of boulevards and parkways used as parks. When the parkway was first invented by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvin Vaux in the 1860s, it was much more a “park” and less a “way” [...]

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“Park Above, Park Below”: Rooftop Parks Reach New Heights

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Peter Harnik

In a series of posts, we will begin featuring excerpts from the recently released book from Island Press called Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities.  In this first post, we look at rooftop parks and some best practices. New York landscape architect Thomas Balsley delights in promising to show friends what he calls “the greatest [...]

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The Times Square Transformation

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Coleen Gentles

We found a very nice video discussing New York’s goal of being the “greatest, greenest big city in the world,” according to NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.  While the video focuses more on transportation improvements in the city, specifically bicycle infrastructure and bus rapid transit, there is a brief discussion on the success of closing Broadway [...]

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Engaging Immigrants in City Parks

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Ben Welle

A unique project in New York City has been devising better ways to engage with immigrant communities. The Immigrants & Parks Collaborative, funded by the JM Kaplan Fund, City Parks Foundation and New York Immigration Coalition, has supported work with ten community-based organizations in eight parks to provide a dedicated staff person for participatory planning, [...]

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The Fight Over New York City’s Washington Square Park

Posted on November 24, 2008 by Ben Welle

An article in the New York Times yesterday gives an interesting overview of the row that’s ensued in the past years over redesigning and changing New York’s well-known 10-acre Washington Square Park. The article provides valuable insight into how or if park redesigns should be undertaken in such a situation, but also reveals how much [...]

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The Sprawling Playground

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Ben Welle

A new playground opened recently in New York City’s Morningside Park that attempts to provide lower play spaces that won’t hurt children when they fall while still providing challenge and fun. Here’s an excerpt from the NY Times article describing it: The jungle gym itself sprawls over a chunk of a block, with the younger [...]

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Floating Pools

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Ben Welle

Next American City describes the floating pool barge calling New York City home, noting that there were actually 15 such pools in the city 100 years ago, then for hygienic purposes but now for recreational. The idea has been the project of former city planner and New York City park official Ann Buttenwieser. Some additional [...]

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Plazas on the Street

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Ben Welle

An article in USA Today describes the new program in New York City to create “street plazas” from pieces or entire lanes of streets. On Broadway, the neon-lit, iconic avenue that slices through Manhattan, city officials have transformed two traffic lanes between Times Square and Herald Square into pedestrian plazas where folks can sit at [...]

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