How many people in your city live within walking distance of the nearest park? In what neighborhoods should park improvements or additions be targeted to maximize impact? How well is your city’s park system serving the needs of its residents? Are there disparities between the inner-city core and the lower-density urban fringe, or between different [...]
Filed under: facilities, funding, planning | Tagged: accessibility, dallas, ParkScore, san francisco | 6 Comments »
The Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence performed a study for the Association of Bay Area Governments, one component of which was identifying examples of how recently completed infill parks were financed. This is the last of the four cases studies we’ve published from the study. (See the first three in Emeryville, Windsor, [...]
Filed under: facilities, funding, partnerships | Tagged: community facilities district, infill, mission bay, san francisco | Leave a Comment »
The Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence performed a study for the Association of Bay Area Governments, one component of which was identifying examples of how recently completed infill parks were financed. We will be publishing each of the four case studies (see the first one here), with Windsor Town Green as our [...]
Filed under: funding, partnerships, planning | Tagged: research, san francisco, smart growth | 2 Comments »
San Francisco was just crowned the greenest city in the U.S. and Canada by one large study, a nod to its policies that require recycling, ban plastic shopping bags, and provide incentives for solar roofs. But the Bay Area is also thinking of sustainability in terms of smarter growth throughout the region as a whole. [...]
Filed under: funding, maintenance/management, planning | Tagged: brownfields, density, san francisco, smart growth | 4 Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, international, planning | Tagged: density, international, san francisco | 2 Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, planning | Tagged: new york, san francisco, tampa | Leave a Comment »
In Boston, the iconic Christian Science Center and Plaza plans for redesign on a human scale, adding a pedestrian bridge to the massive reflecting pool and adding trees and benches (Boston Globe). The Urbanophile covers People for Urban Progress (PUP), an Indianapolis nonprofit which is repurposing city materials to repair and improve the park system. [...]
Filed under: uncategorized | Tagged: boston, Indianapolis, new york city, san francisco, waterfronts | Leave a Comment »
Kids rally to save Rice Field Park in Des Moines. ABC 5 has the story about the kids and their organizer, an 11-year old who says the field is the heart of their community. Archpaper covers the plans to redevelop 65 acres in the Port of San Francisco for recreational & commercial use. Birds, people, [...]
Filed under: uncategorized | Tagged: public art, san diego, san francisco | Leave a Comment »
With public buildings being, well, public — their roofs are places not only to go green but to potentially open as commons. The other day we heard from the New York Times of the ambitious $4 billion project to build a new transit center and related facilities in San Francsico. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli [...]
Filed under: green infrastructure, transportation | Tagged: rooftops, san francisco | 2 Comments »
Forbes.com is out with its annual list of the “Best Cities for the Outdoors.” The list looks at a combination of issues from climate to parks, using TPL’s data on city parks. (Some cold-weather cities and their cross-country skiers may take issue with using measures such as snowfall.) The winner: San Francisco. Perhaps one wouldn’t [...]
Filed under: uncategorized | Tagged: rankings, san francisco | 2 Comments »
