Urban green : innovative parks for resurgent cities
Title:
Urban green : innovative parks for resurgent cities
Author:
Harnik, Peter.
ISBN:
9781597266796
9781597266840
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
Washington, DC : Island Press, c2010.
Physical Description:
xiv, 184 p., [8] p. of plates : col. ill., col. map ; 23 cm.
Contents:
Introduction -- How much parkland should a city have? -- The different kinds of parks and their uses -- Is it acres, facilities, or distance? -- Parks and their competition -- Neighborhoods are not all created equal -- It's not how much but who and why -- A process rather than a standard -- Stop, look, and listen -- Analyze and prioritize -- Don't forget money and time -- Buying it -- Utilizing urban redevelopment -- Community gardens -- Old landfills -- Wetlands and stormwater storage ponds -- Rail trails -- Rooftops -- Sharing schoolyards -- Covering reservoirs -- River and stream corridors -- Cemeteries -- Boulevards and parkways -- Decking highways -- Closing streets and roads -- Removing parking -- Adding hours rather than acres -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1: Population density, largest cities -- Appendix 2: Acres of parkland per 1,000 persons, largest cities -- Appendix 3: Parkland as a percent of city area, largest cities -- Appendix 4: Spending per resident on parks and recreation, largest cities.
Abstract:
For years American urban parks fell into decay due to disinvestment, but as cities began to rebound - and evidence of the economic, cultural, and health benefits of parks grew - investment in urban parks swelled. The U.S. Conference of Mayors recently cited meeting the growing demand for parks and open space as one of the biggest challenges for urban leaders today. It is now widely agreed that the U.S. needs an ambitious and creative plan to increase urban parklands.
The book offers many practical solutions, from reusing the land under defunct factories to sharing schoolyards, from building trails on abandoned tracks to planting community gardens, from decking parks over highways to allowing more activities in cemeteries, from eliminating parking lots to uncovering buried streams, and more. No strategy alone is perfect, and each has its own set of realities. But collectively they suggest a path toward making modern cities more beautiful, more sociable, more fun, more ecologically sound, and more successful."--Publisher's description.
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