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.
Urban Green explores new and innovative ways for “built outa cities to add much-needed parks. Peter Harnik first explores the question of why urban parkland is needed and then looks at ways to determine how much is possible and where park investment should go. When presenting the ideas and examples for parkland, he also recommends political practices that help create parks.
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.
Acknowledgements Introduction
PART I. Of Cities and Parks Chapter 1. How Much Parkland Should a City Have? Chapter 2. The Different Kinds of Parks and Their Uses -Box 2.1 What People do in Parks Chapter 3. Is it Acres, Facilities or Distance? -Box 3.1 How Far to a Park?: 14 Scenarios Chapter 4. Parks and Their Competition Chapter 5. Neighborhoods Are Not All Created Equal Chapter 6. It's Not How Much but Who and Why? Chapter 7. A Process Rather than a Standard Chapter 8. Stop, Look and Listen Chapter 9. Analyze and Prioritize Chapter 10. Money and Time
PART II. Finding Park Space in the City Chapter 11. Buying it Chapter 12. Utilizing Urban Redevelopment Chapter 13. Community Gardens Chapter 14. Old Landfills Chapter 15. Wetlands and Stormwater Storage Ponds Chapter 16. Rail-Trails Chapter 17. Rooftops Chapter 18. Sharing Schoolyards Chapter 19. Covering Reservoirs Chapter 20. River and Stream Corridors Chapter 21. Cemeteries Chapter 22. Boulevards and Parkways Chapter 23. Decking Highways Chapter 24. Closing Streets and Roads Chapter 25. Removing Parking Chapter 26. Increasing Time
Conclusion Recommended Reading Appendix 1. Population Density (Largest Cities) Appendix 2. Acres of Parkland per 1,000 Persons (Largest Cities) Appendix 3. Parkland as Percent of City Area (Largest Cities) Appendix 4. Spending per Resident on Parks and Recreation (Largest Cities) Index
"Harnik conveys in pragmatic, no-nonsense terms what it takes to make the outdoor rooms of a city serve the true needs of their users. Fundamental questions are asked about which kinds of parks to build, how much to build, for whom to build, and where the parks should go. The answers imply new or renewed solutions and new ways of defining the very term parks."
