City Parks Blog

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12/20/11--07:44: Some News from Around… (chan 1260274)

St. Louis has passed two bond measures for city parks totaling $64 million, along with a commitment of another $280 million in private matching funds. The repair and renovation of city parks is expected to create 580 construction jobs and generate $1 million in sales and income tax for the city. (The St. Louis American) [...]


ryanmdonahue

12/22/11--13:36: Parks Breathe Life (and Jobs) into Cities (chan 1260274)

The South Platte River has become a cherished recreational asset for residents and visitors to Denver. Thoughtful, visionary planning and public-private partnership have restored and transformed the city’s waterfront from what was once called an “urban dump” to refuge for wildlife and people alike. Local efforts to improve the river have created new jobs and [...]


angelinah

12/30/11--20:33: “A Design that Celebrates the People”: Normal, IL Traffic Circle Wins Smart Growth Award as New Civic Space (chan 1260274)

Earlier this month, EPA announced the winners of the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.  We are excited to report that Normal, Illinois is the recipient of the award in the Civic Places category for their traffic roundabout. We’ve written before about how the town’s new traffic circle has successfully managed traffic flow at [...]


coleengentles

01/06/12--20:55: From Bluebelts to Greenbelts: Converting Wetlands and Stormwater Storage Ponds to Parkland (chan 1260274)

An eleventh 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 wetlands and stormwater storage ponds. For environmental, financial, and legal reasons, urban stormwater management is getting much more attention – and the result is helping to [...]


peterharnik

NYC Blue Belt

High Point Pond

01/13/12--20:54: Cities with Health Promoting Park Systems Provide Mixed Uses and Adequate Programming (chan 1260274)

An excerpt from The Trust for Public Land’s report From Fitness Zones to the Medical Mile: How Urban Park Systems Can Best Promote Health and Wellness. We wrote a preview of this report in an earlier post. In this post, we look at a mixture of uses and a maximum amount of programming. Mixing uses in parks [...]


peterharnik

Children kick a soccer ball down a field in a team game.

Health Report Chapter 1

People exercising on outdoor gym equipment at Dalton Park in Azusa, California.

01/20/12--12:22: Hudson River Park is the First Frontline Park for 2012 (chan 1260274)

Each month, City Parks Alliance recognizes a “Frontline Park” to promote and highlight inspiring examples of urban park excellence, innovation, and stewardship across the country.  The program also seeks to highlight examples of the challenges facing our cities’ parks as a result of shrinking municipal budgets, land use pressures, and urban neighborhood decay. “We selected [...]


angelinah

Pier 45 BeforeWP

Pier 45 AfterWP

01/27/12--14:37: Some News from Around… (chan 1260274)

“Parklets” are undeniably one of the hottest trends in urban parks, and the epicenter of the movement is San Francisco.  This article provides some insight into the design process, with profiles of the designers of some of the city’s notable parklets. (The Bold Italic) This piece from Next American City details some of the changes [...]


ryanmdonahue

01/31/12--14:20: An Interconnected Park Web: How Greenways Create Healthy Communities (chan 1260274)

We recently came across an article by Randall Arendt discussing how greenway networks are the “useful bridge between ‘new urbanism’ and conservation design.”  His article talks about using greenways as the connector to parks, neighborhoods, schools and mixed-use centers, allowing for urban and rural ideas to merge and produce a superior hybrid community form.  He argues that [...]


coleengentles

South Platte River_Health Report

02/08/12--13:36: Parks After Dark: Balancing Safety, Efficiency, and Dark Skies (chan 1260274)

The issue of lighting in urban parks can be surprisingly contentious. One school of thought is that parks are supposed to offer a refuge within the city, a piece of nature untarnished by the glare of neon, light-emitting diodes, and halogen. Dark-sky advocates argue that while some parks might need more light than others, no [...]


ryanmdonahue

Civic Space Park, Phoenix

02/17/12--08:41: February’s Frontline Park: Louisville Waterfront Park (chan 1260274)

Louisville’s Waterfront Park is an award winning and popular community greenspace situated on 85 acres along the Ohio River. Once a blighted landscape of heavy industry with no public access to the river, the last 20 years have seen the park become a regional jewel that attracts 1.5 million visitors every year, sparking hundreds of [...]


angelinah

WFParkINT

SunsetINT