Author

Peter Harnik is director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land and author of Inside City Parks, a book about the park and recreation systems of the 25 largest U.S. cities. In 2003, his research resulted in The Excellent City Park System: What Makes it Great and How to Get There. Previous to that, he was co-founder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

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Urban Green

Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities

Peter Harnik
Urban Green

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 out” 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.

 
Published: 04/2010
208 p. 6 x 9
ISBN: 9781597266840
Paperback: $30.00
Also Available: Hardcover

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  • TABLE OF CONTENTS

"Best Books of 2010" | ASLA's The Dirt


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