"Urban parks are back in fashion. In Denver, an 80-acre park opened in September on the site of another disused airport. New York plans to build a huge park on top of the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. Innumerable town squares and pocket parks have been created or beautified, even in gritty places like Detroit. City planners, who once viewed parks as financial drains and nests of crime, now see them as magnets for tourists and creative types."
"The great parks that were built in the second half of the 19th century were intended to counteract the ill effects of city living, and so are the new ones."