Welle details how rail corridors, waterfronts and stream corridors, easements, underused streets, bike boulevards and cycle tracks can be used to connect parks into a network.
Welle writes, "All of these ways can be used to create linkages - one system may include an old rail corridor, a stream or river, an existing parkway and upgrading streets where none of those are possible.
Years ago, Frederick Law Olmsted remarked that no one should be a long walk's time from parkways, and that the citizens using them, whether going to and from a park, or to and from some form of business, may gain some 'substantial recreative advantage.' Today, it's not that different of a story."
Comments
Connectivity important, as is setting
Connectivity is a very worthwhile goal, particularly from an ecological perspective- providing continuous wildlife habitat.
I think the setting of parks is very important for the user. In one small city in upstate NY, the large city park that features waterfront trails and woods, runs along a major highway. You simply can't get away from the loud trafffic noise of the highway- and everyone needs to be able to get away from this, even if they choose to live in an urban region.