Memphis's 4500-acre Shelby Farms Park has languished for years. Now, local leaders are bringing in Yale professor Alex Garvin to try to bring the park up to its potential.
At 4500 acres, Shelby Farms Park in Memphis is one of the largest urban parks in the country. However, despite its size and its location -- along the banks of the Wolf River, in the heart of Shelby County -- the park has never lived up to its potential as a great park.
Now, civic leaders in Memphis are trying to change all that. The Wolf River Conservancy has hired Yale professor Alex Garvin to help jumpstart planning for the park. Garvin will be helping to figure out programming, governance, and funding for the park, in the hopes of turning it into a premier destination.
Garvin recently made headlines with his plans for the Beltline Emerald Necklace, a 2500-acre system of parks, trails, and transit for Atlanta. The citizens of Memphis are hoping he can help them put together something equally dramatic.
"The problem with Shelby Farms is how to make it go from first gear into full drive," Garvin told the Memphis Daily News. The citizens of Memphis are hoping he can help them get their park up to speed.
Thanks to Anthony Weiss
FULL STORY: NYC Heavy-Hitter Weighs in on Shelby Farms
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
Has President Trump Met His Match?
Doug Ford, the no-nonsense premier of Canada's most populous province, Ontario, is taking on Trump where it hurts — making American energy more expensive.
OKC Approves 7.2 Miles of New Bike Lanes
The city council is implementing its BikeWalkOKC plan, which recommends new bike lanes on key east-west corridors.
Preserving Houston’s ‘Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing’
Unsubsidized, low-cost rental housing is a significant source of affordable housing for Houston households, but the supply is declining as units fall into disrepair or are redeveloped into more expensive units.
The Most Popular Tree on Google?
Meet Rodney: the Toronto tree getting rave reviews.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Florida Atlantic University
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
City of Piedmont, CA
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland