The New Republic offers a look and review of some of the nation's best new urban parks.
In looking at the High Line in New York City, Millennium Park in Chicago and Citygarden in St. Louis, architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen also reviews the role and history of parks in dense urban areas.
"The urban park is not one type but many: the neighborhood playground or soccer field, the pastoral retreat from metropolitan smog and frenzied ways, the vest-pocket slip of a lunch spot, the community garden, the unbuildable swamp redefined as treasured wetlands. Those are not the types of park I wish to discuss here. I prefer to dwell on the centrally located park that is accessible and appealing to many classes of people from different walks of life-the great urban park. It must not be so large that inside it one loses a sense of the city. This type of park is typically important enough (and expensive enough) that municipalities work hard to weave it into the overall identity of the city. Over the course of a given year, many different activities and events happen there-concerts, rallies, festivals, fairs."
FULL STORY: Park Here
Ten Years of the High Line—Time to Reflect
As the High Line turns ten, a debate about the costs and benefits of urban revitalization continues.
Bringing New Life to Urban Rail Lines
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Meet Some of New York City's Newest Parks
In a city where density is everything, these park projects make creative use of existing public spaces—and, in some cases, create their own.
Seattle Legalizes Co-Living
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NYC Officials Announce Broadway Pedestrianization Project
Two blocks of the marquee street will become mostly car-free public spaces.
Denver's New High-Rise Integrates Vertical Canyon in Architectural Design
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Indy Bike Share Sees Sharp Growth Thanks to Free Pass Program
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Federal Resilience Program a Lifeline for Affordable Housing Providers
The little-known Green and Resilient Retrofit Program funds upgrades and repairs that improve efficiency and comfort in existing housing stock.
Fort Worth To Relaunch Bike Share System in January
Trinity Metro shuttered its current system at the end of November and plans to relaunch with a mostly-electric system.
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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