Parks

Construction has begun on a new park beneath a Toronto freeway overpass. The Toronto Star's Christopher Hume says the park will change the city forever.

June 9, 2011 - The Toronto Star

Philadelphia is seeing a surge in new parks, as new public-realm projects are either opening or moving closer towards development.

June 2, 2011 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

The NY Times sent an investigative reporter to Bryant Park to test the new city regulation banning smoking in parks and finds non-smoking park-goers incredibly tolerant toward smoking violations while smokers appear compliant with the regulation.

May 30, 2011 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Community members in Philadelphia have taken over a languishing site and put it back into use as a temporary park space.

May 26, 2011 - NewsWorks

Seattle is growing more dense, which is underlining the importance of the city's public spaces. But as this piece from Crosscut argues, the city's public spaces are mostly bleak and underused.

May 19, 2011 - Crosscut

Robert Campbell keeps hoping that the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway (the park built over the Big Dig site) will attract visitors. But even as it gets more beautiful, it still fails in terms of usage.

May 18, 2011 - The Boston Globe

Exposition Park in Los Angeles is on the verge of major changes -- a retired space shuttle, the last days of a stadium, new transit access, and the demolition of a piece of big-name architecture. But looking at its history, changes are nothing new.

May 18, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

A new public plaza is being built in Washington D.C., and this rundown from The Dirt highlights its people-focused design.

May 7, 2011 - THE DIRT

A community in Salt Lake City is pooling their cash to purchase an empty lot owned by the LDS (Mormon) Church for a much-needed park. They hope to give the land to the city to maintain, but the church and state may not be on board with the plan.

April 25, 2011 - The Salt Lake Tribune

As the city of Los Angeles edges closer to approving the construction of a new sports stadium in downtown, this post from Curbed LA offers 10 suggestions on how the stadium could and should fit into the city.

April 9, 2011 - Curbed LA

This episode of 99% Invisible explores public spaces and their role in political change, and how over hundreds of years, riots have defined New York's Tompkins Square Park -- despite efforts to design unrest out.

April 9, 2011 - 99% Invisible

New outdoor, publicly accessible ping pong tables are taking hold in New York City, adding an extra element of health and activity to some of the city's public parks.

April 5, 2011 - The New York Times

Following trends seen in Europe and China, a public park in New York City has installed a ping pong table.

March 25, 2011 - DNAInfo

The City of San Francisco is expanding its program of "parklets" -- small public patio-like spaces built on parking spots.

March 25, 2011 - The San Francisco Examiner

A lawmaker in New York has introduced a plan to ban cars from Central Park and Prospect Park.

March 24, 2011 - The New York Post

Are parks landscapes or infrastructures -- or can they be both? This question is broached in this wide-reaching interview on the role of parks in cities with landscape architect Gerdo Aquino.

March 18, 2011 - Archinect

America's first public parks were cemeteries. But over time, they've moved from the center of town to the edges. A new book looks at the history of these places of the dead.

March 18, 2011 - The Atlantic

As the parks system grows in Seattle, it is becoming more difficult to afford to maintain. One local official calls the system "unsustainable".

March 8, 2011 - The Seattle Times

An art gallery in New York City currently has an installation called Park Here, which is an indoor parkspace made up of fake grass, trees and sunlight.

January 17, 2011 - The New York Times

Cities across the developing world are dealing more with rising obesity rates as urbanization occurs, reports TheCityFix's Jonna McKone.

January 13, 2011 - TheCityFix