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Just a curious question. Must it actually be a piece of untouched nature carved out, and preserved in city limits? Must it be an entirely man-made beauty that ends up looking quite natural through landscaping? Or is it merely a function of accessibility and connection?
I used to live in Milwaukee, and the park downtown along Lake Michigan is pretty awesome. Always filled with people running, walking, sitting, rollerblading, boating (in warm months), festivals, air shows, fishing...whatever. While there are a lot of people, you can also find spots to just sit in quiet, and look out over the city, or Lake Michigan. The view is stunning, and that is just as important as the activity.
Basically, there are two different kinds of city parks. There are "active" parks and "passive" parks.
Active parks have playgrounds, different courts and fields for sports, possibly a public pool, etc. They really just need to be large enough to house the different uses, plus provide for some space for people to sit on benches. These parks can be quite small, taking up a city block or less (a so-called "parklet" and still provide an important neighborhood amenity.
In contrast, a "passive" park is meant as a retreat from the city, and to immerse you in the natural world. They have to be fairly sizable in order to work. But you don't want them to be too big. I like Central Park and all, but it would have been better for Manhattan if it had broken up the park area among three smaller parks, as more people would be adjacent to a major retreat. Also, ideally even if a park is a large size, there should be no public-access roads going through it, because it takes away from the whole "natural retreat" element.
Basically, there are two different kinds of city parks. There are "active" parks and "passive" parks.
Active parks have playgrounds, different courts and fields for sports, possibly a public pool, etc. They really just need to be large enough to house the different uses, plus provide for some space for people to sit on benches. These parks can be quite small, taking up a city block or less (a so-called "parklet" and still provide an important neighborhood amenity.
In contrast, a "passive" park is meant as a retreat from the city, and to immerse you in the natural world. They have to be fairly sizable in order to work. But you don't want them to be too big. I like Central Park and all, but it would have been better for Manhattan if it had broken up the park area among three smaller parks, as more people would be adjacent to a major retreat. Also, ideally even if a park is a large size, there should be no public-access roads going through it, because it takes away from the whole "natural retreat" element.
Piedmont Park here in Atlanta has all of these aspects which I why I enjoy this park so much. You can lie in the grass with relative quiet or head over to the fields to play soccer. I think having both these aspects makes a good urban park.
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Plant Conifer Evergreen trees at a massive scale. Especially when Deciduous trees end up too common overly dominant. Even when they are invasive species somehow. Widespread coverage within urban boundaries conveniently advantageous to average pedestrians. Walkability avoiding errors, including next to closely adjacent busy streets. Focus on simple first before getting into complex calculation.
Basically, there are two different kinds of city parks. There are "active" parks and "passive" parks.
Active parks have playgrounds, different courts and fields for sports, possibly a public pool, etc. They really just need to be large enough to house the different uses, plus provide for some space for people to sit on benches. These parks can be quite small, taking up a city block or less (a so-called "parklet" and still provide an important neighborhood amenity.
In contrast, a "passive" park is meant as a retreat from the city, and to immerse you in the natural world. They have to be fairly sizable in order to work. But you don't want them to be too big. I like Central Park and all, but it would have been better for Manhattan if it had broken up the park area among three smaller parks, as more people would be adjacent to a major retreat. Also, ideally even if a park is a large size, there should be no public-access roads going through it, because it takes away from the whole "natural retreat" element.
Philadelphia's principal urban park, Fairmount Park, has elements of both.
(Here I'm referring only to the park carved out in the 1820s to protect the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek watersheds that fed the Fairmount Water Works, to which the 1876 Centennial Exposition site was added. The city considers all of its urban parks part of the "Fairmount Park system.")
You will find recreational fields, picnic grounds, a popular children's playhouse and playground and even the summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra within this park's boundaries. But a good one-half of this park - the portion along the Wissahickon Creek - is indeed preserved woodlands, un-landscaped and (save for a major commuter route that runs through a portion of the park next to the southernmost end of the Wissahickon) closed to motor vehicle traffic. A popular hiking/biking/riding trail parallels the creek above the point where it turns northwestward, and smaller trails lace the deep gorges of the Wissahickon valley. One paved road intrudes into it in Chestnut Hill; it leads to a parking lot for the Valley Green Inn, a tavern and restaurant built in 1770 and located along the main trail.
For a "passive" park, this stretch of the park gets a good bit of recreational activity thanks to the hikers, bikers and horseback riders.
Not to lessen Philly Great Natural Fairmont Park with forested areas too. Chicago's totally manmade Urban Parks are Great Urban examples also and other cities.
Chicago's parks in the Core and along its lakefront clearly are in a Urban setting of the city's densest neighborhoods. Its Millennium Park overtook even its Navy Pier entertainment tourist enclave to become the mot visited Attraction in the Midwest. Free concerts, festivals and other events are hosted in this and adjoining Parks all summer. Millennium Park is a added portion over rail yards to next door long established Grant Park as the city's front lawn. Opening 2004 it was a total success almost immediately.
Opening in 2016 was its across a street tied by a looping bridge is Maggie Daley Park over a rebuilt underground parking that all these parks share a portion for thousands of commuters and visitors. This Park is Children oriented. It also has a large looping scathing ribbon that is ice skating in winter.
In these Parks you are very much in the city's core as tour are with a Central Park in NYC. Lincoln Park just north of the Core is the city's largest and houses the Free Zoo to harbors and beaches on the lakefront.
So having events, entertainment, eating, sculptures like the Cloud Gate (The Bean) that tourist flock too see and areas of flowers and manicured lawns to stroll and skyline views ...... all add to a Great Urban Park.
-- -Lincoln Park-- --Grant Park and others-- Millennium and Maggie Daley Parks
Last edited by DavePa; 03-10-2019 at 08:06 PM..
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