December 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 21

of all citizens, whether they live in cities or in suburbs. It explains how public
parks have become as central to contemporary life as airports, highways, and
other components of infrastructure. In
describing the results of this role, Garvin
shows how parks play a major role in enhancing personal welfare and improving public health, sustaining a livable
environment, incubating a civil society,
and shaping rational development. Park
professionals, civic officials, citizen activists, landscape architects, urban planners, and architects will find this book
valuable to their work in the field of
parks, conservation, and open space.

was present at the creation of the very
idea of a public park in America, managed a private consulting business with
many types of clients; Moses brought the
perspective of a public official responsible for acquiring property, executing
development plans, and administering
park agencies responsible for management and maintenance. He had learned
from experience that park development
has to proceed with probable budget
allocations, management capacity, and
available personnel very much in mind.
Wherever possible, Olmsted proposed
parkways connecting nearby neighborhoods with the park; Moses built limited access, landscaped parkways for
motorists driving to regional parks. Olmsted designed independent carriageways and pedestrian paths that allowed
park users to reach desired destinations;
Moses built parking lots for arriving motorists and installed durable paving materials for pedestrian use.
In an Olmsted park, the landscape itself is the attraction. The meadows in Cazenovia Park in Buffalo, New York, are
shaped by groups of trees into separate
places that can be used in different ways,
by different people, at different times of
the day. People go to the top of Burnt Knob
in Iroquois Park in Louisville, Kentucky,

	

to enjoy the view. They go boating in the
lakes in New York City's Central and Prospect parks. Moses did not believe that a
user-friendly landscape was enough for
twentieth-century park users, so he added swimming pools, skating rinks, zoos,
and other crowd-pleasers. During the
1930s, in Central Park alone he build more
than twenty playgrounds to provide additional opportunities for small children.
Parks, then, do not just happen. Their
development involves a great number
of decisions about site selection, adaptation, and design. But whether newly
created or adapted for recreational uses
on previously developed properties,
parks are a response to public demand.
When that demand has surfaced, somebody must then identify and acquire
sites that can be transformed into easily accessible, user-friendly places for

public recreation. Thereafter, successful
park development entails applying design principles and artistry to that specific site, along with the foresight to make
individual park development a component of planning for an entire metropolitan area.
The history of park development includes both unfortunate and inspired
responses to these issues. These varied
responses ref lect changing attitudes
about the utility of adjacent private property, the use that the occupants of those
properties expect to make of what they
think of as their park, and the demands
of the neighborhoods surrounding the
park. They also reflect the skills of the
individuals involved in their creation.
But in every case, park development and
urbanization are intertwined in their response to growth or its absence. 
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December 2010 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2010 - Parks & Recreation
