From major metropolitan areas like New York and Boston to the smaller communities of Teutopolis and Fresno, the city park provides a unique reflection of the local population. For the most part they are owned and operated by the City?EUR??,,????'???s Department of Parks and Recreation, but it is the people, drawn to these bastions of nature and fellowship, who are the real benefactors of the collective efforts of Landscape Architects and city planners across the nation...

From the cities that have one or two small parks to the ones like New York, which have 1,500 parks within their system, all have to be concerned with the costs of creating new parks and maintaining old ones. Ideally, Parks Departments receive funding from the city, but in these trying economic times the budgets are often supplemented with donations from individuals, various community groups and corporations. Many cities are able to maintain the standard of care for their parks strictly from community groups, which adopt a park and raise money to maintain it. In Dallas, Texas ?EUR??,,????'??Friends of Fair Park?EUR??,,????'?? work together to provide the funding for maintenance of one of their larger parks. This park is not even included in the maintenance budget from the city, which is approximately 10.5 million per year.

A good portion of funding, especially in antiquated cities such as Boston and New York, needs to go to capital improvements and Park Restoration. The city of Boston, which has so much history involved in it, had its parks system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of Landscape Architecture. In this case, as is the case with many new parks, the Boston parks system was first designed by a Landscape Architect. Then the funding and the city grew up around it. The design is known as the ?EUR??,,????'??Emerald Necklace?EUR??,,????'?? with the Boston Common forming the base of it. Due to the historical background and affluence of the city, many of the parks are supported by Trust Funds left to the City Parks Department.

Why Have a Park?

While each and every park we examined proved to be as diverse as the people who make up this country, all cities have parks to provide an oasis of nature in an urban setting. They provide relief for the community and break up the urban concentration. The parks are designed with the needs and characteristics of the people who will utilize it. Each city park can be seen as a reflection of the community in which it exists, and illustrates just how diverse they can be. Not just in their design but in the purpose for their creation.

A Feeling of Oasis

In many cases the concentration of urban development needs to be broken up with open spaces to enable the people of the city to take a deep sigh of relief. In 1982 the Central Park Conservancy in New York, conducted a user survey and found that nearly 80% of the visitors to Central Park come to relax, stroll, picnic and people watch. Designed by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, the park was intended to be utilized for passive activities such as these. In a city known for its heartbeat of activity, the park provides a welcome place to take a break from the fevered pitch at which society moves.

A Showcase for History

Many parks are much more than just grass and a playground. They are beautiful memorials created to pay tribute to the local or national history. They still serve to provide an oasis, but the purpose behind their creation is to develop a place for the people of the community to learn and remember.

Often in locations where chapters of history have been played out, the parks design will incorporate the significance of the location to provide an educational experience for the visitor to the park. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ross?EUR??,,????'???s Landing Park and Plaza has incorporated the events of local history into its design. Landscaped bands tell the story of the city from the earliest recorded settlement through the Trail of Tears, the Civil War and more. This is an example of the need to commemorate history exerting influence on the design philosophy.

The Veterans Memorial Park in Blue Ash, Ohio is a perfect example of a tribute to our national history. Eleven life size sculptures commemorate American veterans and soldiers, ?EUR??,,????'??to whom we owe so much of our freedom?EUR??,,????'?? from the eleven wars the United States has fought. To the citizens of Blue Ash, which recently celebrated its bicentennial, this was the most appropriate permanent gift they could give to the nation and the community. Here, a city park was created to provide a place for the citizens to pay tribute and to remember the soldiers of our country and their own history rich community.

A Center of Activity

Parks are a place for a cornucopia of activities. The City of Tampa?EUR??,,????'???s parks focus on picnicking and special events. Many parks are designed to provide a place for events sponsored by the community, both indoors and outdoors. Parks are also a prime place for local sporting events and friendly, or not-so-friendly, competitions to take place.

The Recreation and Park System for the City of New York, which is enormous, demonstrates the wide diversity of use of space. Within their system they have 890 playing fields, which include baseball, cricket, football, soccer, hockey and softball. There are 24 major recreational centers in which special events can be held, plus historical houses, pools, ice skating rinks and tennis courts. While Central Park may have been designed for passive activities, the organized sports leagues and special interest groups compete for the other open spaces throughout the city?EUR??,,????'???s parks.

Los Angeles, which is smaller than New York with only 350 parks, also has a wide variety of activities to attract visitors. The Griffith Park Observatory, which houses the laserium attracts many people to Griffith Park, which is a 4,107 natural area and one of the largest municipally owned and operated parks in the world. Other features to be found include a bird sanctuary, Merry-Go-Round, an Equestrian Center and much more. These examples of parks systems illustrate how urban parks can encompass many forms of entertainment for the people of the city.

Encourage Community Fellowship

All the elements of a public city park should encourage community fellowship, whether it is to celebrate history, to hit a baseball together, or to bond together in a relaxing atmosphere. Sometimes this fellowship develops from the first steps of the planning process.

In smaller cities where a park is either needed or desired, but there is no established parks department, the community must often, with the help of a Landscape Architect, get together to develop a plan, long before funding is found or approved. Before Teutopolis, Illinois could provide its citizens with a city park, it first had a fund raiser to generate the design fees. Then, after the Landscape Architects produced a master plan, the city went about the business of raising the $400,000.00 needed to complete construction. Today the park is both a much welcome center of activity and also a great tribute to the power of community spirit and participation.

To Complement a Functional Use

Some parks are created for the simple reason of beautifying a site, which has a functional purpose. By designing a park into the setting, the site becomes a multi-use area. This way the park can serve multiple functions, fulfilling community needs for recreational space, enhancing the location and serving its functional purpose.

A good example of this is in the creation of parks around sedimentation basins. During flood times the basin area can serve as a retention basin for the water while it percolates into the water tables. The rest of the time the basin area can serve as an unstructured area where such activities as equestrian practice or field play can take place. Surrounding the basin can be areas with play structures or facilities, which, with proper planning, will never be under water.

Without the design of the park, these areas would simply be concrete structures or masses of rock used strictly for flood control. Thanks to landscape architects the areas can become beautiful open spaces shared by children and adults in the community for all the various reasons that parks are utilized.

We live in an era where life goes by so fast that if you blink an eye, you just might just miss it. It is a relief to know that while computers do calculations in nanoseconds and human decisions are made almost as fast, people are still designing places where one can slow down and enjoy the simpler pleasures of life. In almost all cases it is the Landscape Architect who leads the design team. As stewards of the land, working through and with the community, you are the ones who protect the public?EUR??,,????'???s health, safety and welfare, while providing a sense of relief, history, pride, community our purpose and responsibility.