Parks, Recreation and Open Space.

• Author: Runyon, Cheryl
• Position: Books

Parks, Recreation and Open Space: A Twenty-first Century Agenda by Alexander Garvin, American Planning Association, Chicago, Ill., 2001. 72 pages, $34, softcover. To order call (312) 786-6344.

Parks and open space are community cornerstones. This report tracks the changes in U. S. society from the mid-1800s to the present by following the building of parks in cities and states, as well as the additional time working families have for recreation.

This informative volume discusses the duties of government (acquisition, financing, creation, development and maintenance) in providing parks and recreational opportunities.

The author explains the role that Frederick Law Olmstead played in designing parks and landscape settings across the country--from Central Park in New York City to Yosemite National Park in California.

Olmstead's projects included public parks, playgrounds, boulevards and parkways, park systems, conservation, and suburban subdivisions. He also pioneered the nation's first effort at scientific forest management.

Olmstead, his partners, his son and his stepson were involved in 5,500 projects, including 650 parks and recreation areas, 900 private estates and 270 subdivisions and planned communities from 1872 until 1950.

As Garvin points out, parks began in the 19th century to increase the value of nearby property, create jobs, improve neighborhoods and provide protected habitat for plants and animals. These goals still hold true today. However, as the author points out, parks need to change and update to meet the evolving needs of users and the community. He suggests involving the community in both decision making about recreational needs and providing financial and sweat equity support for specific projects.

Garvin uses several case studies of redeveloped parks throughout the United States to illustrate how revitalized parks can provide new recreational opportunities for residents and nearby office workers while upgrading neighborhood values. These parks range from island gardens created in traffic circles and rights-of-way to sports...