City Parks, and other stuff
Not sure what I'm meaning for this thread to be about, I think two things that might be a little different from each other. Don't know...I'm just typing...
...was a t.v. show on PBS lately. "Ten Parks That Changed America." I was reflecting on how I wished they made a series where they would go through more than these ten parks, and talk about all national parks as well as parks in cities. So then I thought "heck, just put it in that fandangle wilderness survival forums, and you might learn an interesting thing or two".
The first part of this I figure is predictable, nothing new - national parks, forests, and wilderness reserves (In the U.S. or anywhere else). Ideally I'd travel around and see all of them myself. But that notwithstanding, in place of a t.v. show that does this, I'm wondering if many here would be willing to share their thoughts and opinions...not about them in general...but elements of their different designs, specific features of one versus another that you think are interesting, or how it was conceived or developed. Which leads me to the second thing that I'm thinking about here...
Parks in urban settings. The very idea I think should be pursued even more than it is. When I was a kid and first heard about Central Park in New York for example, I just thought the very idea was so fantastic, and somehow at that age was surprised - relieved and feeling vindicated somehow that something like this was done. A huge quasi-wilderness right smack in the middle of a big city ("quasi" because of course it's not really "wilderness"). A big park like this, in the middle of urban sprawl. On purpose.
But that's not really the second part that I'm talking about here - it's the creativity and design concepts of a city park which interests me. And would like to know other's thoughts on that specifically. For example, the Highline was a rail that ran though the city. After it ceased being used and was just an eyesore in the way, they were trying to figure out how to deal with it. And they just made it into a park, instead of trying to get rid of it. A park, in the form of an ex-rail walk-way which snakes through the city. What a great idea. It's the creative improvisational solutions with such things that grab my attention...
Like the Gas Works in Seattle WA. They just cleaned up the equipment, painted it different colors, and modified the surrounding area into a park. Of course, this one might be a fringe example because it's not so much about plants and things, and they kept that machinery on site, but it's still good as a creative idea.
And the San Antonio River Walk - They were having a problem with water erosion and flooding in the area, and were going to dam it or something. This was all along the back-sides of buildings and businesses, neglected and otherwise of no interest or value. Instead, they just modified and stabilized it and embraced the waterway, turning a problem area into one of the best areas there. A 180. Now a venue of primary focus instead.
Freeway Park, Seattle WA. An example of just planting trees and stuff in every nook and cranny, in all the little left over spaces, so that the urban hardscape has some mother nature twisted up all around it.
It just so happens that what they plant, and how they plant it, in many parks I see...I don't really like. Sometimes seems a little too artificial and formal. Too uncreative at that level. But that's a different story.
Just for examples of what I mean...A long time ago I had my own business for about 10 years, was an independent contractor, in "Yardscaping" as I call it. And the one thing I loved doing the most was coming up with creative or artistic approaches to a problem-area or just something a customer wanted while not quite knowing what they wanted -
They called for some lawncutting, but also wanted to know how to do something - there used to be a round above-ground pool in the middle of their back yard, and you could still see it's left-over footprint in their lawn. They wanted to get rid of it and make it look like the rest of the lawn...a continuous look instead of the grass appearance being different. I saw that they were in the middle of building a deck extending from their back door, so I suggested something else instead. I said they might be able to do what they were thinking about, but it would be hard and take time...but how about instead they embrace that round spot, and turn it into a little round flower bed of sorts right in the middle of their back yard, with a little bird bath etc, right off where their deck was going to be. They loved it. It turned out great.
Somebody else had a rabbit making a home burrow right in the middle of their front yard. She didn't mind it so much, except she didn't want to hurt it, like when the lawn was getting cut. Was wanting to know how to get rid of the rabbit without hurting it. I said hey, how 'bout we just put some kind of mini-fence border around the area, with a toy mail box, and a sign that says "bugs bunny lives here". She loved it. Problem solved.
At another house...had about half a dozen spaces all around the house partially neglected that she wanted to just overhaul and do something with. One of those spaces was literally just an overgrown area that never was any kind of flowerbed...just an overgrown neglected space never given any thought. Well, this particular space was located right in everyone's face, not in some hidden corner. So I said while we're cleaning it up, instead of just do that How 'bout we turn it into something. So now it's one of the primary visual impacts of the lot. The unwanted red-headed step-child turned into one of the primary contributors to the beauty of the house.
At another one...among other things, needed to trim some trees against the front of the house which were getting big. But she didn't like how the grass wasn't growing well the closer it got to the house - was a north side and didn't get as much sun, especially with the trees there. I said instead of put shade/cool season grass there, for example, let's instead change that area under the trees at the front against the house into a flower bed park space. Put a border along where the grass stopped growing well, pulled up anything (weeds) that was growing there, filled the whole area with mulch, put a nifty little park bench in the middle of it between the trees and where I'd pruned the branches such that it opened up and you had headroom, and put a few solar-powered lights to shine up into the trees at night...and pow, awesomeness.
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Originally Posted by Batch
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