Abstract
Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities is based on the presumption that cities and city-living in the United States are enjoying a newfound renaissance, and that as this trend continues, people and policy makers alike are (re)discovering the joys and value of urban parks. With respect to the latter development, Peter Harnik addresses two main questions: How much park space should a city have? and How can cities increase their share of park space?
In the first part of the book, Harnik answers his own question of how much parkland is needed by suggesting that there is no such thing as an “absolute numerical standard.” Instead, the culture and politics of each city determines its appropriate share of parkland based on a complex and unique interplay of factors. What is most important is that the process for deciding on parkland goals must be “inclusive, transparent, and fair.” In the second part of the book, Harnik examines 16 different sets of techniques for cities to create new parkland or make better use of their existing parkland. These range from the obvious (such as buying land for park space and recreating parkways and boulevards) to the innovative (such as sharing school and cemetery land, “daylighting” buried streams, and “decking” freeways, by putting sections of roadway underground and covering them with parks). In each chapter, Harnik describes the various techniques and provides a brief discussion of their financial and institutional implications, and the likelihood that they can be replicated in other settings.
As the examples demonstrate, Harnik takes a broad approach to the notion of what constitutes a “park.” He considers recreation spaces ranging from small gathering spots all the way to large, created spaces such as world famous Central Park, and he includes spaces that are conserved (as preserved natural land) as well as those that are developed for recreational use in already built out cities. This broad approach is one of the strengths of the book, as it exposes readers to the wealth of options available in planning for additional recreation space—in its many different forms.
As the director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land, and the author of previous books on city parks (Inside City Parks, 2000 and The Excellent City Park System, 2003), Peter Harnik is clearly an expert on the subject, as well as an advocate. His expertise and enthusiasm is reflected in the many interesting facts, anecdotes and examples he provides of local experiences with park creation across the United States. The appendices of the book contain data on U.S. cities, including urban population densities, acres of parkland per person, parkland as a percentage of overall city area, and spending per resident on parks and recreation. There is also a useful section on recommended readings organized by subtopic, for those readers wanting more information.
Fortunately, Harnik does not let his advocacy on behalf of urban parks get in the way of acknowledging political and economic realities. What makes Urban Green effective is that the book situates the struggle for parks within the wider urban policy context of U.S. cities. Harnik does a good job of marrying detailed technical discussions with analyses of political motivations of key players. This is important because Harnik is well aware that parks often have difficulty competing with other public priorities for the attention (and dollars) of citizens and city budget officials alike, particularly in the current economic climate. The trend toward the (re)discovery of urban parks cannot be taken for granted, so the political process matters. Ultimately, Harnik claims, “it is politics that makes a great park system.” The “politics” in this case is the battleground of competing local interests, including “the muscle of grassroots support, the brains of sophisticated leadership, and the nerves of elected politicians” . . . . Urban Green reminds us that these competing local interests have shaped the history of parks in American cities, and that they continue to determine the options available for advocates in search of new park space today.
Urban Green is targeted at an audience of policy makers and urban park advocates. The way in which the book is structured, with the first 10 chapters focused on prescribing an optimal process for participation in the planning of park space, and the following 16 chapters focused on illustrating numerous “realistic solutions,” makes it a useful reference manual for these two groups of readers. However, the book’s technical, policy-oriented approach may not appeal to everyone. This is not a book that the casual reader or urban park aficionado will read from cover to cover. A reader interested in a more descriptive history of urban parks and their evolving social and economic functions should perhaps turn elsewhere, as they might find Harnik’s approach to be somewhat didactic and dry. For some, the book may also have an excessive focus on quantitative rather than qualitative goals and indicators. Much of the discussion in both parts of the book is on increasing park space—in terms of acreage, or the number of facilities, for example—with relatively little discussion of more intangible matters such as parks’ contributions to overall urban quality of life, including culture, improved security and civic pride, to name a few.
One key message of Urban Green that might surprise some readers is its emphasis on a master-planning approach to enable residents to come to an agreement about the parkland and facilities that they want, and to provide guidance to local officials to mobilize funds and take action. Is such a formal instrument really the most appropriate one for these purposes? Even Harnik himself acknowledges that relatively few master plans are actually implemented. To ensure effectiveness, he suggests 10 components of an “exemplary” (i.e. realizable) master plan, but in contrast to the rest of the book, the discussion here remains at a rather theoretical level. Several well-known problems of master plans are not addressed, including the questions of who should lead such a process, how differences between various interest groups can be resolved, and how the backing of business and/or other potential supporters can be won.
The conclusion of the book is disappointingly short and light, which stands in contrast to the dense and well-researched sets of chapters on process and solutions. Moreover, Harnik raises an issue here, which he barely touches on in the rest of the book: He suggests that the “insularity of the park community” is one of two main reasons for the fact that most American cities are still “far from having outstanding park systems.” This is an important point that merits a more in-depth discussion, particularly in those chapters of Part 1 of the book where he describes local political realities and the history of urban park planning.
Finally—apart from the odd reference to Paris, Venice, or Buenos Aires—there is a relative lack of international context and examples, which might serve to put the U.S. experience with urban parks in an international context. This might be a pity for some international readers (such as this reviewer), but in a certain sense the omission is understandable. Clearly, the U.S. experience is ample enough on its own, and a desire to cover too much territory might have watered down the key messages of this book. This may be a suggestion for further research, by Peter Harnik or (jointly with) others. There is a lot that U.S. cities can learn from experiences in European, Asian, and Latin American cities. The reverse is certainly also true: In this age of budget cuts (especially in Europe), there is a lot that European and other city authorities need to learn from the creative efforts deployed in American cities to increase parkland and opportunities for leisure activities, while helping to reduce costs and involve a larger number of urban stakeholders, particularly park users, and other citizens.