Park Talk
A look back at this summer's Great Parks/Great Cities conference in London. Plus, parks in the news.
This July, 350 delegates from 18 countries gathered in London for Great Parks/Great Cities 2004, the ninth annual parks conference organized by PPS. For the first time ever the event was held outside the US, thanks to the efforts of UK co-organizers GreenSpace, a nonprofit that helps those committed to the planning, design, management and use of public parks and open spaces, and the London Parks and Green Spaces Forum.
The People
 The truly international group of participants included 41 US delegates from 19 cities, and 28 delegates from outside the US and UK. Key speakers from the US included Steve Coleman of Washington Parks & People, Bob Gregory of the Detroit 300 Conservancy, Tupper Thomas of the Prospect Park Alliance and the City Parks Alliance, Joan Reilly of the Philadelphia Horticultural Society, Rich Bradley of the Downtown DC BID, Ron Fleming of the Townscape Institute, and Fred Kent and Kathy Madden of PPS. Speakers from the UK's most prestigious parks organizations led plenaries and workshops, including keynotes delivered by Tim Smit of the Eden Project and Gilly Drummond of English Heritage.
The Events
The conference kicked off with two days of receptions and tours. Among the highlights were a tour of local community gardens and city farms, and a tour that traveled by boat on London's "hidden waterways" to explore several of the city's parks and green spaces. Plenaries and workshops commenced on the third day, which was capped off by an evening reception at the Westminster Abbey College Gardens.
Public/private partnerships were a key point of international exchange at the conference, explored in depth by Tupper Thomas and Rich Bradley in their session, "Partners for Life?" The two workshop leaders direct very different models of public/private partnerships, the Downtown DC BID and the Prospect Park Alliance, which were both examined in detail during their session. As a whole, the conference provided a unique opportunity for US participants to share their expertise in management models with other delegates in London.
GreenSpace Chief Executive Paul Bramhill led a highly engaging workshop entitled "The Greatest Park in the World," in which participants were asked to identify the qualities they thought were most important to great parks. Afterward, the responses from the discussion were compiled into an informative diagram that is now available to download.
In another workshop that produced tangible results, participants led by Fred Kent and Kathy Madden used PPS's patented place evaluation game to analyze the park and plaza in front of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center, the main venue of the conference. Participants identified several simple improvements that would make the area, located in the heart of London across from Westminster Abbey, a place more welcoming to people. Among the ideas: creating flower gardens and adding benches in the small park space beside the Abbey; improving pedestrian crossing zones and calming traffic; adding a small café kiosk with outdoor seating on the lawn near the Convention Center so that people could take in the monumental view of the Abbey; improving signage and information; making the security guard's kiosk more welcoming; and developing a bus waiting area with more amenities.
What's Next
Proceedings from the conference are now available for purchase online.
PPS is looking carefully at where to hold the next Great Parks/Great Cities conference. If you'd like to tell us your suggestions for the next conference, send us an email. We'll keep everyone posted on what develops.
Parks in the News
New York is Developing Hudson River Trail
Ithaca Journal To promote the Hudson as a recreational, cultural, and economic resource, the state is developing the Hudson River Greenway Water Trail, which stretches 156 miles from Saratoga County north of Albany to Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan. (September 14)
Is 'Keep Off the Grass' Elitist?
New York Times Is Central Park a serene "church" for reflective New Yorkers or a bustling "town square" for the masses? (August 29)
Atlanta Residents Turning Abandoned School Site into Neighborhood Park
USA Today After a decade of grass-roots lobbying and fundraising, construction will begin on Cabbagetown Park next month, turning the abandoned school grounds into an oasis of walking trails, trees, fountains, benches, and a small amphitheater. (August 6)
Derelict Rail Line Could be NYC's Newest Park
Christian Science Monitor Friends of the Highline is working to raise funds to convert an elevated rail line into a public promenade. (August 6)
Toronto Begins Construction on $7.5 M Waterfront Park
Toronto Star The $7.5 million park, which will be located on the long-neglected shores of Lake Ontario, was consciously designed to avoid the sense of formality often associated with public space. (July 26)
3rd Year for Paris Plage on the Banks of the Seine
Boston Globe For the third year in a row, Paris has transformed a stretch of the 45-foot wide highway that runs along the Seine into a sandy beach, with concerts, sprinklers, cafes, and beach chairs. (July 25)
Old Quarry Pits Now Lakes Lined With Swim Beaches in Fremont, CA
San Francisco Gate The transformation of the Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area is an example of how amazing land reclamation projects can be. (July 8)
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