Designing The Great Park That Everyone Deserves

By Author: National Monuments Foundation
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What exactly is a "great park"? The term "electronic commerce" refers to the sale of electronic goods. Does a park qualify if it has expensive, new play equipment, an interactive fountain, or bocce courts? What characteristics distinguish great parks throughout Atlanta, Georgia and the world? How can you evaluate the parks in your own neighbourhood?
Residents, elected officials, and park and recreation professionals may benefit from three types of information when determining the "greatness" of their parks:

◉ Design Principles
◉ Cultural Influences
◉ Emerging Trends

Design Principles
Great parks necessitate great park architecture Atlanta. They rarely, if ever, just "happen." Nearly all communities have some assemblage of public spaces and features that evolved without any type of an overall plan organising it. These places are appreciated, but they are not what they could have been if solid design principles had been followed. Every great park or natural area should have the following top seven design principles:

Inclusive and Welcoming
When you arrive at a great park, ...
... you feel good. They are open in their design and welcoming in their attitude. Regardless of your gender, age, cultural background or affinity group, you know you are in a public space that has been designed with you in mind, and you have little hesitation to enter and enjoy yourself. You enter knowing you are in a secure environment, joining others who share your desire to get away, relax, exercise, play with your children, or assist your dog in making new friends.

Sustainable and Resilient
Great parks exemplify environmentally responsible development strategies and are an important component of a community's public realm. They are excellent habitats not only for humans, but also for migratory birds, insects, soil organisms, and aquatic life. They are designed with ecological processes in mind and incorporate them beautifully. Stormwater management, native plants, pollinator gardens, highly efficient water and energy use, and organic maintenance practises all provide intrinsic and symbolic benefits to park visitors.

Beautiful
Beautiful elements must be present in great parks. According to researchers, beauty is more than just a subjective exercise with a wide range of opinions. Despite our cultural differences, there is broad consensus among humans about what is beautiful. Line, colour, texture, and form are all design elements that work together to create balance, unity, rhythm, proportion, and emphasis. Sitting on a beach watching the sunset, examining the intricate internal structure of a flower, or taking in the long view across a park's pond toward the trees on the other side, you instantly recognise beauty and it refreshes your soul.

Sensitive to Context
Great parks do not ignore their physical or social surroundings, but rather respond to them directly. A park near an elementary school must recognise the young users next door and be designed to maximise student playability. A design process for a new park in an immigrant neighbourhood will work with park users to understand their needs and desires. This could result in clustered picnic tables for large groups instead of individual, isolated tables. Because some high-density neighbourhoods lack gardening space, including community gardens addresses this issue.

Flexible to Evolve Over Time
Great parks last a long time, but how we prefer to recreate changes over time. Over the years, landmark parks have demonstrated their adaptability. Originally designed as "Pleasure Grounds" for promenading, both parks later added active recreation facilities. A great park can adapt and replace previous generations' preferred uses with new activities.

Timeless
Great park landscape design are also designed to be timeless. This means that, while they should reflect the era in which they were designed, they should not be so gimmicky or trendy that they become quickly out of date. Some of the most innovative park designs have influenced park design around the world.

Maintainable
As park budgets continue to be threatened, park maintenance is being scrutinised more closely. This has resulted in two changes: first, designers are being asked to create parks with maintenance in mind. To ensure that efficient maintenance processes are integrated into the design of new parks, great parks involve maintenance staff in the planning and design process. And second, new ways of accomplishing park maintenance are being considered by communities across the country through park conservancies and private-public partnerships.

Cultural Influences
Great parks do not exist in a vacuum. When it comes to why certain parks become well-loved while others languish, context matters. The changing experience of parks is frequently linked to larger cultural shifts and phenomena. Parks have always been, and are increasingly becoming, places to register cultural change and preference. A few of the more recent shifts are highlighted below:

Branding and Communications
The internet has disrupted nearly every facet of U.S. life in ways impossible to imagine 10 years ago. Great parks are also technologically engaged, with flexibility at park entrances and along park edges, where cars once reigned, to accommodate ride shares, bicycle hubs, and scooter rentals. Great parks are branded and exist in consumers' minds in both the physical and digital worlds, with information about exploring park places and programmes an increasingly simple click away. And, as much as many may not want to admit, parks with "Instagrammable" moments see greater visitation and engagement.

Health and Wellness
It's estimated that 34 percent of adults and 15-20 percent of children and adolescents in the Atlanta are obese. Chronic illness is on the rise throughout the world, and it is the leading cause of death in Atlanta. We also now know that parks provide immense health and wellness benefits — everything from stress reduction and improved mental health, to less exposure to air and noise pollution. Great parks provide traditional wellness amenities (recreational trails, fitness stations, and so on), but they also take care to integrate the healing power of natural systems.

Resiliency and Climate Change
Climate-related disasters — floods, droughts, tornadoes, and earthquakes — are wreaking havoc on communities across the country. Great memorial park design can increase climate resilience by incorporating green infrastructure, providing places for community gathering (in both normal and emergency situations), and preventing future carbon-related impacts through tree planting and heat-island effect reduction.

Equity and Inclusion
Changing demographics and broader economic trends have increased concern for greater equity and inclusion, particularly as all racial and ethnic minorities have grown faster than white populations in recent years. Economic change and job loss have resulted in a higher-than-ever number of homeless people. Great parks are designed to be inclusive to all. Across the country, designers are experimenting with what this means, from compassionate park design that promotes social cohesion to programming that celebrates diverse ethnic and cultural expression.

Multigenerational Experience
Baby boomers and millennials are vying for the title of "largest generation" — both in terms of size and profile. These generations have very different ideologies, but they undoubtedly come together in parks. How else can we account for the massive pickleball craze that is sweeping the country? A common goal of park design projects is to provide a multigenerational experience. More and more designers are attempting to create one-of-a-kind, hybrid programmes that can appeal to the uber-engaged "Silver Tsunami" generation as well as their millennial and Generation Z grandchildren.

Emerging Trends
We have entered a new era of park and recreation facility design innovation. Local governments are being challenged to provide an increasingly diverse breadth of recreation and social services while competing for limited available funding as a result of social, economic, and environmental changes. With these new challenges come not only new opportunities, but also new collaborations with a wide range of new technologies that are providing park and recreation design professionals with myriad opportunities for creative design. Innovative technology, creative partnerships, and pop-up parks enable new ways to provide the great parks that everyone deserves.

Multiple-Benefit Infrastructure
Across the United States, creative communities are increasingly focusing on integrated design solutions for infrastructure projects. Early in the design process, professional teams are being integrated to incorporate recreational, educational, and leisure opportunities into the final design of large infrastructure projects. Major transportation, water, and stormwater management plans are being asked to incorporate livability and sustainability goals into their designs. This comprehensive approach not only provides critical funding for recreational amenities, but also improves the environment, expands educational opportunities, and creates more livable communities.

Technology
Today's world is interconnected. We frequently take for granted the ease with which we can communicate with anyone or find information on any subject. This new ability can provide rich meaning to park experiences and a deeper understanding of our environments. With the touch of a finger, we can now share our experiences with loved ones and learn about places and events. We can also enjoy our parks in novel and creative ways. Lighting can add drama and excitement to a space, beyond simply providing security. Music and dance can be incorporated into the environment. The possibilities are endless.

Pop-Up Parks
Recreational opportunities can now be provided in unconventional locations by design professionals. We can create "pop-up parks" in unique locations and underserved areas thanks to mobile amenities and serendipitous programming. These offerings can range from a small social space set up in a single parking space to a large fitness festival in an office plaza. Strategic interventions are now mobile and accessible to all. The good times can happen anywhere.

Adhering to timeless design principles, being sensitive to cultural influences and aware of emerging trends allow park professionals to create great parks that are beloved, beautiful and highly functional. Our only constraint is our ability to think holistically and creatively.

Know more about National Monuments Foundation, please visit www.thenmf.org.