Reportage from the conference

Central Park Aerial Photo (image from the web)

The conference opened Saturday 21 with some tours through the most significant public spaces in the City and through some sites affected by urban revitalization projects: from Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery - an historic urban park older than Central Park -, to Sunset Park, with his ethnic diversity, to the canoe excursion on the Bronx River that showed the positive effect of natural restoring. Other tours were though Governor Island, Brooklyn waterfront, brown fields, in course of redevelopment, the Lower East side Community Gardens.

The second day tours showed the natural features and the management aspects of the two main green areas of the city, Central Park and Prospect Park, and of other minor parks. Other tours went to South Bronx, the Manhattan West Side waterfront, the river banks of Astoria, Long Island City and Hunters Point. Very interesting was the Midtown walking tour through the most used urban places in Manhattan, already studied by researches regarding the social life of small urban spaces of New York.

The first day of the conference opened with the tribute to the most famous green area in New York. It also remembered the history of Central Park and of the Parks Movement looking forward to diverse perspectives on Central Park's past, present, and future.
The workshops discussed about parks management, public/private partnership, fund rising, innovative recreational programming, and the role of community. Moreover, it spoke about social activities: how art connects with the larger goals of revitalizing the spaces around them, and how to improve environmental educational programs. The session also developed the technical aspects such as the GIS as tool for management, for uses planning and habitat conservation.
The session was concluded with the Great Cities Award assigned to the best practices on park design and management throughout the US.

The proposal to create a nationwide movement of city park leaders, advocates, and users, opened the second session. Among the other themes, particularly interesting was "games" for design and management, and how to build a vision before designing public spaces, presented in a workshop called "How to Turn a Park Around" . Moreover, studies regarding the social value of parks and their benefits were illustrated in this session. At territorial level, national and international examples of urban greenways have also been shown. The "learning from abroad" workshop examined some cases of nonprofit initiatives and innovative government projects from Central Europe, Canada and the U.K.

Closing plenary session asked the presenters what trends are emerging that will dominate discussions in the future. Speakers illustrated their specific experiences in their cities and talked about trends, innovations, and partnerships. Included in the discussion were the plans for the World Trade Center site and Lower Manhattan, and the reason why parks are so crucial for the physical, social, and economic growth of cities.

The special reception at Gracie Mansion hosted by NYC Parks Commission
Given to every mayor of New York since Fiorello LaGuardia (1942), this white-frame colonial house stands in Carl Schurz Park above Hell Gate, a roaring stretch of water where the Harlem and East Rivers meet. http://www.nycgovparks.org/

The Tours. The Brooklyn Waterfront
A tour of Brooklyn's neighborhood waterfront parks, from an informally established park in Williamsburg, with performance art, dog walkers and everybody in between, to the emerging Brooklyn Bridge Park, to the redeveloping Red Hook waterfront. http://www.nylcv.org/


A brownfield at the Williamsburg waterfront, Brooklyn

The social life of Midtown Manhattan small urban spaces
Midtown Manhattan has a wealth of public spaces that are managed, maintained and programmed completely privately. The tour showed how these spaces - Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, Paley Park and Herald Square among others - are used and designed to attract people and contribute to the life of the city, as well as to the bottom line of the buildings surrounding them.


A moment of the walking with Fred Kent, at the Rockefeller Center

The 2003 Great Parks/Great Cities Awards. The best of American urban parks


A moment of the prize giving

Great Parks/Great Cities Award - for a major park or square in North America that has added significantly to the social, economic and environmental health and well-being of that city.
Recipient:
- Central Park Conservancy; http://centralparknyc.org/
- Central Park Org; http://www.centralpark.org/

Great Community Place Award - for a smaller park that, although not necessarily well-known nationally, has become a nucleus of social activity and revitalization in its community or neighborhood. Recipients:
- Duluth Town Green, Duluth, GA; http://www.duluth-ga.com
- The Village of Arts and Humanities, North Philadelphia, PA; http://www.villagearts.org/

Catalyst Award for Urban Park Leadership - for a person or organization that has successfully evolved a park or other public space to meet the needs of today's users, by involving the community, building stewardship and making a park the setting for diverse community activities. Recipient:
- ParkWorks, Cleveland, OH, under the leadership of Ann Zoller

Best New Park Award - for a new park (built in the last ten years) that provides a model for the future, where the many functions of community life can take place, where people feel ownership and a sense of pride, and where public space acts as a true common ground. Recipient:
- Little Turtle Waterway, Logansport, IN; http://www.ledf.com