Great Parks/ Great Cities - Celebrating 150 years of Central Park
8th International Urban Parks Conference held in June 21-25, 2003, New York
editors Lorenzo Venturini and Ilaria Salvadori

Parks and public places are strategic resources to improve the quality of environment and of cities' life. Central Park represents a good model for management but the conference was not only this: Great Parks/Great Cities was a thorough survey on design and management experiences in US cities' parks and public places.
The conference, organized to celebrate 150 years of one of the most famous parks in the world, offered the opportunity to reflect on parks and on the social role of public spaces. The conference went beyond the design and considered the management and activities that parks can host, with a growing attention on the public/private partnership.
Planum presents a reportage from the five days of the conference and an interview with Kathy Madden, Vice President of Project for Public Spaces, one of the association organiser of the event.

Great Parks/ Great Cities - Celebrating 150 years of Central Park
Hosted by: the Central Park Conservancy and Project for Public Spaces with City of New York/Parks & Recreation, and City Parks Alliance, City Parks Foundation, Cityscape Institute, New Yorkers for Parks, and the Prospect Park Alliance.
Conference supporters: American Society of Landscape Architects, Czech Environmental Partnership, General Services Administration, International Downtown Association, International Network for Traditional Building, Library of American Landscape History, Metropolis Magazine, National Association of Olmstead Parks, National Trust for Historic Preservation, National Park Service, New Urbanism.org, New York State Council on the Arts, Planetizen, Planum, The Prince's Foundation, Trust for Public Land, U.S Conference of Mayors, U.S General Services Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Smart Growth Program, Urban Parks Forum, Walkable Communities.
Visit http://pps.org//GPGC/ for details

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