Is it possible for a small community to breathe new life into an aging but much used and loved “Central” Community Park? Can new improvements be successfully implemented over time with minimal disruption to thousands of annual visitors? The answer for one community was resoundingly yes. The article “A Commitment to Parks: Kirkwood, Missouri,” published on LandscapeOnline.com, provides an overview of Kirkwood’s efforts to achieve the goals of its park master plan while still meeting the recreational needs of the community.
PARK(ing) Day 2012 in Raleigh, NC image: North Carolina State University’s Student ASLA Chapter
“Providing temporary public open space . . . one parking spot at at time.”
PARK(ing) Day, an annual event where parking spots are repurposed as pop-up parks and public spaces, is set for Friday, September 20, 2013. After starting out in 2005 with a single site in San Francisco, PARK(ing) Day has grown into a worldwide celebration of the potential for urban green space to take root, however briefly, on any available patch of pavement.
Mayflower Cottage with Lake George views image: Lisa Tonneson-McCorkell
We’re very excited to announce that our members successfully completed the HALS Challenge this year, “Documenting the Cultural Landscapes of Women.” So far, we’ve received information from only a few of those who submitted projects. Please send us your entries if you also completed the challenge so we can share your hard work with your fellow PPN members.
One of the submissions was from Lisa Tonneson-McCorkell, of the Saratoga Springs, New York-based LA Group. Her entry documents the Wiawaka Holiday House on Lake George. Established as an affordable retreat for working women during a time of increased women’s rights and factory conditions activism, Wiawaka is still in operation today, making it the oldest continuously operating facility of its kind in the United States.
Green stormwater infrastructure adds more places for people to connect in an already close-knit neighborhood. image: OLIN, Gilmore & Associates, International Consultants Inc., MM Partners LLC, Penn Praxis, SMP Architects
A recent interdisciplinary design competition, Infill Philadelphia: Soak it Up!, encouraged a wide array of professionals to propose innovative solutions addressing Philadelphia’s aging combined sewer system. According to the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), about 60% of the city still operates on combined sewer. Through the city’s efforts to become the greenest city in America by 2015, Philadelphia has become a national leader in stormwater management planning and policy by creating Green City, Clean Waters, a progressive 25-year stormwater management plan focusing on using green stormwater infrastructure to reduce pollutants in local waterways.
The significance of the new awards program lies in its focus on therapeutic landscapes and its sponsorship by The Center for Health Design, the leading voice in the healthcare design industry for architects, interior designers, and hospital administrators. These awards represent an important step toward the more integrated design of healthcare environments. Never before have landscape architects had the opportunity to be recognized specifically for their accomplishments in healthcare design.
I’d like to encourage everyone who has built work in this niche market of our profession to submit your projects and to showcase the great work that we do. If you believe that your work makes a meaningful difference in this industry, then please demonstrate that and share your best projects. We will all benefit from your success.
Entry forms are due September 20, and information on how to enter can be found on Healthcare Design’s website.
The Emscher River will be restored in a multi-generation project over the next few decades. image: Michael Roth 2012
Designing New Entrances for the Restored Emscher River Valley in Germany
In the student workshop “New Futures for the Emscher Area,” 43 German and American students created design concepts in close cooperation with the Emscher Water Management Association that highlighted the newly accessible river. Led by Dr. Michael Roth of Dortmund University of Technology’s School of Spatial Planning, the students explored how engaging entrance areas for the Emscher Valley could contribute to the revitalization of this previously industrial and uninviting area.
