Defining the Sustainable Park
Autoria e fonte: http://comprehendingsustainabledesign.blogspot.com/2008/11/executive-summaryjournal-articles.html
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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"The next article is a category in itself, sustainable parks. Defining the Sustainable Park: A fifth Model for Urban Parks by Galen Cranz and Michael Boland (2004) looks at the historical design of urban parks and how urban park design is shifting to a fifth model of sustainable design. The article goes through a fascinating history of parks and the design types parks have progressed through over a time period of 150 years. The authors use a classic study of urban parks by Cranz 1982, to describe the progression of parks through time.
Four Types of Parks
Park Type Time Frame
Pleasure Ground 1850 - 1900
Reform Park 1900 - 1930
Recreation Facility 1930 - 1965
the Open Space System 1965 - ?
They explain the shifting of types from era to era due to the social purposes that the parks served and the corresponding variations in design form and how they have evolved from the pressing social problems of that time. This is very interesting because they later define their fifth model as Sustainable Parks implying that the social purposes and urban social problems are shifting towards a sustainable nature. From studying sustainable design in urban contexts I would make the statement that over the last 10-15 years a large number of peiple, especially urban populations, are thinking more sustainably when living their everyday lives and choosing places like parks to spend their past times. This could be due to the enhanced knowledge and education of the positive benefits of living sustainable, or the pressing financial time that the majority of the public is facing that has caused them to consider and take on sustainable practices of energy reduction and recycling. This thought could prove more accurate after more time has elapsed and data has been collected.
Moving on, the authors discuss traits that would define this new fifth model of Sustainable Parks.
• Increasing ecological performance
• Native plants
• Restoration of streams and other natural systems
• Wildlife habitat
• Integrating appropriate technologies and infrastructure
• Recycling
• Sustainable construction and maintenance practices
While these traits define more ecological values, the authors also realized the need for a social value in place too, “after all, sustainability is ultimately a social concept rather than a technical or biological one because humans are responsible for the ecological crisis today”(Cranz and Boland, 2004). The authors analyzed parks from journals and publications to get an idea of percentages of parks that fell into the five categories, Open Space being the highest (46%) and Sustainable Park being second (23%). However most (86%) of the parks exhibited traits of being sustainable. Cranz and Boland analyze the trends and move into policy implications of sustainable urban parks then into Principles I and II.
Principle I
o How Sustainable Parks differ greatly from other urban park models by emphasizing internal self sufficiency with material resource
o Strategies to reduce the need for resources and increase self sufficiency
• Funding cuts
• Recreation demands
• On-site recycling
• Native plantings
• Building orientation
Principle II
o How to incorporate the Sustainable Parks into the larger metropolis
o Ways urban parks are used to address urban problems
• Address poor air quality
• Access to sunlight
• Opportunities for exercise
• Improve other problems associated with close urban quarters
In addition, they have distinguished four broad categories that environmental urban problems can be classified into as to how Sustainable Parks could address them: infrastructure, reclamation, health, and social well-being. The article explains each of these in great detail and how Sustainable Parks address them.
After extensive discussion on the four categories, the authors conclude with how to begin this process as a parks department trying to implement Sustainable Parks. They provide a very practical answer as they have throughout the entire article, start at the biggest, most expensive, and most troublesome problem-- maintenance. Improve and radically rethink maintenance practices, focus on resource efficiency and developing a new aesthetic from that focus. Maintenance is the biggest problem in most cities, and I very much agree, because it is the biggest expense. The parks departments I have worked and collaborated with, do not have the resources, money, manpower, skills, etc. to manage a park or park system that requires an intensive management program. This is a fascinating article that describes in detail the history of urban parks and the possible future for the fifth model of urban parks, Sustainable Parks."
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D
A Fifh M
Link do artigo original na íntegra:
fonte: http://wenku.baidu.com/view/5460a21f650e52ea55189824.html
Quarta-feira, 26 de novembro, 2008
