Forestry and afforestation: landscape planning and environmental impact design (EID)
The landscape of forestry
With this, again, comes forestry: no mere tree-cropping, but silviculture, arboriculture too, and park-making at its greatest and best. Patrick Geddes (Geddes
1915: 95).
Woods and forests can be the most wonderful places: beautiful and productive, with sparkling streams, bright pools, dark swamps, open glades, black groves,
broad moors and high mountains. They can have fresh seedlings, thrusting saplings, mature trees, ancient trees and rotting trees with fascinating fungi.
Animal life should be a great part of the forest: insects, fish, birds, mice, squirrels, badgers, foxes and deer. They need a wide range of habitats with
great plant diversity. Forestry should be conceived as a multi-objective cultural endeavour: no mere tree cropping, timber farming or biomass production.
Science helps foresters but scientific forestry is something of a contradiction: if a wood is managed on single-objective scientific principles, it will
cease being a forest. In human terms, it is like treating women as reproductive systems.The obstacles which lie in the path of good forestry are as follows:
Forest clearance, especially of ancient woods, can yield a financial profit but has many adverse side effects: soil erosion, nutrient loss, water pollution,
landslides, flooding, reduced wildlife habitat, loss of recreational value, loss of species diversity, increased fire hazard, increased risk from insects
and disease.
Plantation forestry cannot be commercial in any ordinary sense of the word, because it takes more than one human lifetime for trees to reach maturity.
Requiring foresters to be commercial is bound to lead to short-termism and bad practice.
If communities are to invest money in long-term forestry, they have every right to be involved in the decision-making process.
Scientific forestry emphasises wood production and neglects such public goods as recreation, hunter-gatherer foods, scenic quality, soil conservation and
nature conservation. Forest planning requires an appreciation of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the fine arts. Foresters do not often have
this knowledge, and they need to remember that science tells us about means, not ends.
Good forestry is most likely to flourish under special management and planning laws, which enable a balance to be struck between public and private interests
as they affect forestry and other land uses operating within or adjoining forest lands. These include agriculture, rough grazing, wilderness, water gathering,
transport, housing, mineral extraction, recreation and nature conservation.
Iit is easy to find out when and where forests are well-run. An American forester explains the method: "You dont have to be a professional forester to
recognise bad forestry any more than you need to be a doctor to recognise ill-health. If logging looks bad, it is bad. If a forest appears to be mismanaged,
it is mismanaged. But a certain level of expertise is needed if you are going to be effective in doing something about it (Robinson 1988: ix)" . By this
criterion Britains state-run forests are mismanaged.
Multiple-use forestry Multiple use has multiple meanings.
(a) Six uses in one compartment
(b) Six uses in six non-overlapping compartments
(c) Six uses in overlapping compartments
(d) Six uses overlapping with each other with other uses outside the forest.
British forestry
Historically, forest management was less single-minded.
Criticism of plantation forestry Plantations have been hated for centuries.
Sympathetic design Forest design requires forest designers.
The new conifer landscape New tree species lead to new styles.
The broadleaf policy Broadleaf species have been rooted out.
Forest parks Forest parks are duller than they need be.
Conservation and recreation Forest recreation can be profitable.
Private forestry Private forestry is both better and worse than state forestry.
Silviculture Selection forestry is best for the environment.
Community forestry Land, money and laws are necessary.
Forest landscape plans Forests need multi-objective landscape plans.
The chief success of British Forestry, apart from wood production, has been the visual integration of forestry with other land uses. The chief weakness
of British Forestry has been the internal management of plantations for multiple objectives. Citics of plantation forestry should re-focus their attention
on the internal management of forests. When they look badly managed, they are badly managed. To improve matters, comprehensive landscape plans of the type
recommended by Dame Sylvia Crowe, in 1978, should be prepared for each and every forest:
Forest Biomas See
note
from L-Arch on measuring forest biomass.
Links
Article on
forest landscape design
Refs
Countryside Commission, 1987. Forestry in the countryside.
Crowe, S. 1978. The landscape of forests and woods. [Forestry Commission Booklet No. 44]. London:HMSO.
Harrison, R.P. 1992. Forests, the shadow of civilization. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
Helliwell, D.R. 1982. Options in forestry. Chichester:Packard Publishing.
Lucas, O. 1984. The Forestry Commission. Landscape Design No. 150 August 1984 p. 10.
Robinson, G. 1988. The forest and the trees. Washington DC:Island Press.
Turner, T, Landscape planning and environmental impact design. London:UCL Press 1998 Chapter 8
Forest Policy
Forestry should be subject to planning control and subsidies should be linked to the provision of public goods.
Forest landscape plans should be set forth in public documents, with simplified versions displayed in visitor centres and similar places.
Forest landscape plans should explain how the design has been related to existing features; how the design concept for the forest was generated; visual
quality objectives; areas of broadleaf retention and planting; silvicultural systems; conservation areas; areas which will become old growth woodland;
habitat creation areas; wildlife networks; recreational networks; art trails; story trails; provision for hunter-gathering; historic trails; the provision
of footpaths, bridleways, cycle paths and other recreation facilities; integration with agriculture and other nearby land uses. Some forests should
be managed as woods, others as wilderness.
Decisions about priorities will be based on an environmental assessment of forest location and site characteristics. There is a great need for foresters
to consider the wider context and to become expert in EID.
Foresters can help to create a national web of greenspace open to the public. Wherever possible lake shores, ridge lines, viewpoints, streams, recreational
facilities, long distance footpaths and scenic areas should be incorporated.
Forestry has an important role in and around urban areas.
In rural areas the web land should be subject to retention policies so that it stands between zones of maximum modification in the same way that hedgerows
and farm woodlands make compartments in the agricultural landscape.
Measuring Forest Biomass
The following note appeared in LARCH-L Digest - 14 Jan 2000 to 17 Jan 2000 (#2000-9) (2)
Kurt Skinner raises a good question when he asks how do we know that we are replacing lost biomass after development, when following established landscape
ordinances for replanting. American Forests approach to conserving our urban forests has been on demonstrating the ecological and economic benefits they
provide. While trees are not the only component of urban biomass, they are the largest component and one that can be measured. Using research developed
by the USDA Forest Service, the Natural Resoruce Conservation Service and others, American Forests has developed a software program called, CITYgreen,
a GIS-based program that maps and measures the value of urban forests in terms of stormwater reduction, energy savings from direct shading of trees, and
air quality, including the 5 main components of air that EPA measures (carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter
10 microns or less.) CITYgreen software can model "what if " scenarios to show the benefits of different tree conservation or development designs. This
information is valuable to guide future planning and ordinance development. This program can be used to study a site, neighborhood, or entire city using
aerial imagery. American Forests has also conducted regional analyses of tree canopy change over time and the benefits lost with dimished heavy tree canopy
cover using GIS technology and satellite imagery. Our work has included analyses of the Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay, and Atlanta Metropolitan areas. This
year we will expand our work to Houston, Colorados Front Range and other areas in the US. For more information on CITYgreen software and American Forests
work on Urban Ecosystem Analyses, see our website at:
http://www.americanforests.org .
Look under trees, cities, and sprawl. Cheryl Kollin
Director, Urban Forest Center, American Forests
New towns and green towns
Britain needs a Green Towns Act. It would confer some of the benefits enjoyed under the New Towns Act and others which have since become important. The
need arises because of the problems of finding land for housing and creating sustainable cities. Investment funds are always scarce and homeowners, like
developers, find housing land very expensive. Adjoining landowners are militantly NIMBYist. Governments, local and national, are in a quandary – they want
to make land available but cannot find suitable sites. A Green Towns Act could provide us with (1) financial equity; (2) optimal land selection; (3) design
quality; (4) relatively more sustainable development. Some of these benefits were achieved in the pre-war Garden Cities and post-war New Towns.
Financial Justice
The present arrangements for land development are inequitable. Let us assume that a new motorway, built with taxpayers money, crosses two 500-acre farms
and has a junction on each. Motorways cause land near road junctions to become ‘ripe for development’. Farmer George cares for his land and has kept it
in beautiful condition, while Farmer Sid has drunk too much and spent too much. Sid’s farm is strewn with old vehicles, horse jumps and trashy fencing.
A landscape assessment has placed George’s land in the top category and Sid’s in the lowest category. The planning authority therefore decides to give
Sid planning permission for a housing estate while George’s land is given conservation status. The value of Sid’s 500 acre farm rises from £1.5m to £500m.
The value of George’s land falls from £1.6m to £1.4m. Taxpayers, whose road made Sid rich, gain nothing. This is inequitable, for Sid, for George and for
the Great British public.
Under the New Towns Act (1946) agricultural land was bought at existing use value and passed into the ownership of New Town Development Corporations. In
the early New Towns, most of the land was developed for municipally owned housing estates. In the later New Towns, more land was developed by private housebuilders.
With the tenants’ right to buy council houses, and the winding up of the Development Corporations, most of the land passed into private ownership. In essence,
land was bought at agricultural land prices and sold at housing land prices. Profits went to the public purse, instead of Farmer Sid’s once-grubby trousers.
Since roads, services, parks and schools were schools were financed by the public, this was an equitable procedure. The only injustice was to the Sids
of the 1950s and 1960s. They did not make a profit and land which their families had worked for generations was requisitioned without compensation for
distress and disruption. Yet an acre of land can rise in value from £3,000 to £1,000,000 following a grant of planning permission for housing. This is
a 300-fold increase. It would have been fair and wise to compensate the owners of compulsorily purchased farmland at twice existing use values (say £6,000/acre).
Betterment gains above this level would flow to individual Green Town Development Corporations.
Optimal Land Selection
Governments and amenity groups favour building on brown land instead of green land, and they are right. But the pressure to expand settlements is inexorable
and the stock of brownland will become exhausted. No government in any country has been able to prevent urban expansion. Britain failed, year after year
after 1947. Russia failed to control the growth of Moscow, even under communism. Growth occurs because of an expanding population, economic growth and
the decline of agriculture. Even if Britain’s population stabilized, urbanization would advance with economic growth, because household size continues
to fall and individuals want ever more space - for gardens, roads, parks, universities, boats, home-offices and retail parks. It is possible that this
trend will go into reverse. But it behoves us to make contingency plans for the probability that it will continue. We should hope for the best and plan
for the worst. Otherwise, every village will become a town, every town will become a city and every city a megalopolis. Instead of allowing existing settlements
to grow, house by house, society should make far-sighted plans and start new settlements. This requires a rational selection procedure reflecting majority
opinion. The aim should be to build on land which (1) causes the least environmental damage (2) creates the highest values for society. I believe this
can best be achieved with a modified GIS-version of the sieve mapping procedure advocated in McHarg’s Design with nature. The modification would be to
employ overlays dealing with potential value, like UK agricultural potential maps, in addition to a McHargian set of existing value maps. The GIS-sieving
procedure would not take decisions. It would support better decision-making by democratic institutions.
Design Quality
Design quality in the British New Towns can be judged at 3 levels. At the broad scale, of integrating urban development with the existing landscape, New
Towns were far more successful than average urbanization developments of their time. Valleys were retained, woods established and skylines protected. This
produced logical relationships between built and unbuilt land, as at Hemel Hempsted and Redditch. At the medium scale, of site planning, the New Towns
were slightly better than non-New Town developments, mainly because they took the trouble to employ the best design firms available. At the small scale,
of detail design, they were much better than contemporary urbanisation. Cycle tracks were created, as at Stevenage and Milton Keynes; more care was taken
with design details, as at Cumbernauld; innovations in road design were made, as at Runcorn; experiments in habitat creation took place, as at Warrington.
These innovations were possible because investment capital was available and local design teams were determined to plan for the public good and the long
term.
Sustainability
Public funds should be used to create public goods. Money gained through the financial provisions of the Green Towns Act should be used to provide a sustainable
infrastructure for urban development. Even free-market theorists recognize the economic justification for this type of expenditure. ‘Public goods’ are
those which are available to everyone and for which no charge is made. Settlements with a good stock of public goods are relatively more sustainable than
those with low stocks. The stock should include footpaths, cycleways, urban woodlands, wild food areas, infiltration ponds, detention ponds, busways and
roads. In order to provide what might be termed ‘sustainability goods’, the Green Towns Act should provide for the preparation of:
Green Transport Plans, so that settlements have networks of footways, cycleways and skateways, providing the shortest possible links between origins and
destinations.
Earth Plans, so that useful and beautiful landforms are created. In the old New Towns many opportunities were squandered. Hills were leveled, valleys were
filled, ‘spoil’ was exported, ‘fill’ was imported. Energy and money were wasted by un-cooordinated operations.
Water Plans, to deal with surface water management by means of detention, infiltration and transpiration. Cities should accumulate and recycle water, as
they do knowledge and money. This includes bluewater, greywater and brownwater.
Vegetation Plans, so that new towns use habitat-creation techniques and develop in harmony with nature.
Climate Plans, to improve the local microclimate and thus save energy.
Roads are essential public goods and should be funded from the public purse. But they should not retain the dominant position which they held during the
twentieth century.
Many of the objectives outlined above could be achieved by amending the New Towns Act (1946). But there would be significant advantages in new legislation.
The 1946 Act has baggage which we need carry no further. Heaviest among these burdens is a disenchantment with central planning. Westminster and Whitehall
decided where the new towns should go, often with red-faced opposition from local landowners and local authorities. This problem could be remedied through
devolution and central-local-private partnerships. Landowners’ wealth would be doubled and Green Town Development Partnerships would provide sustainably
serviced sites. Housing and industrial companies would purchase development sites. Green Towns could be initiated by local, regional or national authorities
but the lead organization would have to act in partnership with the other tiers of government and with private developers. The cumbersome nature of this
procedure would be mitigated by taking a long-term view. In the first instance, authorities would be answering the question ‘If new settlements ever become
necessary, where about in your local area would they go and how can they be made sustainable?’. In our time, these are the key questions. Issues of self-containment,
social balance and modal splits, which dominated New Town thinking, have become secondary. We therefore call upon the government to enact a Green Towns
Act early in the twenty-first century.
Links
Columbia encyclopaedia entry on
Garden Cities.
Refs
Olson, D.J. 1986. City as a work of art Newhaven:Yale University Press.
Opher, P. & Bird, C. 1980. British new towns: Runcorn and Warrington. Oxford:Oxford Polytechnic.
Opher, P. & Bird, C. 1981. British new towns: Cumbernauld, Irvine, East Kilbride. Oxford:Oxford Polytechnic.
Opher, P., Bird, C. 1980. British new towns: Runcorn and Warrington. Oxford:Oxford Polytechnic.
Turner, T. 1982. Planning the landscape for a new town. Town and Country Planning. Vol. 51, No. 10, November 1982, pp.267-271.
Turner, T., Landscape planning Hutchinson Education 1986
Greenways
A greenway is a linear open space which (1) is green in the environmental sense (2) serves as a route.
The best official account of the greenway idea comes from the US Presidents Commission on Americans Outdoors. It called for:
A Living Network of Greenways... to provide people with access to open spaces close to where they live, and to link together the rural and urban spaces
in the American landscape ... threading through cities and countrysides like a great circulating system (Presidents Commission on Americans Outdoors 1987).
Charles Littles 1990 book Greenways for America gave further impetus to the idea and greenways are now being made in many countries. Little says the five
greenway types are:
urban riverside,
recreational,
ecological,
scenic and historic,
comprehensive (Little 1990).
In an introduction to a major review of greenways, in 1995, Fabos sees the greenway movement as being in its infancy and suggests that at some future point
greenway systems will be as evident on national, state, regional and local maps as our highway or railway networks are today (Fabos 1995). I look forward
to that day. Ahern offers an inclusive definition of greenways:
Greenways are networks of land containing linear elements that are planned, designed and managed for multiple purposes including ecological, recreational,
cultural, aesthetic or other purposes compatible with the concept of sustainable land use (Ahern 1995).
I prefer to define a greenway as "a route which is good from an environmental point of view". This definition uses green as an environmental term and
way in a broad sense to include circulation routes for people, animals, air, water and plants.
The actual term greenway was formed by joining greenbelt to parkway. It embraces a wide range of concepts drawn from the history of linked open space
[Fig 4.20]. The greenway concept may be said to have come of age with the publication of a special issue of Landscape and Urban Planning in 1995 (Ahern
& Fabos 1995), reprinted as a special book (Ahern & Fabos 1996). Greenways can be planned to serve distinct functions, which are likely to overlap.
Greenways could become a significant focus for professional activity. As discussed in the section on
definitions,
the landscape profession developed as follows:
2000BC to 1850 Gardens
1850-1950 Gardens and Public Parks
1950-2000 Public Parks and Environmental Work
As explained by Norman T Newton in Design on the land, the idea of landscape architecture marked an important shift from private to public service.
But the shift has not been a triumphant success. Peter Walker and Melanie Simo chose Invisible gardens as the title for their history of twentieth century
American landscape architecture. It was a bitter choice for a profession which began the century with great talent, great resources, brilliant leadership
and a fabulous natural landscape. Apart from a few almost-invisible gardens the profession made little contribution to the vast urbanisation of North
America. In my view the problem was conceptual and terminological. The profession did not manage to explain what it had to offer. Greenways offer new
hope in a professional sense. They are an identifiable product which society wants and the landscape profession can deliver. Marketing folk call it targeting.
Refs
Ahern, J. & Fabos, J.Gy. Greenways: the begining of an international movement Amsterdam:Elsevier.
Ahern, J. 1995. Greenways as a planning strategy. Landscape and urban planning Vol 33 Nos. 1-3 October 1995 pp131-155.
Fabos, J, Gy. 1995. Introduction and overview: the greenway movement, uses and potentials of greenways. Landscape and urban planning Vol 33 Nos. 1-3 October
1995 pp 1-13.
Fabos, J. Gy. & Ahern, J. 1995. Special Issue: Greenways. Landscape and urban planning Vol 33 Nos. 1-3 October 1995.
Fink, C.A. & Searns, R.M., 1993 Greenways: a guide to planning, design and development. Washington DC:Island Press, The Conservation Fund.
Little, C. 1990. Greenways for America. Baltimore:John Hopkins University Press.
Noss, R.F 1993. Wildlife corridors. In: D.S. Smith and P. Cawood Hellmund (ed) Ecology of greenways. Mineapolis:University of Minnesota Press pp43-68.
Colour can be used to symbolise the character of greenways, with, for example, red meaning busy and white meaning spiritual.
Landscape planning and environmental impact design (EID)
The following section headings (in bold) and subheadings (in italics) summarize the chapter on Landscape Plans in Tom Turners Landscape planning and environmental
impact design (UCL:London, 1998)
Landscape plans Landscape plans are required for the environmental public goods.
Ecology, economics and planning Negative side effects are the environments wicked stepmother; positive side effects are her fairy godmother.
The following types of landscape plan can assist in the creation and conservation of environmental public goods:
NATURAL PROCESS PLANS
Landform Plans: to protect and enhance a distinctive and convenient landform.
Waterspace Plans: to provide space for water storage, water transport and water recreation.
Habitat Plans: to protect and enhance the pattern of natural and semi-natural habitats.
Air Plans: to provide fresh air, clean air and shelter.
SOCIAL PROCESS PLANS
Alexander Plans: to show the archetypal patterns which should exist in a neighbourhood.
Greenspace Plans: to provide public access to environmentally good space in urban and rural areas.
Special Area Plans: to protect and create areas of special character.
Recreation Plans: to increase opportunities for outdoor recreation: footpaths, bridleways, cycleways, campsites, food gathering places.
Sustainability Plans: to make human life more sustainable, both in town and country.
VISUAL PLANS
Scenic Plans: to protect and create good scenery and good views, both in town and country.
Spatial Plans: to protect and create good spatial patterns.
Skyline Plans: to protect and create good skylines.
Urban Roofscape Contours: to give city roofscapes a distinctive shape.
Landform plans Landform plans should indicate areas for protection, excavation and deposition.
Waterspace plans Water management plans should show areas for enhanced detention, infiltration and evaporation.
Habitat plans Biotope management plans should indicate the desirable mix of habitats, based on historical analysis, hydrology and pedology
Air plans Air management can make places healthier and more comfortable.
Social process plans
Alexander plans
Greenspace plans
Recreation plans
Special area plans
Sustainability plans
Resource-use
Visual plans
Scenic plans Scenic resources need planning. Plans should define areas of high scenic value, to be conserved, and areas of low scenic value, to be improved.
Spatial plans Spatial plans should show the existing and proposed spatial patterns.
Urban space
Rural space
Image maps
Skyline plans
Implementation Statutory plans should be guided by non-statutory plans
Conclusion Planning requires knowledge, understanding and visions
The theme of this chapter has been that landscape planners should be guided by three types of consideration:
knowledge of the past
understanding of the present
visions of the future
Development planners and designers should consider the environmental impact of development projects on past, present and future. This may identify ideals
and planning objectives which are in conflict. Consider a field on the periphery of a major city. The landowner wishes to construct a factory on the land.
The Habitat Plan calls for the field to be restored to its former condition, as a wet oakwood. The Recreation Plan calls for public access. The Rural Scenery
plan calls for its agricultural character to be conserved. The Urban Scenery plan calls for the land to be built upon, as an extension to a citywide development
axis. Economics and politics will guide the debate. Though imaginative design can help, theories of context are also required. They are the subject of
the next chapter.
Mineral extraction: landscape planning and environmental impact design (EID)
Landscape planning for mineral extraction Old mines can have new uses.
For centuries it has been known that mining produces a range of harmful side-effects - and that they can be ameliorated. The first European textbook on
mines and quarries, written by Georgius Agricola in 1550, considered the case against mineral extraction and concluded:
The strongest argument of the detractors is that the fields are devastated by mining operations, for which reason formerly Italians were warned by law that
no one should dig the earth for metals and so injure their very fertile fields, their vineyards, and their olive groves... And when the woods and groves
are felled, then are exterminated the beasts and birds, very many of which furnish a pleasant and agreeable food for man. Further, when the ores are washed,
the water which has been used poisons the brooks and streams, and either destroys the fish or drives them away... Thus it is said, it is clear to all that
there is greater detriment from mining than the value of the metals which the mining produces (Agricola 1912 edn.).
Whilst mining continues, the environmental side-effects are wholly undesirable. But when working has ceased, beneficial side effects arise. Agricola knew
this:
Moreover, as the miners dig almost exclusively in mountains otherwise unproductive, and in valleys invested in gloom, they do either slight damage to the
fields or none at all. Lastly, where woods and glades are cut down, they may be sown with grain after they have been cleared from the roots of shrubs and
trees. These new fields soon produce rich crops, so that they repair the losses which the inhabitants suffer from increased cost of timber (Agricola 1912
edn. 14).
There are three crucial points:
Mineral operations cause great environmental harm.
When finished, mining can leave land in a pitiful condition.
Mining can create valuable new land characteristics.
To save Europe and Americas mineral industries from extinction, operators must learn:
to minimise environmental harm while working proceeds
to create post-quarrying landscapes which are self-evidently as good as the pre-quarrying landscapes
to achieve these goals by imaginative planning and design, rather than exorbitant expenditure
It can be done. It must be done. It will be done, someday.
Future practice key in reclamation is figuring the eventual landscape and reuse plan before excavation is begun (Whyte 1970).
Mineral planning The alternatives are Similarity, Identity and Difference.
The economics of after-use
Refs
Down, C.G. & Stocks, J. 1977. Environmental Impact of Mining. London:Applied Science Publishers.
Haywood, S.H. 1974. Quarries and the landscape. London:British Quarrying and Slag Federation.
Jellicoe, G.A. 1979. Blue Circle Cement, Hope Works, Derbyshire. A progress report on a landscape plan 1943-93. London:Blue Circle Cement.
Turner, T, Landscape planning and environmental impact design. London:UCL Press 1998 Chapter 6
Quarrying brings immense changes to the landscape. If the after-use is considered before and during the mineral operations these changes can be beneficial.
If side-effects and after-uses are neglected then quarrying is likely to cause immense harm.
Minerals Policy
Permission for new quarrying projects should only be given when a restoration and after-use plan has been prepared and agreed with the planning authorities..
After-use plans should provide for a range of possible activities, since land uses 20-50 years into the future cannot be predicted.
Finance for land restoration should come from the mineral-working operation.
Worked-out and restored mineral land should pass into public ownership.
Public Open Space (POS): landscape planning and environmental impact design (EID)
The physical types of open space presently designed are astonishingly limited: the swimming beach, the roadside picnic area, the woodland with "nature trails",
the grassed park dotted with trees and shrubbery, comprise the conventional range. (Lynch 1972)
Great civilisations allocate open space to public and non-productive uses. Historically, this has included gardens, temple compounds, ceremonial grounds,
outdoor markets, social places, gymnasia for exercise and recreation, burial grounds, hunting and wildlife reserves. All this land is now classified by
planners as public open space, because the land is accessible and unbuilt. It is a term which ignores the distinction between parks and greenways. Parks
are for protection [Fig 4.1]. Greenways are for movement. The reasons for making public open space are multifarious. Lynch, as quoted above, was right
to protest that the physical types of open space presently designed are astonishingly limited.
Public parks The park is dead. Long live the park.
Commons There always have been public rights in land and there always should be.
Municipal parks They were one of the great social inventions of the nineteenth century.
Squares and plazas Urban squares started as markets and many should continue to have a commercial role.
Public gardens Cities need gardens and parks, not garks
Village greens Good planning is more important than good design
National parks in towns Some parks need more-than-local funding.
National parks in the country Country areas of key importance to a nation should be given the protection of national park status.
Private pleasure grounds Private enterprise is good at providing pleasure
Festival parks Nations love festivals, especially when they are in parks, but the money will be squandered if an after-use is not planned before the festival-use.
Greenway function They should be green in the environmental sense and ways in many senses.
Greenway history and typology
Ceremonial avenues
Boulevards
Parkways
Park belts
Park systems
Green belt
Green trails
Environmental greenways
Greenway character In terms of character, greenways should have many colours.
Open space management Greenways can supervene on other land uses, like happiness on the face of youth.
A green web Public open space should radiate public goods.
Refs
Chadwick, G.F. 1966. The park and the town. London:Architectural Press.
Cranz, G. 1982. The politics of park design: a history of urban parks in America. Cambridge Mass:MIT Press.
Davies, H. 1983. A walk around Londons parks. London:Hamilton.
Greater London Development Plan. London:Greater London Council. Section 9.
Ramsey, A. 1990. Planning urban networks for walking. In Tolley, R., ed. The greening of urban transport: planning for walking and cycling in western cities.
London:Belhaven Press.
Simo, M. 1981. John Claudius Loudon: on planning and design for the garden metropolis. Garden History. pp. 184-201.
Turner, T. 1992. Open space planning in London from standards per 1000 to green strategy. Town Planning Review 63 (4), 365-386.
Broken seats in a neglected corner of a public park.
Parks Policy
Public parks were one of the great urban reforms of the nineteenth century, but many of them have fallen on hard times. They are under-used, under-funded,
badly planned, badly designed and badly managed.
The sections in Local Plans dealing with Parks and Public Open Space are unimaginative and out-moded. A higher level of imagination, based on local information,
is required.
At the present time, the great need is for diversification, so that the use and character of parks can be related to the desires of the communities which
they serve.
Parks can, for example, be diversified with regard to ownership, character, culture, ethnicity, religion, landform, planting and use.
