Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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What makes a good urban park
Blog post by Peter Katz on 21 Oct 2011
http://www.newurbannetwork.com
1. A park should be “nearby” for everyone.
2. A public park should look and feel truly public.
3. Parks should be simple and not overdesigned.
4. A park should retain or enhance the natural contours of the land.
5. A good park should allow you to both see and walk through it.
READ MORE: http://newurbannetwork.com/news-opinion/blogs/peter-katz/15519/what-makes-good-urban-park
heresthecasey
OSU
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Despite seemingly meeting all of those requirements (#3? Haha), pretty sure I'm still not entirely sold on Columbus Commons. Lol.
JimSweeney
E. Fton
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a neighborhood park needs eyes on it to be safe. The best parks in my opinion are lined on four sides by houses with front porches. Schiller, Goodale, Franklin all have this. this is the only problem i have with Dodge, there are no houses facing it right now making it feel a little remote and unsafe.
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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I think it needs to be well-used. There's always lots of people in my neighborhood park. Most are parents with young kids at the playground. Some are walking dogs. Some are playing sports in the open grassy space. Some are just cutting through because it's a shortcut to the train. The activity makes it feel safer to me. It also makes me want to go there for socialization. If a park isn't natually well-used based on location, then it probably needs to have things installed to attract people (e.g., sports facilities, playgrounds).
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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People interacting. That's my favorite part of Schiller, people with kids bringing them to hang out with the dogs, parents of the dogs hanging out and chatting, a kid's soccer game being played, etc.
jmak
Gahanna
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Manatee said:
Columbus Commons doesn't feel like a park to me because it lacks big trees.But not everyone would need that.
I agree with that. I just spent two hours walking around downtown. Headed over to the Commons but actually didn't feel the need to walk around the park. As much as I love the idea of the place, it needs some interest. Trees would definitely help.
patient_zero
Falafel District
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@jmak - Didn't I see you taking shelter under one of these little trees this Summer during your rehearsal for Woodstock? Damn, it was hot and humid Memorial Day weekend!
I was thinking about the small CC trees, recently. Although I would like to see bigger trees, too, I imagine there are a few reasons why they don't have larger trees:
1)The Commons is a temporary space, one that will be transformed in the next 10 years
2)The roof/ground has structural limits for deep roots. Beneath a shallow layer of soil are layers of plastic, rubber, even styrofoam over the roof of City Center garage. A big tree might need a concrete cylinder lined with soil for the roots.
3)Big trees are expensive and may be out of the CC budget.
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