Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Four | Planning Programming, for Seasonality and Activation

 Gaps in park master planning frameworks

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part One | Levels of Service"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Two | Utilizing Academic Research as Guidance"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Three | Planning for Climate Change/Environment"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Four | Planning for Seasonality and Activation"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Five | Planning for Public Art as an element of park facilities"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning, Part Six | Art(s) in the Park(s) as a comprehensive program "
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Seven | Park Architectural (and Landscape Design) History" 
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Eight | Civic Engagement"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Nine | Second stage planning for parks using the cultural landscape framework" 

Some park systems do seasonality and activation within their plans and programs.   

For example the Salt Lake City park master plan, ReImagine Nature, does discuss programming and activation.   

Still, a majority of parks master plans don't address these items in a systematic enough way.

And definitely not in terms of actively providing programming.

Types of park spaces.  Image: Integrated Public Realm, Glatting Jackson.

Flexible spaces allow for flexible uses.  This Boston Globe article, "‘Sticky’ places are urban planning lifelines Shared spaces build community and are key to alleviating America’s loneliness epidemic. Here’s how to create them.," discusses the design of spaces like parks in ways that foster interaction and connection.  This concept extends to the organization and delivery of programming.

Rosemary Square, West Palm Beach, Florida

-- "What makes a successful place?," Project for Public Spaces
-- "High-Performance Public Spaces: A Tool For Building Great Communities," David Barth

The Project for Public Spaces book How to Turn a Place Around is good for thinking about these issues.  And Learning from Bryant Park: Revitalizing Cities, Towns and Public Spaces too.  

PPS Place diagram, extended version.

Programming.  Programming can be as simple as facilitating groups, organizing play at playgrounds, reading time at playgrounds, making sports equipment available so people can play without having to have equipment, organizing biking training, facilitating "drop in" play time without permits, etc.

-- Activating Parks for Stronger, Healthier Cities, City Parks Alliance
-- "Programming parks. How do organized events and activities affect the inclusivity of urban green spaces?," Journal of Leisure Research (2023)
-- "The layering effect: how the building blocks of an integrated public realm set the stage for community building and Silver Spring, Maryland as an example" (2012)

Plan for all age segments and demographics.  When planning for programming it's important to be systematic and address all ages and demographic types (e.g., households with dogs, families, etc.).  Design Workshop, in discussing their Branch Park project in Austin, Texas, expresses this very clearly:

Accommodating All Generations: When people think of parks, they think of children as the main users, but in reality, people of all age ranges benefit from using outdoor spaces. Today’s parks need to be multi-generational and multi-functional, requiring designs and plans that create spaces that accommodate all ages. We must balance the diverse needs of empty nesters seeking outdoor space in which to relax, young adults seeking a space for an evening kickball game, teenagers who want to hang out with friends, and young kids who want to play. At Branch Park, the design team took these various experiences into account, incorporating seating options, shaded areas, viewing gardens, open spaces conducive to informal games, and a playground. The park allows all community members to enjoy the space simultaneously.

Seasonality.  My writings on daypart planning ("Planning programming by daypart, month, season: and Boston Winter Garden, DC's Holiday Market, etc.," 2016) are relevant to parks planning.  

Sugar House Park, Salt Lake City.

Plan for time of day and day of the week sure.  But plan for four seasons of activity, depending on the park and its location.  Make accommodations as needed, from lighting when it's dark to snow clearance in winter--provided your park is used in winter.

In a study for the Bridge Park project in Washington, DC, one team came up with a nice hierarchy for programming for seasonality:

-- Season
-- Month (July 4th, Christmas, New Year's, etc.)
-- National Events (Public Lands Day, Earth Day, etc.) -- not included but should be]
-- DC/city events (e.g., Cherry Blossom Festival in April)
-- Events or programming related to the geographic interest area (neighborhood street festival, etc.)

and then what it calls
-- Private Events
-- Special Events
-- Extended Events (like a farmers market)
-- Festivals.

But this is more about programming around major events, not simple things like reading group at a playground.

Reading to children at Riverside Park, New York City, 1962.  Photo: Neal Boenzi, New York Times

More parks systems are developing outdoor winter programming guidance (Denver Outdoor Adventure and Alternative Sports Strategic Plan), when before use of parks in winter wasn't considered a priority.   

WRT winter and children:

-- "New Survey: Majority of U.S. Adults are Less Active During the Winter," National Recreation and Park Association public art as a park element and presentation
-- "Seasonal Variation in Children’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Time," Medicine & Science in Exercise & Sport, 2016 

The researchers found that physical activity was lower in autumn and winter compared to spring; average activity levels across the group peaked in April at 65.3 min/day and reached their lowest levels in February at 47.8 min/day. Physical activity was at its lowest at weekends during winter. Children were at their most active during early summer, particularly at weekends.

Summer is very hot...

NYC Summer Streets, 2017

Activation.  There has always been tension in park management over active versus passive use.  Active use tends to focus on heavy duty physical activity, especially team sports.  A lot of time, except at recreation centers, parks aren't actively programmed. 

By default, park users are the programmers, but how they program is determined by the facilities made available to them.  But active use doesn't have to mean team sports, it can just be stuff to do, from the presentation of a movie to a group walk or yoga.  And I think it's important to facilitate this kind of variety when typically parks and recreation departments have focused on sport/athletic uses.

From Salt Lake City's ReImagine Nature park vision plan.  

Salt Lake City's park plan outlines programming opportunities by the month, in terms of different activities in two categories, culture and entertainment, and community and recreation.  

The "wheel" diagram, organized by month, then indicates the months that the various activities, such as yoga, movie nights, pop up events, sledding, outdoor education and dining, are likely to be conducted.

Canada's Park People published a set of short manuals on how to organize various kinds of activities within a park:

-- How to host a picnic in the park
-- How to host a campfire in the park 
-- How to host a movie in the park 
-- How-to connect with nature in the park
-- Adopt a park tree manual

Montgomery County Maryland has an initiative to do more activation, especially of smaller spaces in more urban areas, as are more parks systems elsewhere.

-- Energized Public Places Functional Master Plan

Types of park spaces. 

Laird Park's Movie Night is sponsored by local realty company Niche Homes.

Neighborhood Parks.  Laird Park, a neighborhood park in one of Salt Lake's most historic neighborhoods, has a lot of activity going on, although it's more sponsored by local businesses and community groups, but without the creation of a formal Friends group.  It's a great example of ground up park activation.

They have movie nights with food trucks, kids toys left out in the playground for communal use, music events, a huge Easter Egg Hunt, and a Fourth of July parade.  

Neighborhood streets.  Not a park function per se, but parklets, "streeteries"--parklets used by restaurants, dining in the street, public space treatments and initiatives may involve parks departments as partners.

Parklet

Regional Parks.  In park categorization systems, large multi-faceted parks tend to be called regional parks, and can have an array of activities.  There are many examples.  In Salt Lake, Liberty Park is like New York City's Central Park, and Pioneer Park serves downtown, and is a hub of activity such as during the Saturday Farmers Market.   

Toronto and some other communities also have a tradition of community brick ovens in parks, run by volunteers which supports bread baking, community potlucks, etc.

-- How To Start A Community Wood-Fired Oven Project
-- "Wolfville community oven serves up meals with side of neighbourly connection," CBC TV
-- Cooking with fire in the public space (pdf)
-- "A Wood-fired Communal Oven In A Park: Why Bother?," PPS (excerpt from Cooking with fire)

Berczy Park Fountain, Toronto.

Plazas, squares, central park spaces, streets and parking lots in neighborhoods and districts, like in Berczy Park in Toronto or Sundance Square Plaza in Fort Worth ("Sundance Square turns 5," Fort Worth Business Press) are other examples of signature parks at a smaller scale.  

Parking lots and streets can become vibrant spaces when repurposed temporarily for farmers markets and other activities.  

Like the Waverly/32nd Street Market in Baltimore ("The Magic of the Waverly Farmers Market," JHU News-Letter, "Finding my way at the Waverly farmers market," Baltimore Sun).

Waverly Market

Pete Seeger tribute singalong, Columbia Heights Plaza, Washington, DC, 2/1/2014

Movable table and chairs, 1100 block East Market.  Tom Gralish, Philadelphia Inquirer

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Armenian Heritage Park, Boston Greenway.  Photo: John Tllumacki, Boston Globe.

People kneel in the park at Logan Circle during a vigil as protests over the death of George Floyd continue on June 9, 2020, in D.C.  Photo: Brendan Smialowski, AFP.

Noe Valley is the only neighborhood in San Francisco with a town square.

It was created by buying a parking lot

"This San Francisco neighborhood has a small town vibe thanks to this one plot of land," 

San Francisco Chronicle

Sundance Square Plaza, Fort Worth, Texas

Sometimes plazas are poorly placed, like Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, so they go unused most of the time.  DC's Franklin Square is more centrally located, but wasn't designed for such a function.  Although more recently the National Park Service and the city changed the park so it can serve a more "gathering" function ("D.C. Mayor Bowser cuts ribbon on newly renovated Franklin Square," Washington Post).

Franklin Square, Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

Freedom Plaza, DC

Interior versus exterior plazas.  While most plazas and squares are what we might call exterior spaces, which are open blocks, sometimes these spaces are interior spaces, bounded by buildings, like courtyards but large.  

One example is the Gallivan Center in Downtown Salt Lake.  This space is managed by the Downtown Alliance and includes programmed events like concert series and special events, and when there aren't events, the space is open, and includes facilities, like painted pickleball courts, usable by patrons.  A disadvantage of interior spaces is many people may not know they exist.  Interior spaces are often deployed in more private spaces, like office campuses.

Gallivan Center

Signature Parks/Central Gathering Spaces.  More cities are developing what we might call "signature parks" usually in their downtowns, but not limited to downtowns.  In downtowns, these spaces tend to have leadership from business improvement districts and real estate interests.

-- The Case for Open Space: Why the Real Estate Industry Should Invest in Parks and Open Spaces, ULI

In parks typologies these might be called Regional Parks or Central Gathering Space (squares, plazas).  Depending on their size, activities and programming I would re-term them and call them Signature Parks.

Levy Park, Houston

Guthrie Green, Tulsa

Bryant Park, New York

Discovery Green Park, Houston

Examples include Campus Martius in Detroit ("The Beach at Campus Martius," Project for Public Spaces), Levy Park in Houston (Levy Park, OJB Architecture), also Discovery Green Park in Houston ("History"), Guthrie Green in Tulsa ("Land for you and me: Guthrie Green at 10," Tulsa People Magazine), the expanded Grand Park in Los Angeles ("Take a Tour Around the Civic Center's Huge New Grand Park," Curbed LA), of course Bryant Park ("Inside the transformation of Bryant Park," New York Daily News, "A Place Is Better Than a Plan: Revitalizing urban areas is best done through small improvements, not grand designs," City Journal) in Manhattan, and many more. 

Bentway.  Photo: Bernard Well, Toronto Star.

The Bentway in Toronto ("The Bentway makes magic in a hostile urban space," Toronto Star) and the Underline in Miami are parks created under freeways, and the Bentway especially is actively programmed, especially with its winter ice ribbon.

Campus Martius beach.

These parks are designed to be actively and heavily programmed throughout the day and throughout the year.

They are often strongly branded and marketed.

Operationally, usually they are run by nonprofits separate from a city parks department, may be organized as parks conservancies ("Creating a Park Conservancy that Fits," NRPA) have financial support philanthropically or from the equivalent of a special service/tax district.  In business districts, often parks are managed by business improvement districts ("A business improvement district for a park? Hey, it just might work," amNY).

The way that the South Park Library in Seattle incorporates outdoor space into the library program, as Pavement Park, which was the street in front of the library, is creative.

Trails.  Some trails projects like Waterloo Greenway in Austin ("Waterloo Greenway gets $9M federal grant for second phase of parks system," Austin Monitor) and the Great Rivers Greenways in St. Louis ("Great Rivers Greenway Added More Greenways in 2023 Than Ever," Riverfront Times) are designed similarly, to be active and even if linear focused on connecting and enhancing cultural and other civic assets along the route.

Other examples include the Cynwyd Heritage Trail in Lower Merion Township outside of Philadelphia (this was one of the first plans I read that actively intended to connect various neighborhood, community, and commercial district assets together), the East Side Greenways in Belfast, and the National Capital trails in Ottawa.

Iowa, building on the 50+ year old Register Annual Great Bike Ride Around Iowa event each summer has expanded its trail network greatly, with signature trails including the High Trestle Trail and the Raccoon Valley Trail.  Recreational cycling has become a significant contributor to local economies ("Iowa's bike trails, tourism ambitions, grow along with RAGBRAI," Des Moines Register).

High Trestle Bridge at night.

Open Streets.  Another popular activity is what is called Open Streets, where streets are closed for the day (sometimes in a park like Rock Creek in DC/Maryland, for the weekend) in favor of sustainable mobility and other activities.  This doesn't necessarily happen in a park but could.

Open Streets Minneapolis

Ciclavia, Los Angeles Times photo.

Champs Élysées, Paris

-- Open Streets Design Guide
-- Open Streets Project
-- "Summer Streets NYC 2023: everything you need to know," TimeOut New York
-- "Summer Streets Begins This Weekend, Kicking off for the First Time in All Five Boroughs," press release
-- CicLavia, Los Angeles

Retail space and office building activation.  Shopping centers and other retail districts often use the same activation strategies as parks, libraries, and business districts as a way to attract patrons and keep them in their spaces longer ("Lifestyle centers: the mall is about the city," Interni, "Lifestyle centers: reinvented communities or dressed-up shopping malls?," The Conaversation, "What is a Retail Activation?," Bridgewater Studio, "Malls have transformed themselves into mixed-use lifestyle centers," Modern Retail).   

-- Retailers are investing in lifestyle activations and experiential spaces because theys," WBUR/NPR offer unique and immersive experiences that attract and engage customers. These spaces go beyond traditional shopping environments, creating a sense of community and excitement around their brand, products, or services. By providing memorable experiences, retailers can build stronger connections with customers, increase foot traffic, and foster brand loyalty, ultimately driving sales and enhancing their overall market position in a competitive landscape. -- Adetutu Adeshina.

This is also happening in office districts in the post-covid WFH environment.  

People have to be induced to come back to the office ("How downtown Boston is trying to transform to attract new businesses — and customers," WBUR/NPR).  

Some firms are responding by redesigning spaces and adding amenities  ("Amenities That Encourage Employees to Return to the Office," Facilities.net, "How to Attract Workers Back to the Office in 2023," SVN Northco).

Scheduling/creating, promoting, and distributing calendars.  I think it's important to create a set of anchor events for a park, and a schedule for the year, so that these events can be promoted in an ongoing, regularized fashion.  It should be done both digitally and analog, aiming to maximize communication ("Park City crafts special-event calendar loaded with festivals, sports," Park Record).