Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Thanks Obama! (for saving my life)

There was a conservative meme during the Obama Presidency about how bad he was for America ("‘Thanks Obama.’ The evolution of a meme that defined a presidency," Washington Post).

I had been doing some reading on the New Deal, when the US Government did so many great things.  

And that spirit of innovation marked the federal government for some time, e.g. Medicare and Medicaid were created in the 1960s, LBJ's Great Society program invested in cities and civil rights, and even Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.

Although the federal government hasn't stopped investment in science as discussed in the Michael Lewis book, The Fifth Risk, the government has become a lot more timid, which Lewis covers in his book on the response to covid, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.  

Part of this is because in our current system there is zero room for mistakes, people get excoriated--despite the venture capital community saying learning from failure works for start up culture.

(Years ago then Mayor of Baltimore O'Malley said mayors want to be second with innovation, because being first sets you up for failure.)

But the primary reason, at least in the 1970s, was a loss of confidence because of the Gas Crisis, which was a major shock to the system, from which US confidence never really recovered.

This was made worse by the neoliberalism philosophy adopted soon after ("Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems," Guardian), which exalted the market and private sector action and denigrated government as a failure.

And the anarcholibertarianism of Republicans, which militates against government generally, governance specifically, public investment and the concept of public goods, cut taxes--the revenue government needs to function, defund it, and then criticize a defunded government for acting inadequately when pressed by disaster or other great needs.

-- "You don't have to bash the federal government to make the case for local action"

I argue that because for many decades the US government overinvested in society, it was able to withstand disinvestment for some time (also see the concept of "capital shallowing").  But the Bush Administration and its failed response to Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated that the government capital surplus had finally been depleted.

A recent Reuters article, "Why Congress is becoming less productive," about how Congress is accomplishing less and less.

Government can't seem to accomplish much more than one thing, let alone great things during one four year term, maybe one, and a lot of the time, the "great thing" may not be so great.  Trump's biggest accomplishment was cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations--1/3 of the federal deficit is attributable to Bush and Trump tax cuts, so it's not much of an achievement.  

Although the Biden Administration is actually accomplishing a lot, from investments in transportation to creation of technology hubs around the country, continued investment in broadband, etc. ("Joe Biden profile," New Yorker).

Besides a great macroeconomic response (that could have been better, "Obama’s Failure to Adequately Respond to the 2008 Crisis Still Haunts American Politics," Jacobin) which warded off a depression in response to the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, the other New Deal comparable act during the Obama Administration was the expansion of health care access to the less well off, which is commonly called Obamacare, but formally is the Affordable Care Act.

Obamacare included Medicaid expansion.  Many Republican states refused to participate in this, although a number did, and over time more red states are participating, although many still not ("2024 Session: Health care a driving issue — but don't talk about Medicaid expansion," Tallahassee Democrat).  Red states tend to have much worse health outcomes than blue states because of policy choices like this ("HOW RED-STATE POLITICS ARE SHAVING YEARS OFF AMERICAN LIVES" Washington Post).

Republicans continue to denigrate Obamacare ("GOP Guv Candidate Mark Robinson on Obamacare: It’s an Effort to ‘Enslave Everybody’," Daily Beast) or try to repeal it ("Trump says he will renew efforts to replace ‘Obamacare’ if he wins a second term," AP) but are more resigned to it because it's effective and a majority of the population support it ("Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal" NBC News).

Utah joined the program in 2019, not because the state government did the right thing, but because voters approved joining the program in a referendum vote in 2018 ("What is the Status of Medicaid Expansion in Utah?" Kaiser Family Foundation).  Voter referenda have accomplished this in a number of states, in response to conservative intransigence.

I'm poor.  I don't have an advanced degree in planning, making it harder to get a job.  I'm 63.  I moved to a new place with no network of contacts.  Covid happened.  So it was even harder to find a job.  I haven't.  Now I'm pretty sick although fortunately my mind is fully intact. So I have no real income.

I'm sick.  I didn't have insurance.  I applied to Healthcare.Gov.  Almost immediately during the process it said I was eligible for Medicaid.  The process for signing up was easy.  (Although I worry about being kicked out next year, just because, see "Most People Dropped in Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Never Tried to Renew Coverage, Utah Finds" and "Halfway through ‘unwinding,’ Medicaid enrollment is down about 10 million," KFF).

Since September 

  1. I'd been diagnosed with colon cancer 
  2. had surgery for it in November, it was Stage II/III but with zero spread
  3. in post-op my troponin levels were so high it indicated a heart attack, which I didn't have, but it turned out I do have congestive heart failure
  4. the raised lymph nodes in my groin weren't colon cancer but a rare aggressive lymphoma that without treatment most people die within one year
  5. I started chemotherapy in December with immediate positive results, although it's on hiatus because of 6 and 8
  6. hospitalization for covid in February because it got worse, not better, with non-viral pneumonia and myocarditis
  7. since I had covid last March I've lost 1/3 of my body weight, I meet the definition of malnourished and I finally agreed to a feeding tube which was installed last Friday
  8. since November it turns out I had heart rhythm issues that would have resulted in death, but the doctors weren't really sure if it was bad or not, but just this week, I had a pacemaker installed on Tuesday after being called in the middle of the night and ordered to the hospital because there was a period of 12 seconds where my heart wasn't beating.

Medicaid covers it all.

Thanks Obama.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obamacare/Affordable Care Act has saved my life.

With an assist from the residents of Utah.

And bike riding for 30 years.  My father, uncle and grandfather all died at 54 or earlier from heart disease.  So I decided at 30 to bike for transportation, because I didn't think I had the perseverance to actually go regularly to the gym.  Instead my exercise would be forced by my need for transport.

But I guess I could postpone genetics but not outrun it.  I've lived almost 10 years longer than my father.  And while I have a lot of health problems at the moment, but surprisingly pretty good prognoses.  And when I get tests other than for the specific problems my organs and such show pretty well, e.g., I have no plaques in my veins, etc.  My colorectal surgeon attributes those kinds of results to the biking...

Sunday, March 17, 2024

It's hard to ward off climate change: beach replenishment failures in California and Massachusetts

A sand dune erected to protect homes in Salisbury, Massachusetts, washed away in three days. Photograph: WCVB Channel 5 Boston ("Massachusetts town grapples with sea rise after sand barrier fails," Guardian).
Last month, after a series of storms battered the area, local citizens came together to take the necessary steps to protect their homes. Volunteer organization Salisbury Beach Citizens for Change raised more than $500,000 to erect a 15,000-ton sand dune – a formidable barrier that would hopefully protect at least 15 beach houses from destruction. 

 Or so they thought. The sand dune was completed after one month in early March, but just three days later, the dune – and nearly half a million dollars – was wiped away.

Understanding the science of sand movement can make these processes work better ("Some OC Beaches Are Disappearing. New Data Gives Clues On How To Help," LAist).  

Despite periodic deliveries of sand to Oceanside beaches, they have continued to shrink. Wave patterns in the area pull the sand up the coast toward Oceanside Harbor.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Three | Planning for Climate Change/Environment

 Gaps in park master planning frameworks

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part One | Levels of Service"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Two | 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 | Art(s) in the Park(s) as a program "
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Six | Civic Engagement"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Seven | Park Architectural (and Landscape Design) History
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Eight | Second stage planning for parks using the cultural landscape framework

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-- The State of the Great Outdoors: America’s Parks, Public Lands, and Recreation Resources, Resources for the Future (2009) 
-- Addressing 21st Century Conservation Challenges to Benefit Our People, Economy, and Environment, Conservation Conversations

Climate change and national parks.  Parks with extraordinary  environmental features face big losses in the face of sustained heat.

Many of the signature parks operated by the National Park Service will sustain serious damage from climate change and managers will have to make hard choices about what elements of parks can survive and what will have to be abandoned ("Resist, accept, direct framework").

-- Green Parks Plan: Advancing the National Park Service Mission Through Sustainable Operations, third edition, NPS
-- Planning for a Changing Climate, NPS
-- Climate change in National Parks brochure
-- Park visitation and climate change, NPS
-- Parks and Climate Change, National Parks Conservation Association
- "Some U.S. national parks are trying to go carbon-free. What does that mean for visitors?," National Geographic
-- "What to Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks," New York Times
-- Plan for Climate-Smart Cities, Trust for Public Land
-- "Saving our national parks could save us too," Salt Lake Magazine
-- "How the climate crisis is forever changing our national parks," CNN

State Parks and Climate Change


Webinar: Climate Change and State Parks

Local/City/Urban Parks and Climate Change

-- How Cities Use Parks for Climate Change Management, American Planning Association
-- Parks as a climate solution, TPL
-- (Parks) adapting to climate change: Working with nature to transition our urban environment, Plante&Cité
-- Implementing Eco-Management: Concepts and practice for more nature in the city, Plante&Cité
-- "The carbon sequestration potential of urban public parks of densely populated cities to improve environmental sustainability," Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments
-- "50 Grades of Shade," Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

According to the Trust for Public Land (The Power of Parks to Address Climate Change, webpage, report) parks are good at greening.

  • Eighty-five percent of cities are adapting parks and recreation facilities to address climate change
  • Eighty percent are enlisting parks to counter urban heat
  • Seventy-six percent are improving surfaces to reduce flooding and runoff from rains
  • Twenty percent are actively managing parks and woodlands to sequester carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. 
  • Other cities are managing parks to reduce the risk of wildfire, restoring shorelines to absorb storm surges, and opting for renewable sources of energy. 
  • Cooling green space is not equitably distributed, however. Trust for Public Land analyzed the 100 most populous cities and found that the neighborhoods where most residents identify as people of color had access to an average of 43 percent less park acreage than predominantly white neighborhoods.
If 85% of cities are addressing parks and climate change, then my thesis that this is a gap in parks master planning practice is wrong.  OTOH, it's a micro versus macro scale issue.  And the reality is that the day to day operations requirements and the increased demand from the public for both more parks and more activities and facilities makes dealing with long term issues, like climate change, difficult.  

  • During heat waves now and in the future urban microclimates put human health at risk.
  • Intercepting solar radiation is the most effective way to reduce the heat load on people.
  • Reducing air temperature is the second most effective way to reduce heat loads
  • Evidence-based climate-responsive design can make parks more thermally comfortable.

Elements of a Cultural Landscape Report, from the NPS brochure on Cultural Landscapes

Planning at the landscape scale for Sugar House Park: the cultural landscape.  A way to tie the various planning approaches together is to use the cultural landscape planning framework, which looks at sites in a variety of ways.

For the purposes of Sugar House Park we should focus on the elements of land, vegetation, buildings, and history.

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Eight | Second stage planning for parks using the cultural landscape framework"

Parley's Creek and its watershed.  In the 1800s, Salt Lake City got control of most of the water rights on nearby federal lands--the canyons--which are mostly controlled by the US Forest Service.  

Water rights are controlled by Salt Lake City Public Utilities, which defines watersheds in terms of the production of culinary water, not the flow to the Great Salt Lake.

Parley's Creek and a pond are part of the Park, and part of the Jordan River watershed, which flows into the Great Salt Lake.

To SLCPU, the "watershed" ends at the mouth of the canyon and its water treatment plant.  The Creek's contribution beyond the Canyon to "the general watershed" comes from water discharges into the Creek, but past the Canyon, much of the Creek derives from storm water.  And these days we don't get a lot of rain.


Within the park the Creek is mostly daylighted, with a small section not, because it was contaminated when the site was a prison.  The Creek Management Plan provides a number of recommendations for the Creek within the Park.  But not much has been addressed since the plan was released in 2010!

As we gear up to do a new round of master planning, one element will be the Creek and pond.  

The Park is implementing a wayfinding and interpretation signage system, so we have an opportunity to do some watershed interpretation.  

On our list of things to do, we are organizing a kind of symposium of the area river and creek stakeholders so that we start moving on Creek issues.  The state has the Jordan River Commission, and the advocacy group, the Seven Canyons Trust, works on creek daylighting issues throughout the County.

There are good models for better practice.  Nearby Fairmont Park, run by the city, has done a lot with their portion of the Creek.  Fairmont has springs, which feed a fishing pond.  Fitts Park in the City of South Salt Lake, which includes Mill Creek, has done nice stabilization work around their creek too.  

Flooding/Flood control
.  In the 1980s, Salt Lake City experienced major flooding because higher than normal temperatures led to premature snow melt.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) High water levels in Salt Lake City's Sugar House Park on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.

As a result, Sugar House Park was rebuilt in part as a flood control structure.  When snowmelt is high, Public Utilities will do water discharges so that the reservoirs don't overflow.  

We don't have issues at the scale of a coastal city like Boston (Climate Ready Action Plan), but sometimes parts of the park may close because of risk management planning and flood control.  Fortunately this is an infrequent occurrence.  Last year there was flooding at the park, resulting in road closure ("Flooding at Sugar House Park means the pond is working as planned," Salt Lake Tribune). 

Water conservation. The park is a lot of grass and trees and we water it.  I need to find out about the ability to use recycled water.  I don't think Salt Lake City is set up for it.  

Parks serve many people, therefore should remain a priority for water use, compared to other institutional users.  But we need to be efficient.  We are planning to add various monitoring sensors and upgrade the irrigation system ($1 million minimum) and other equipment to address this.  

We need to collect and present information on water conservation and irrigation in our plans, on the website, etc.

Turf and plants.  Grass uses a lot of water.  Two years ago, Salt Lake City Public Utilities introduced a turf blend that uses 30% less water ("SLC's drought tolerant turf is such a hit, other communities in Utah want some," Utah NPR).  

That's something to look at, but then we have a lot of grass we'd need to dig up.  One option could be to convert some sections of the park to meadow.

-- "Urban park visitor preferences for vegetation – An on-site qualitative research study," Plants, People, Planet

Trees/arboretum.  Trees: serve as shade devices, are an equity issue, and provide environmental benefits ("‘Turn Off the Sunshine’: Why Shade Is a Mark of Privilege in Los Angeles" and "How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering," New York Times)

Planting new trees is important but faces challenges because of heat and water (Landscaping for shade, US DOE, "How Much Can Forests Fight Climate Change? A Sensor in Space Has Answers.," New York Times, "What About the Trees? Trees as Nature-Based “Shade Sails”," American Journal of Public Health, Your tree planting companion, TEAGSAC Urban Forestry Department, Ireland, "Cities Are Good at Planting Trees. They’re Not So Good at Keeping Them," Walrus).

Tree planting as a city equity measure is an important priority of the Salt Lake Mayor.

Infographic about the climate change impact of tree planting 
as part of a bus rapid transit project in Cleveland.

Over the next year we are looking to become accredited as an arboretum, which provides another opportunity for environmental interpretation, improve tree cover, do fundraising, etc.  

-- American Forests
-- TreeUtah
-- ArborDay, April 26
-- National Park City Foundation
-- International Day of Forests, March 21


-- Community Forests: A path to prosperity and connection, TPL
-- "Cities Nationwide Combat Climate Change With Urban Forests," Governing
-- "Since When Have Trees Existed Only for Rich Americans?,"  New York Times
--  "Befriending Trees to Lower a City's Temperature," New York Times
-- "Why trees in Los Angeles are political, cherished, underfunded and controversial," Los Angeles Daily News

A TreeUtah event in Fairmont Park, Salt Lake City

-- "Northeast Ohio cities work to reverse history and impacts of tree canopy loss," Ideastream/NPR
-- "Mature trees are key to liveable cities – housing intensification plans must ensure they survive," Guardian
-- "‘I’m glowing’: scientists are unlocking secrets of why forests make us happy," Guardian
-- "It takes more than trees to build a livable city," Vox
-- "How America Is Making Tree Equity a Climate Solution for Cities," TIME Magazine
-- "The surprising way that millions of new trees could transform America," National Geographic

Creating an arboretum within the park is an opportunity to develop some great guides, brochures, education programs, etc. for interpretation.

Unfortunately, as more organizations shift to digital presentation, there is no longer access to the often great materials produced in the past.  The quality of today's brochures pale by comparison.

Plus, most state and local sites don't do a very good job of putting their documents online to begin with

One of my ideas is to develop an online database of such historical documents.  The closest we have is the database of the National Park Service's online brochures for the parks, as well as other materials.  NPS archives don't have everything, but remain an incredible resource.

Fauna/biodiversity.  Participating in the Bridge Park initiative 10 years ago ("Revisiting the 11th Street Bridge Park project as an opportunity rather than a folly: a new revitalization agenda for East of the River, DC"), I was struck by how one of the design teams focused on providing food not just for people, but for flora and fauna in and along the Anacostia River.

SHP is pretty sculpted.  Lawns are well maintained without much in the way of leaf litter or other elements that support insects and other fauna  ("Species richness in urban parks and its drivers: A review of empirical evidence," "City parks vs. natural areas - is it possible to preserve a natural level of bee richness and abundance in a city park?," Urban Ecosystems). 

This is a problem for residential property too ("The ‘no mow’ movement could transform our lawns," Washington Post).  From the article:
Mowing grass too short can cut the tops off flowering plants, creating lawns that are inhospitable for pollinators seeking habitats in which to feed, rest and nest, experts say. Keeping your lawn neat and trim not only is resource-intensive but can also affect its overall health. 

 British Wildlife Photography awards. Hidden Britain Runner-up 
Flower crab spider and Honey bee, Lee Mill, Devon by Lucien Harris

... creating a pollinator lawn will take a bit more thought than just letting grass grow freely, experts say. “If you have a traditional lawn, letting the grass grow to a foot tall or whatever it would be at the end of May is no value whatsoever,” says Susan Carpenter, native plant garden curator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. Grass that long could be harmful to lawn health and become a mowing nightmare.
The park has some insects ("What urban nature really means for insect biodiversity," Horizon: The EU research and information magazine), birds ("Urban parks are a refuge for birds in park-poor areas," Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution), and maybe some small animals like raccoons.

To expand fauna diversity, perhaps we should install bat houses and beehives.  We do have a community garden, and are looking to create another.

Of the entire park, only a small section along the Creek is "more wild."  

Mows to Meadow Project in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park is converting some grass areas to meadows planted with native plants.

We may wish to stop mowing some parts of the park to increase opportunities for fauna ("Meadow Developing in Flagstaff Park to Restore Habitat," Cambridge, Massachusetts).

The south side of the park abuts the I-80 freeway so it's very noisy.  

Long term, we could deal with UDOT to increase plantings on the abutting embankment to support fauna (Roadside Best Management Practices that Benefit Pollinators, FHWA) and reduce noise (that section of freeway used to be part of the park).  

How much do we manage the park for people and for fauna is a question definitely not posed by the existing master plan.

Ducks and dogs as disease vectors
.  Sadly, because of the pond, the park has a hell of a lot of ducks.

Which end up contributing e. coli to the Jordan River watershed, which in turn flows into the Great Salt Lake.  

Who knew e. coli could be a park management issue.  

Errant dog owners who don't clean up after their pets are big contributors too.

Plus people feed inappropriate food like bread to the ducks.  We have signs up, but it doesn't matter.

Carbon neutrality/greenhouse gas emissions, etc.Ellinikon Park (designer website, Ellinikon Experience Park website), under construction in Athens, Greece has the goal of being carbon neutral--increase carbon sequestration, limit or avoid emissions, and reuse embodied carbon--but it will take 35 years to accomplish.  ("Carbon-First Design: The Ellinikon Metropolitan Park in Athens," ASLA).


Should that be a goal for Sugar House Park?  While grass clippings are left on the grass, we don't compost from trees and shrubs.  That's an issue.  Can we improve our energy use?  We are bystanders to the Salt Lake Valley's air quality problems ("Reaching for Air: The Salt Lake Valley’s pollution problem can be solved. Will Utah leaders act?" and "Reaching for Air: The price Utahns pay for poor air quality," Salt Lake Tribune) but by planting more trees, etc., we can help on that score.

Transportation demand management.  Despite all the media coverage about how environmentally-conscious Utah is, the fact is that the predominate land use and transportation planning paradigm is sprawl.  While there is a transit system that is decent for what it is, but most everyone drives.

Motor vehicles significantly contribute to the air quality problem.  A lot of patrons come to the park by car.  Can we reduce our park's contribution to the problem by working to improve biking and transit options for getting to the park?

Klyde Warren Park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway, Dallas (History).

Noise/Freeway decking/capping.  To deal with aesthetics, noise, and opportunity, I have a crazy idea to deck/cap the freeway section like Klyde Warren Park in Dallas or the Big Dig in Boston.  

Many cities are pursuing such projects ("Philly’s other big I-95 project to start: A cap with an 11.5-acre waterfront park, South St. pedestrian bridge," Philadelphia Inquirer, "Feds grant $450 million toward I-5 freeway caps in North Portland’s Albina district," Portland Oregonian," "Interstate 5 in Downtown Seattle: Put a Lid on It?," Seattle Met).

Because the section next to the park (it was part of the park before the freeway was built) is so big--40 acres--it presents better opportunities compared to most other cities.  It would cost hundreds of millions and take at least a decade to plan and build.

Climate change effects on park visitors

Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park, Pacoima, California. Thermal radar shows the differences in heat on a basketball court after reflective paint coatings were applied. 

Sun and heat.  Parks need to acknowledge heat and climate as issues that can suppress park use.  For example, brutal heat in July and August means kids probably stay inside. 

We have an open basketball court at Sugar House Park, and last summer I went up to some teens and asked them questions about what they thought about the amenities.

They mentioned shade was an issue commenting how they liked the trees that were there.  I came back with suggestions like an additional (perhaps temporary) small shade structure, misters, and adding more trees as shade devices--we can take out a bit of asphalt and add trees.  They also mentioned their desire for a water bottle filler at the nearby restrooms. 


Reflective paint to reduce thermal effects.  Special reflective paints are a way to reduce the effect of heat on roads--the park loop road includes separated walking and biking lanes, concrete pads, courts and other facilities ("As heat waves increase, Los Angeles is coating some streets with ‘cool pavement’," Los Angeles Times, "This L.A. neighborhood's 'cool pavements' help it beat the intense heat," NBC).

Shade screens and mistersA park in South Salt Lake, Fitts Park, has a shade screen over their playground, and it makes a significant different in heat between shade and sun.  Surprisingly, shade screens are few and far between.  

Phoenix and some other cities have developed community shade plans with parks and open spaces being key to responding to the challenges presented.

-- Tree and Shade master plan, Phoenix

Playground equipment gets super hot in the sun.  The Washington Post had a great article, "Kids getting burned on swings and slides? Here’s how to fix it," about research on heat and playgrounds.

-- Guide to Climate Friendly Playgrounds, Western Sydney University
-- "Outdoor playgrounds and climate change: Importance of surface materials and shade to extend play time and prevent burn injuries," Building and Environment (2022)

Shade screens can make a 20° or more difference between shade and direct sunlight.

Hydration. An issue.  Should we have more water stations?  It turns out over 80% of the park's budget is spent on utilities including "culinary water."

Kurt Amuedo, a third grader at University Park Elementary in Denver, Colorado, displays poster protesting air pollution for Earth Day. Denver Post.

Climate change as an opportunity for civic engagement within parks and parks systems

Sustainability education.  Dealing with climate change as it effects a local park is the opportunity for teaching and learning about the environment.  

Repositioning environmental issues around sustainability leads to renewed interest and innovative approaches to issues.

 When I worked in Baltimore County in 2009/2010, I was struck by the rise in interest and involvement in sustainability.  At the time many communities were creating sustainability plans, colleges and universities and other institutions renewed their environmental initiatives around sustainability, communities like Baltimore created sustainability commissions.  There was definitely a participation boost.

We can categorize participation as external or internal:

  • External: "ambassador" programs that engage with patrons, treating the park campus as an outdoor classroom and holding workshops for students, events like Montgomery County's GreenFest 
  • Internal: planting trees, doing park clean ups, conducting citizen science projects like measuring water quality in Parley's Creek

Sugar House Park has a "Garden Center," that has been under-active.  We can reposition it around Gardening and the Environment, add a slew of activities and programs, making it a leading node within a network of top notch outdoor education centers in the Salt Lake Valley. 

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Community Gardens as Community Building and Neighborhood Stabilization in Weak Markets

Empty buildings and lots are a revitalization issue in weak real estate markets.  As a preservationist, I prefer not to tear down buildings.  

But when you don't have enough people to populate your empty housing, buildings deteriorate and people advocate for demolition, not recognizing in a weak market that improving an empty lot is even harder than fixing an empty house.  By contrast, in strong markets there is demand for alternative uses.

Philadelphia Land Bank Managing Director Adam Thiel walks past an empty lot with trash piling up from illegal dumping and littering along 29th Street in Strawberry Mansion on Feb. 23. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia Horticultural Society has been a leading light in neighborhood stabilization for 20+ years. 

To address the problem of empty lots, they've created community gardens, ideally getting those lots held in trust, or sold to abutting property owner.

Research has found that community gardens helps stabilize blocks and neighborhoods, including a measurable reduction in crime ("Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear").

-- National Garden Trust does the same thing on a much smaller scale.  They've found that the Philadelphia Land Bank, a government agency, hasn't been effective with support for these kinds of garden-creating initiatives.

Other groups operate in this space too.  I've always thought cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore have had stronger sets of active creative revitalization organizations because they have no choice but to be innovative and creative.

-- Philadelphia Horticultural Society Green Resource Centers In close collaboration with community partners, PHS operates five Green Resource Centers (GRCs). The GRCs are local community hubs where PHS propagates and distributes thousands of organic vegetable seedlings for community gardens and production sites enrolled in our programs. The GRCs also serve as spaces for workshops, volunteering and much more.

-- Grounded in Philly A resource ecosystem for urban agriculture in Philadelphia that provides access to data on vacant land throughout Philadelphia and offers resources to individuals interested in starting or preserving community-based vacant land projects.

-- Gardening without ownership

-- Philadelphia Horticultural Society Tree Tenders A program that teaches the basics of tree planting, tree care and how to gather communities around the importance of trees.

-- Nicetown and Tioga Love where you live Greening Plan, public space cleaning, greening and stabilization plan for two Philadelphia neighborhoods 

-- Philadelphia Orchard Project . A nonprofit organization that works with community-based groups and volunteers to plan and plant orchards of useful and edible plants. 


-- Soil Generation.  A coalition of brown and black gardeners, famers and community members working to ensure how land is used, address community health concerns, grow food and improve the environment. 

-- American Community Gardening Association.  A national nonprofit working toward increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening. Resource guides provides discounts, a public forum and other publications and tools. 

-- Vacant Land 215.  A comprehensive self-guide for gardeners looking to maintain or create community spaces on resource from out vacant land. 

-- The Public Interest Law Center: Garden Justice Legal Initiative Provides pro bono legal support, policy research and advocacy, and community education and organizing to community gardeners and market farmers.

-- "Can "cleaned and greened" lots take on the role of public greenspace," Journal of Planning Education and Research

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In Salt Lake there is a community garden on the Sugar House Park campus.  And we are hoping to get a grant to have Utah State University Extension to put in a garden for their senior nutrition food security program, although with developing a fruit tree growing program and a small outbuilding for workshops.

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Wilder Mile project, Southwark, London
"Wilder’s goal is to wild one square mile in Southwark, central London by creating a network of people, projects and companies all committed to improving biodiversity. This could be anything from transforming a concrete space into a wildlife garden to putting up a bird box or building a pallet planter and filling it with butterfly friendly plants. No intervention is too small."

Monday, March 11, 2024

Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Two | Academic Research as Guidance

 Gaps in park master planning frameworks

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part One | Levels of Service"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Two | 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 | Art(s) in the Park(s) as a program "
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Six | Civic Engagement"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Seven | Park Architectural (and Landscape Design) History
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Eight | Second stage planning for parks using the cultural landscape framework


CDC image. Strategies to increase physical activity.

Using academic research for evidence-based objective guidance. When parks master plans don't have specific guidance about facilities or what to do, I think we can and should reference evidence-based academic research, focusing on those studies with findings that demonstrate in practical ways for engaging people in outdoor recreation and fitness activities.

That way decisions are made on an objective, informed basis--rather than responding to current expressed needs like pickleball or adding a splash pad without thinking through the issue(s) in a time consuming, more complicated manner.

(Coordination of resources is important too.  SHP is basically a 110 acre dog park, but not officially.  Some people want there to be a dog park. OTOH, there is a city regional park a few blocks away with a beautiful 2.5 acre dog park.  We don't need to duplicate.)

The studies, "The First National Study of Neighborhood Parks Implications for Physical Activity," American Journal of Preventative Medicine (2016) and System of Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC)  identified particular facilities as key to getting people to visit and be active in their local parks:

  • basketball hoops
  • dog parks
  • playgrounds
  • restrooms
  • recreation and senior centers (indoor facilities)
  • splash pads.
By focusing on increasing usership and participation, greater physical activity and individual improvements in health should result.

Planners at Salt Lake County Parks say adding a splash pad to a playground makes it festival-like, with hordes of users.  Columbia Heights, DC.

The Trust for Public Land ParkScore® measure uses this list of facilities as part of their ratings of park systems.

-- "The First National Study of Neighborhood Parks Implications for Physical Activity, American Journal of Preventative Medicine (2016)
-- Resources on playgrounds Studio Ludo, 
-- American Fitness Index
-- Active People, Healthy Nation, CDC
-- Play Provocations: What play can do for a city, Bentway Toronto
-- "Playground Design: Contribution to Duration of Stay and Implications for Physical Activity," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2023)

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Sunday, March 10, 2024

Designing spaces (sticky spaces) for use, flexibility: park benches, picnic tables

See the Boston Globe article, "'Sticky' places are urban planning lifelines."  From the Guardian article "The power of the picnic bench":

A picnic table, meanwhile, can be the place for a meeting, a spot to host a party, or even just somewhere to eat your lunch with relative ease and comfort. More than this, they can involve a community in their space and give them a personal stake in it. If this sounds like fanciful, highfalutin stuff, then let me tell you about one picnic bench in particular. 

One day a picnic table appeared outside Pembroke House, a community space in Walworth, south London. It had been left over from a nearby party which had spilled onto the grass outside. Mike Wilson, Pembroke House’s manager, tells me that shortly after the table arrived, things began to happen: “Dog walkers who had passed each other every day without speaking started to sit down at the table for a chat. People waiting for events in Pembroke House to start would sit down to wait together.” After seeing what a difference it made, the bench’s original owner decided to leave it there for everyone to use.

The Pembroke House team now regularly hold their meetings at the picnic table, and rarely get through one without being interrupted by someone stopping to say hello and find out what’s going on. When being interviewed by consultants about their success in the community, Wilson showed them the picnic table, and immediately a neighbour interrupted to tell them what a difference Pembroke House and this table had made to him. The final testament to this extraordinary piece of outdoor furniture is from the local tenants, who were so impressed with the “bench effect” that they secured funding from the local council’s Cleaner Greener Safer project to install more street furniture around the local area. 

The humble picnic table may not be trendy, and may even look a little naff, but it’s cheap, and with today’s disappearing budgets that can only be a good thing. The discerning landscape architect, cautious of their aesthetic can install a designer alternative, but the cheap and cheerful traditional wooden version can’t be beaten. Try it as an easy addition to your local green space or community garden and see what a difference it makes.

A park bench is for reading a book, resting halfway up a hill, or contemplating the view.

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Saturday, March 09, 2024

Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part One | Defining Levels of Service for individual parks

 Gaps in park master planning frameworks

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part One | Levels of Service"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Two | 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 | Art(s) in the Park(s) as a program "
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Six | Civic Engagement"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Seven | Park Architectural (and Landscape Design) History
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Eight | Second stage planning for parks using the cultural landscape framework


While covid kept me somewhat quiescent in terms of civic involvement in Salt Lake after first moving here, eventually I ended up getting involved in parks (and other development matters).  I am on the board of Sugar House Park, which is owned by both the city and county, so it has some interesting intergovernmental issues. 

Working on revitalization in DC, where the National Park Service runs many of the "local" parks, general federal-local government issues, and being on the board of Eastern Market public market for 13 years definitely prepared me for the issues present here.  

-- "Revisiting Trust for Public Land's Park Score® methodology" (2017)
-- "Federal shutdown as another example of why local jurisdictions should have more robust contingency and master planning processes" (2013)
-- "Testimony: Agency Performance Oversight, DC Department of Parks and Recreation" (2012) 

One problem with the board is that the city and county haven't invested in board development, and for the most part over the years, the board has taken a back seat to the executive branch members of the board--there are seven "lay members" and one each from city and county parks.

My background in planning, including parks planning, gives me/the board a knowledge base they didn't have access to before.  

-- "Sounds familiar to me: recommendations from a guy who visited every park in Boston" (2017): 

There is tension between being a more active or a more passive board.  Lack of investment in board development, and real complications in planning and capital budgeting between city and county have led to some problems.

Fortunately there are a couple of other "new members" who are super go getters too.  We have so much to do.  Without them though, I'd just be an old guy yelling into the wind.  But, like my brief planning job in Baltimore County proved I could do great work and work within a system--despite the lack of a degree in planning, I am helping to transform parks practice in Salt Lake City.

One thing that's interesting given how much I advocated for parks in DC and all the parks master plans I've read over the years, is identifying a number of gaps in the master plan frameworks for parks, more generally.  A bunch of items I just didn't think about until I had to.

This seven-part series covers the gaps I've identified so far.

Level of service as a public administration term

The term Level of Service is typically thought of as a transportation term referring to vehicle throughput, functioning of intersections, etc.  

It turns out that there is an International Standard (ISO 55000) for asset management, which defines levels of service as: 

…parameters, or combination of parameters, which reflect social, political, environmental and economic outcomes that the organization delivers.  These parameters might include metrics such as: 

  • Safety 
  • Customer expectations and satisfaction 
  • Quality 
  • Quantity 
  • Capacity 
  • Reliability 
  • Responsiveness 
  • Environmental acceptability 
  • Availability 
  • Cost

Levels of Service defined at the scale of a park system. LOS is a term used in park planning at the scale of the system ("Standards for Outdoor Recreational Areas," American Planning Association) and it's used to measure the amount of space and facilities available to residents at a gross-grained scale. 

Special levels of service demands for business districts and parks. LOS as a term isn't used that often at the micro scale in discussions about "parks conservancies" and business improvement districts, even though providing a LOS higher than a city can typically afford is exactly why such organizations have been created.--and they collect special monies to pay for it.  

For either a BID or a conservancy extra services are likely to include security, sanitation, capital improvements and marketing and for BIDs, economic development activities.  

Conservancies and BIDs as special service districts. NYC is well known for its park conservancies, starting with Central Park.  

-- Public spaces/private money: The Triumphs and Pitfalls of Urban Park Conservancies, Trust for Public Land
-- "Creating a Park Conservancy that Fits," NRPA

Discussions for creating a conservancy for Central Park started in the 1970s and came to fruition in the early 1980s.  The city agreed to provide a certain level of personnel and budget, with transfer of active management of the park to the third party nonprofit, which raised additional monies for staff, maintenance and improvements.

New York City has since developed many such groups for parks and and business districts.  Brooklyn's Prospect Park Alliance was created in 1987 and the Madison Square Park Conservancy in 2003.

The Bryant Park Conservancy was created in 1980 and its revitalization is a well known story in planning circles ("Inside the transformation of Bryant Park," New York Daily News, "Splendor in the Grass," New York Times, Bryant Park case study, "Life of Bryant: Bryant Park’s Transformation Into the Center of Midtown" "Lessons from NYC’s Bryant Park must guide James Weldon Johnson Park’s redesign" Jaxson, "A Place Is Better Than a Plan: Revitalizing urban areas is best done through small improvements, not grand designs,:" City Journal, "Bryant Park, NY: Publicly Owned, Privately Managed, and Financially Self-Supporting" Project for Public Spaces)  and is a good model for other communities--although New York City has an advantage because of its great wealth-- because the park is smaller, only 10 acres,  compared to large scale parks like Central Park or Prospect Park.

Criticism of conservancies and BIDs as privatization of the public space and civic commons.  Note that these kinds of initiatives can be controversial both locally and in the academic literature.  These are legitimate criticisms.  At the same time if you want better places, it costs money and this method may be the only way a community can provide the LOS in terms of management, operations, and capital improvements it wants for its key/anchor/signature civic assets.

-- "Stewarding the City as Commons: Parks Conservancies and Community Land Trusts Community Land Trusts " City University of New York Law Review
-- Private Funding of Public Parks Assessing the Role of Philanthropy , Resources for the Future
-- "Our Parks Are Not for Sale: From the Gold Coast of New York to the Venice Biennale," Dissent
--" Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Challenges in Managing Philanthropic Support for Public Services," Public Administration Review
-- "Park (in)Equity," Deconstructing the High Line: Post Industrial Urbanism and the Rise of the Elevated Park

Sugar House Park is a conservancy.  Technically.  But it hasn't created the innfrastructure and capacity to take advantage of this status.  Plus, Salt Lake City, unlike NYC, isn't full of wealth, although there are plenty of philanthropic opportunities that the park can seek out.  

To my way of thinking, from the standpoint of Social Psychology of Organizations, the group is on the cusp of moving from a more ad hoc structure to one that is more organized and active.  (A move from a stage one organization to stage two.)

Uncleared sidewalks from 1300 East to Sugar House Park.

Levels of Service at the scale of an individual park is an issue with Sugar House Park. 

It's an urban park, a regional park serving all of the County, but it's also heavily used by city as well as neighborhood residents.  The neighborhood is pretty densely populated, leading to even higher use.

But the County, which is contracted to maintain the park, and provides key administrative and planning support, mostly doesn't manage parks in center cities, with all the issues that such park locations may have-- security, homelessness (Dealing With Crime and Disorder in Urban Parks, ASU POP Center) and other issues like snow clearance to maintain winter access that are not typical of suburban parks .

Finding the money to provide the necessary level of "extra service" is difficult because we have to get agreement from both the city and the county, and as park systems, because Sugar House Park is simultaneously part of both, and yet separate, not part of either system, this can be a long process.

At the scale of parks master planning, it's important to come up with a LOS typology for individual parks/parks at the micro scale, and provide the desired LOS as needed.

And that's what I'm in the process of trying to do with Sugar House Park.  

"Why is our meager budget earned from pavilion rentals paying for security?" or "why can't the City Public Utilities agency help pay for dredging the pond since it is part of their watershed?" or "why don't we have better snow clearance?" are the kinds of questions that I've been asking and should lead to significant changes over time.

Developing a LOS dashboard.  I don't manage the park.  The County is developing a dashboard for the park system and individual parks, focused on state of good repair.  To address the issue of differentiated level of service requirements, we need a checklist/chart/dashboard.  That's the best way to justify the recommendations, decisions and choices you make, based on demand for quantity and quality of particular services.  It would include items such as:

  • Security services
  • Restroom services
  • Maintenance standards/State of Good Repair
  • Ornamental plantings
  • Lighting (morning, night, winter)
  • Types of street furniture
  • The array of programming offered
  • The type and operation of facilities
  • Special facilities like bike share stations
  • Snow clearance practice
  • Hours of operation


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