Public Parks: The Key to Livable Communites (Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks) (Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, ... Engineering): The Key to Livable Communities - Hardcover

Alexander Garvin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393732797 ISBN 13: 9780393732795

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., 2011

Synopsis

Huge budgets are spent on restoring and creating new parks. Planner Alexander Garvin explains the rationales for their existence, the forms they take, their value, ways to pay for and govern them and the ingredients that make successful parks, providing the first single definitive source of wisdom about them. The book includes everything that landscape architects, architects, planners, civic officials and citizen activists need to know about the critical role of public parks.

About this title

Review:

Garvin provides a great resource to professionals in the park and city planning, design and management realms, as well as to citizen activists and civic officials . . . . [A] 'user's manual' for how to develop, design and manage parks, from 'Site Selection' to 'Finance and Governance'--two of 12 chapters that are replete with examples and beautiful color photos taken (mostly) by Garvin himself.-- (01/25/2016)

This book offers those involved with park planning a firm grounding in park history and an opportunity to get excited about the possibilities for the future. Knowing where parks came from is an important step in understanding where they can go from here. . . . [U]seful for students, designers, planners, and citizen groups looking for a solid background in the history of parks and the park development process.-- (05/01/2014)

...an excellent book...the quality of human life that parks allow is celebrated in this book. Recommended.-- (05/01/2014)

All planning books should be this much fun to read.-- (05/01/2014)

[A]n attractive, useful and enjoyable assembly of history, analysis and case studies. . . . [W]ell illustrated...beautifully designed and produced.-- (05/01/2014)

This book contains everything that almost anyone (citizen activists, public officials, professional landscape architects, architects, and planners) needs to know about the critical role public parks play in creating livable communities.-- (05/01/2014)

[S]ets the standard for urban park theory and design.-- (05/01/2014)

Public parks are not a frill, but essential to the idea of community and, even more, to the idea of democracy. In this thorough, erudite, and civilizing work, the planner Alexander Garvin explains how parks came to be, how they are quite literally the common ground our culture seeks, and how the design of public parks can affect urban well-being.-- (05/01/2014)

As cities explode exponentially or implode dramatically, the quality of the public realm will become increasingly significant to social well-being in the 21st century. More than ever before, public parks have the potential to humanize our existence in the contemporary urban world. The authoritative voice of Alex Garvin opens our eyes to what it takes to create great parks--how to design, finance, manage, and behave in them. Anyone who loves cities will applaud the lessons of this heroic book, that a good public park is at the heart of a democratic, sustainable society.-- (05/01/2014)

About the Author:

Alexander Garvin heads a planning and design firm and lives in New York. He is an adjunct professor of urban planning and management at Yale University.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0393732797
• ISBN 13: 9780393732795
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224