The best new urban parks in the US

[KB0679]

The Best New Urban Parks in the U.S.

In the last few years, major American cities have been hard at work designing and building spectacular urban parks, to the benefit of millions. Last week, New York City opened the first section of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85-acre green space that will redefine the look of Brooklyn’s East River waterfront. It’s only the latest in what’s fast becoming a national trend.

1. Chicago's Millenium Park



2. Houston's Discovery Green



3. St. Louis Citygarden



4. Dallas Arts District



5. New York's Brooklyn Bridge Park



6. Cincinnati's Riverfront Park (coming soon)



Not sure why the last three were cited since they're not completed yet, but that's the list.

[BTinSF]

It isn't new enough to be considered "new" I suspect (it's going on 20 years old now I think), but San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens is similar to those mentioned and one of my favorite urban spaces anywhere:




Source all images: http://www.yerbabuenagardens.com/

[ue]

Awesome list, but two very new, awesome parks that deserve mention

Jamison Square, Portland, OR


http://www.flickr.com/photos/krisschamp/2741096876/

Tanner Springs Park, Portland, OR


http://www.flickr.com/photos/pcullen/192032696/sizes/o/

Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, WA


http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenmcco...79369/sizes/l/

Millennium Park is an obvious first, I'd switch the Dallas and St. Louis ones up, put Jamison at number 3, bumping all the ones past back one, and Tanner Springs just after that Dallas Arts one. The Seattle one I'd put after Tanner Springs, which is after the Dallas Arts.

[spyguy]

Just north of Grant Park is Lakeshore East Park. It's evolving as there is still quite a bit of future development around it including more towers, a large retail center, and probably a new school.


Matt Cornish/ flickr



ArchDaily

[ue]

^Wow, that looks close to up there with Millennium. Very cool and manicured!

[KB0679]

Yes, I'm loving Lakeshore East Park. I'm hoping that our new park here in center city Charlotte will come to resemble that.

[TarHeelJ]

Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta...if 12 years old is considered "new"...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/artefaq...03419/sizes/o/

[ardecila]

Well, there's the High Line, obviously.

New Orleans is building Downriver Park. The architecture will be beautiful, but I'm not sure the park will be big enough to get noticed nationally.

[Yankee]

I absolutely love this trend, I think it's a part of a larger trend I like to call the comeback of our cities :]

Just as long as the new parks don't become places for crackheads and hipsters to vandalize and keep normal people out, and no skateboarding is allowed those parks are always wonderful places to celebrate the great cities they are located in. I agree with BTinSF about Yerba Buena Gardens in SF, it's my favorite park in SF too, and obviously Millennium Park is easily the most amazing urban park in the US. There's nothing that even compares to it.

It is a similar trend IMO to the City Beautiful movement of the turn of the century when many monuments, parks and other civic pride-evoking projects were built mainly in Chicago, Detroit and DC with the National Mall probably being the best example.

[Centropolis]

Citygarden was too conservative, really. I think there should have been more water squirting and flowing everywhere (there is a water "playground" feature), considering the inspiration of the park came partially from the regional proliferation of rivers, big and small, and considering our very warm summers. There are more chances I suppose since the a good part (if not all) of the park strip from the arch west is going to be redeveloped. /end stl naysaying.

[philvia]

Originally Posted by Yankee

I absolutely love this trend, I think it's a part of a larger trend I like to call the comeback of our cities :]

a few masterfully planned and designed parks are awesome, but it's getting a bit absurd when someone wants to turn every unused parcel of land into a public park.

i'm soooooo over this trend

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by philvia

a few masterfully planned and designed parks are awesome, but it's getting a bit absurd when someone wants to turn every unused parcel of land into a public park.

i'm soooooo over this trend

negladelphian!

[CentralGrad258]

Not exactly new (couple hundred years old actually), but Philly's Franklin Square was recently refurbished and is looking pretty good these days.

I have a hard time imagining something beating the High Line, though.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta...if 12 years old is considered "new"...

Absolutely. I was actually there a week ago, and while I have visited the park twice before, I'd never seen it so alive and full of people as I did last Saturday. It truly is a most successful park and I wish Charlotte had an uptown counterpart.

[Boquillas]

The mile-long Museum Reach stretch of the San Antonio Riverwalk opened last year. The river in this area was little more than a ditch for years-- it had no walkways, was brushy and overgrown and completely invisible from the areas surrounding. The Museum Reach added walkways, pedestrian bridges, locks for river taxis, waterfalls, numerous public art pieces, and frontage for restaurants, retail, residential and museums (like the San Antonio Museum of Art), .


mudflaps at flickr


brusselsprout77 at flickr


sarider1 at flickr


lannadelarosa at flickr

[SpawnOfVulcan]

In Birmingham, Alabama we have a new "central park" being constructed. The Railroad Reservation Park, taking up a few blocks of blighted industrial buildings in the middle of downtown (wedged between UAB and the CBD) it will have a large lake, open stream, amphitheater, etc... I can't remember when it will be completed, but it will finally bring downtown's green space up to par.


AL.com

[hauntedheadnc]

Asheville just finished transforming a series of unconnected and underutilized urban spaces in the heart of downtown into a signature park. You can learn about it here, which will have to do until I can go take some pictures of it. When the fountains in it are turned on for the season, it will be quite a sight!

[photoLith]

You cant beat Discovery Green in Houston, completed I believe around 2 years ago. Its dont wonders for downtown Houston and spurred three new towers to be built around it, and more to come soon. These are some pictures I took back in December.

[mhays]

I'm jealous. Seattle tried to build a large park on the edge of Downtown in the 90s, called the Seattle Commons. We lost at the polls twice.

A portion of our park is actually getting built, called South Lake Union Park. What's pictured here is half built, and half underway now. http://www.seattle.gov/parks/_images...P_overview.jpg

Even with SLUP, the Olympic Scupture Park (edmontonenthusiast showed photo), and others such as Cal Anderson Park, what we have is a ring of parks on the distant edges of Downtown, not close enough from the CBD for lunch hour for example.

[ue]

Originally Posted by philvia

a few masterfully planned and designed parks are awesome, but it's getting a bit absurd when someone wants to turn every unused parcel of land into a public park.

i'm soooooo over this trend

If you want, you can donate some to Canada. Canada really lacks these parks overall, why I was amazed at how many of these Portland had. And it seems many large American cities have great, modern, manicured parks and plazas. Toronto has a few (most notable HTO Park), there's one or two in Vancouver (only one I can think of that's really notable), a small one in Montreal that produces fog, and both Edmonton and Calgary are building one (with a few proposals). A lot less.