Small ideas

Parks come in different sizes.  There are national parks which can be bigger then some states, and there are tiny parks that equate to nothing bigger then a bench and perhaps a tree.  When thinking about increasing the quality of life for its citizens, cities intuitively think about parks.  This natural inclination is a good thing. 

Unfortunately, parks are not free, and if done poorly, they can become a headache instead of an asset.  Apart from being expensive to maintain, parks can also become a place where criminal activity takes place, for this and other reasons, cities need to think wisely when creating a park.  

One idea is to make the whole city a park.  Many cities have rivers or streams running through them. Unfortunately, some cities have decided to create concrete channels where rivers used to run.  But rivers are a great way to create parks.  By placing benches and trees and creating paths for walking and biking throughout the city, the whole city becomes a park.    This idea is what some people call “urban forests.”   It’s like having one of our Big national parks in our city.    A lot more can be done in this area.

But we also need smaller parks.  This would equate to having parks within the big park.  Small community parks through out the city are the key.  They can come in the form of playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis or basketball courts, or baseball or soccer fields.    A small park can be nothing more then a tennis court.  Tiny parks would be great and there wouldn’t be a need for larger parks because in essence the whole city is a park. 

Unfortunately, most cities take a medium approach.  They make medium size parks and make the have “go” to the park, instead of having parks come to community, in the case of small parks, or having the cities be parks.  Having to go to the park, takes energy and planning.  Most parks are not next to where one lives and one must often have to drive to the park.  This is undesirable.   What needs to happen is that the whole city needs to be a park, and there needs to be smaller parks within the city.