As he wrestled with an audacious plan to turn about 800 valuable acres in the center of Manhattan into, of all things, a park, Frederick Law Olmsted would wax poetic about breath.
Central Park, he said, would become “the lungs of the city.” It would become an oasis for “the sanitary advantage of breathing.”
The purposes of parks haven’t changed much in the intervening 165 years, even if the habits of the people who use them have. And so, the new Bingham Creek Regional Park at 102nd South and 48th West, the first phase of which was opened in June, ought to make a lot of people breathe easier amid today’s sometimes suffocating proliferation of urban sprawl and endless growth.
This is not just another neighborhood park or green space. It’s meant as a destination for a region of people.
Central Park, he said, would become “the lungs of the city.” It would become an oasis for “the sanitary advantage of breathing.”
The purposes of parks haven’t changed much in the intervening 165 years, even if the habits of the people who use them have. And so, the new Bingham Creek Regional Park at 102nd South and 48th West, the first phase of which was opened in June, ought to make a lot of people breathe easier amid today’s sometimes suffocating proliferation of urban sprawl and endless growth.
This is not just another neighborhood park or green space. It’s meant as a destination for a region of people.
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