Island Oases: Urban Open Space Values and Trends

Abstract

Urban open offers many benefits to the communities where they are found. However, as John Muir pointed out many years ago, they, along with many units of our National Park system, frequently find themselves under attack. Much has changed since the days when John Muir set out to know natural areas and to open the minds of Americans to their value, or have things really changed little? This bibliography of books and articles will be expanded into a bibliographic essay in the next issue of the Electronic Green Journal followed by a case study devoted to the current state of open in the Valley of the Sun, Arizona, one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. Images and interviews will highlight present perceptions as well as the future vision for this network of open options ranging from community gardens for the hungry; city greenbelts for storm water catchments and recreation; riparian zones for water recharge and wildlife; lakes for recreation and flood control; canals for irrigation, biking, walking, and equestrian uses; and county parks with high desert peaks for rock climbing, habitat preservation, mountain biking, and hiking. Urban open offers the essential breathing room that Muir advocated from the perspective of multiuse partnerships, which have become a standard of conservationists worldwide. The wonderful advance made in the last few years-in creating four national parks in the West and 30 forest reservations embracing nearly 40 million acres, and in the planting of the borders of streets and highways and spacious parks in all the great cities to satisfy the natural taste and hunger for landscape beauty and righteousness that God has put, in some measure, into every human being and animal-shows the trend of awakening public opinion. Even good men opposed the making of the far-famed New York Central Park. With misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity, but straight, right won its way and now that park is appreciated (John Muir, The American Wilderness in the Words of John Muir, p. 191). Books A wide variety of books have addressed the topic of urban open from a diverse array of perspectives, cultures, and time periods. Graduate student theses at various levels are common and most volumes deal with social or political elements, such as land values or crime, in the creation or maintenance of urban open space. However, a few titles concern themselves with biological or ecological factors related more to wildlife than human life. Most of the authors listed here address the topic of urban open from the widest possible point of view while a few focused on specific habitats such as roof tops, school grounds, or cemeteries. By and large, specific management plans for specific cities have not been included as there are hundreds, though the historical developments of New York's Central Park and Boston's park system are included along with a few international representatives for comparison purposes. 1. Allen, Joan W. (1984). From park to atrium: Shaping the changing pattern of open in the urban suburbs. Unpublished master's thesis, George Washington University, Washington, DC. 2. Altman, Irwin, & Ervin H. Zube. (1989). Public places and spaces. New York: Plenum Press. 3. American Society of Landscape Architects. (1993). Urban regional and national greenways and open space: Proceedings from selected sessions, 1993 ASLA annual meeting, Chicago, IL. Washington DC: American Society of Landscape Architects. 4. Au, Chi-wai David. (1993). A review of urban green space (open amenity area) planning in Hong Kong. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hong Kong. 5. Balmer, Kenneth Russell. (1972). Urban open planning in England and Wales. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England. 6. Balshaw, Maria, & Liam Kennedy. (2000). Urban and representation. …