As city planning innovates and becomes more complex, parks will follow in lockstep.
Fast Co. Design reports that Thomas Woltz, principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architecture (NBW), led a team that designed the landscape for Hudson Yards in New York City. The $25 billion, 28-acre project will have 14 acres of open space with trees and flowers, all protected from the heat generated by a railway below.
As cities grow increasingly complex, with real estate at a premium and sustainability and resiliency top priorities, Woltz sees the role of parks evolving. They are now essential to the urban fabric. "As a society, we do a pretty good job of creating urban parks as destinations, but it’s important to see those destinations as connected to our daily lives via the streetscape, public transportation, the systems of storm-water management," Woltz says. "It’s about seeing [everything] as one giant complex system."
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