Park planners from Denmark recently toured some of New York's parks and found much to be jealous of.
"To its natives, New York may look like a city on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But to a team of Danes from the Copenhagen parks department, on a grand tour of New York's finest parks this week, everything appeared to be coming up roses. Or at least flowers."
"'In your parks, you have so many more flowers than we do,' said Jon Pape, the director the Copenhagen parks system, gesturing at a spray of burgundy buds in Hunts Point's Riverside Park in the Bronx. 'This is very expensive.'"
"In Copenhagen, flowering plants are particularly hard to maintain because the public parks are without pesticides."
"That Copenhagen could have dirtier parks than New York seems to subvert the natural order of things - next we'll start hearing that the Danes are also pushier in line and are even more insistent that they get better tables whenever they eat out. But the public-private model of funding for parks that has helped New York's green spaces thrive is a harder sell in Denmark, where high taxes quell spontaneous civic donations."
FULL STORY: Danes Come Down With a Case of Park Envy
Report: How to Fund NYC Parks
A set of 20 creative suggestions for increasing parks revenue.
Former Landfill Doubles as Public Park, Energy Producer
Once the world’s largest dump, Freshkills Park now offers new city park space and powers local households with biofuel.
Expressway Expansion Could Threaten Brooklyn Bridge Park
Supporters of the waterfront park worry NYCDOT’s plan to potentially widen the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway could reduce green space in “one of the most expensive urban parks ever built.”
What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities
How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.
USDOT Revokes Approval for NYC Congestion Pricing
Despite the administration’s stated concern for the “working class,” 85 percent of Manhattan commuters use public transit to enter the city.
Tiny House Villages for Addressing Homelessness: An Interview with Yetimoni Kpeebi
One researcher's perspective on the potential of tiny homes and owner-built housing as one tool to fight the housing crisis.
Preserving Altadena’s Trees: A Community Effort to Save a Fire-Damaged Landscape
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena Green is working to preserve fire-damaged but recoverable trees, advocating for better assessment processes, educating homeowners, and protecting the community’s urban canopy from unnecessary removal.
The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.
Investigation Reveals Just How Badly California’s Homeless Shelters are Failing
Fraud, violence, death, and chaos follow a billion dollar investment in a temporary solution that is proving ineffective.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research