Linear park

A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear parks include everything from wildlife corridors to riverways to trails, capturing the broadest sense of the word. Other examples include rail trails ("rails to trails"), which are disused railroad beds converted for recreational use by removing existing structures. Commonly, these linear parks result from the public and private sectors acting on the dense urban need for open green space. Linear parks stretch through urban areas, coming through as a solution for the lack of space and need for urban greenery. They also effectively connect different neighborhoods in dense urban areas as a result, and create places that are ideal for activities such as jogging or walking. Linear parks may also be categorized as greenways. In Australia, a linear park along the coast is known as a foreshoreway. When being designed, linear parks appear unique as they are planned around the public's opinion of how the space will affect them.

North America

Possibly the earliest example is the Emerald Necklace, which consists of a , or 445 hectare chain of parks linked by parkways (a broad, landscaped highway)''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. The name comes from the way the planned chain appears to hang from the "neck" of the Boston peninsula. This system of linear parks was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to connect the Boston Commons and Public Garden (1837) to Franklin Park (Boston), also known as the "crown jewel" of Olmstead's work in Boston. The project began around 1878 with efforts to clean up and control the marshy area which later became the Back Bay and the Fens. In 1880, Olmsted proposed that the Muddy River be included in the park plan as the current dredged into a winding stream and was directed into the Charles River. Olmsted's vision of a linear park of walking paths along a gentle stream connecting numerous small ponds was complete by the turn of the century, but never completed the section to Boston Harbor. The subsequent development of the automobile industry and roads severely disrupted the original concept.

In recent years, a prevalent example of a linear park that has seen more visitors is the High Line in New York City. The High Line is a 1.45-mile long rail trail and greenway, having been built on a historic rail line as well as constructed to have greenery all throughout. It serves its purpose as a linear park by connecting neighborhoods throughout while appearing aesthetically pleasing. Historically targeted for demolition, the High Line has been transformed into an extraordinary elevated park that allows for activities such as sight-seeing and exercise, creating a new dynamic living experience within the city. Overcoming demolition as an unused industrialized area, the ingenuity of the High Line has fast become motivation for other cities to follow suit and build smarter. Notably, the High Line's annual budget is funded almost entirely by park-goers, though it is operated under the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation license agreement.

In some cities, many linear parks run through residential areas. In this case, the front of the house will face the streets, while the back faces a small linear park containing a pathway, trees and grass connecting different areas together. Examples are numerous in some Canadian cities such as Saskatoon. Houses connected with linear parks are more common in suburban and rural areas where space is much less in-demand.

Equity and Inclusion

A linear park system advocating for equity and inclusion is the BeltLine, currently being planned and built in sections in Atlanta, Georgia. Similar to the High Line, part of the foundation for this project consisted of reclaiming 22-miles(35.4 km) of historic and unused rail trails. Totaling 33-miles, the BeltLine will completely encircle Atlanta's central business districts, including a trail and light rail line on the existing tracks instead of another road. The mission and vision of Atlanta's BeltLine is to geographically balance out resident demographics within the city, allowing for all associated to the BeltLine to benefit and prosper economically.

Europe

In England, linear parks have also been created around waterways, especially in cities where the terrain is such that rivers and brooks have significant flood plains. Such land cannot sensibly be used for urban development and so it is set aside as a civic amenity. The settlement Milton Keynes makes extensive use of linear parks, with nine different examples that include the flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks). In the UK, Milton Keynes ranked highest in a national comparison of open urban areas available to residents.

In Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire, the Lee Valley Park is a linear park, stretching for long, much of it green spaces running along the flood plains of the River Lea from the River Thames to Ware, through areas such as Stratford, Clapton, Tottenham, Enfield, Walthamstow, Cheshunt, Broxbourne and Hoddesdon in an area renowned as the Lea Valley. Greater London's largest park, Lee Valley Park is more than four times the size of Richmond Park, extending beyond Greater London's borders into the neighboring counties of Hertfordshire and Essex.

A more recent example of a linear park is the Berlin Mauerpark, which was built on a part of the former Berlin Wall area and its adjacent former death strip.

Planty Park