Thing: Recycled Urban Parks

We have heard so much about the opening Section 2 of the High Line, but did you know that reuse of existing structures such as the former rail structure is part of a growing trend? Here are some other innovate reuse projects that add greenery to cities:

Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is in construction with several sections already open, will span 85 acres and just over a mile along the East River. When fully complete, it will be filled with lawns, recreation, benches and landscaped areas and repurpose underused and inaccessible land into an urban park with views of downtown Manhattan and the New York harbor.

Courtesy of brooklynpaper.com

Chicago: The Millennium Park, which opened in 2004, is a nearly 25-acre park built over an active railroad. It serves as a center for art and music and features impressive architecture and landscape design.

Courtesy of britannica.com

Dallas: The Park, currently in construction, is the conversion of a just over five acres of a freeway into a green urban park. As the center of Dallas’ art district, The Park will serve as a common lawn and focal point for outdoor activities.

Courtesy of theparkdallas.org

Seattle: Just over 19 acres, the Gas Works Park sits on the former site of the Seattle Gas Light Company’s gasification plant. Some of the original elements of the plant stand as ruins, while others have been repurposed into a children’s play barn.

Courtesy of archpaper.com

Proposed Parks:

Brooklyn: Not only does A Tree Grow in Brooklyn, but a whole campground will soon call this part of New York home. The Brooklyn Airport Campground is the conversion of the former Brooklyn Airport into 600 additional campgrounds (in addition to the five established campgrounds).

Courtesy of inhabitat.com

Chicago: The Bloomingdale Trail is a proposed three-mile-long elevated park that will be built on a former rail line that runs through Chicago.

Courtesy of bloomingdaletrail.org

Hollywood: A spawn of the Dallas project is the Hollywood Freeway Central Park, a proposed conversion of 24 acres of a freeway, into “green community spaces.” This will be implemented by putting a cap over the highway and building a park on top of the cap.

Courtesy of curbednetwork.com

There are so many innovative reuse projects that this list can go on (almost) forever. What is your favorite reuse project? What sites would you like to see revamped and repurposed?

Person: An Interview with Andrew Newman

MillionTreesNYC, a component of PlaNYC, is a citywide, public and private program created with the goal of planting and caring for one million trees across New York City’s five boroughs by 2030. We caught up with Andrew Newman, a project coordinator for MillionTreesNYC, NYC Parks.

Q. What is PlaNYC?

A. PlaNYC is Mayor Bloomberg’s environmental initiative to accommodate increased population growth in New York City. The plan is composed of over one hundred various programs that relate to air, water, and land. MillionTreesNYC deals with two of these components: planting new trees on streets and private property and reforesting 2,000 acres of parkland.

Q. Why was MillionTreesNYC established?

A. MillionTreesNYC was established in October 2007 as a joint initiative between the public and private sector to effectively increase NYC’s overall tree canopy coverage (the amount of above-ground surface area covered by the tree’s crown) by while engaging New Yorkers in the greening process. Our population has been estimated to grow by at least one million by the year 2030 and new parkland, forests, and street trees will help prepare our city to meet the challenges posed by changing climate and demographics.

Q. Why plant on million trees in New York City?

A. Although NYC has a reputation as a “concrete jungle,” we actually have over 29,000 acres of existing parkland and currently boast a total of over 650,000 trees on city streets! Trees provide tremendous benefits to residents by mitigating storm water runoff (which costs the City tens of millions of dollars to handle every year), removing pollutants from the air, increasing local property values, reducing residential energy costs, and beautifying communities.

Q. By what date do you expect to plant one million trees?

A. Our goal is to plant one million new trees by 2017. We’re already one year ahead of schedule.

Q. How many trees have been planted to date?

A. To date we’ve planted 483,229 trees across New York City.

Q. Why should New Yorkers become part of the MillionTreesNYC Training Program?

A. The MillionTreesNYC Training Program (MTTP) is a great opportunity for young adults between ages 18 – 24 to receive first-class training in arboriculture (tree care) and ecological restoration.

Q. What other services does MillionTreesNYC offer?

A. New Yorkers can request a free tree for in front of their residence either by calling the City’s 3-1-1 hotline or submitting a request through our website. We also accept suggestions for planting on other private or public properties throughout the city.

Q. How can New Yorkers get involved?

A. This summer is supposed to be hot and dry so our new street trees will need all the water and care they can get! New Yorkers can get involved in our Stewardship Corps by visiting our website or contacting our Stewardship Coordinator to take a free tree care workshop.

Courtesy of MillionTreesNYC

In the next six years, MillionTreesNYC will have planted a total of one million trees on New York City streets. Can you smell that? That’s the smell of fresher air now and in the future.

Our Trees Finally Have Names

Last week we adopted two Japanese Zelkova tress on 33rd St. We decided that we would like to give them authentic Japanese names to represent their heritage, and that one is male and the other is female, of course. Our male tree is named Ryuu, meaning dragon, and our female tree is named Kiyomi, meaning pure beauty.

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