One of the great experiences of the New York Subway system is that you can enter it from the context of one urban area of the City and then pop out in another urban space that has a totally different character.  

On a recent visit to New York I left the rather undistinguished urban setting of 14th Street and 6th Avenue, descending to the subway and soon after popping out at street level on Roosevelt Island in the middle of the East River. Walking out on to the street I was confronted by the dramatic juxtaposition of the East River in the foreground and Manhattan skyline beyond, with the massive steel structure of the Queensboro Bridge looming above.

Located on the edge of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Domino Park is the outcome of a large scale urban redevelopment of the former Domino Sugar Factory site. The 2.4 ha Park forms another new open space on a former industrial site that provides public access to the East River waterfront alongside the Williamsburg Bridge opposite Manhattan.

Walking towards the waterfront park through the dense urban fabric of Brooklyn the spatial experience is dramatised by views that open up between buildings and extend across the East River with the massive steel structure of the Williamsburg Bridge above.

As a landscape architect I find it inspiring to see how New York City continues to create new high quality and engaging public open space through adaptive reuse of post- industrial land. Having visited Phase 1 of the Hunter’s Point project in mid 2017, I was keen to see the recently completed Phase 2 during a visit to New York in September 2018.

When the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) first opened in September 1969 it was hailed as one of the most significant architectural examples of mid-century modernism in the United States. Designed by architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo in collaboration with landscape architect Dan Kiley and garden designer Geraldine Knight Scott, the Museum  achieved an integration of architecture and landscape through the creation of a series of indoor and outdoor spaces…  

Designed by Studio-MLA (formerly Mia Lehrer + Associates) Ishihara Park in Santa Monica is a great example of an engaging new public park created in association with a major element of transport infrastructure. The City of Santa Monica developed the two block long narrow space into Ishihara Park alongside a new maintenance facility for the Expo light rail Line.

Highways and major roads have an unfortunate habit of cutting through public open space to create disruption and separation. But occasionally that separation is reversed and connectivity re-established. Such an example is the Presidio in San Francisco. When the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, the highway forming the southern approach cut through the Presidio, separating the army base on the higher ground from Crissy Field airstrip located along the foreshore of San Francisco Bay.

Recent visit to Memory Park at Hazelbrook provided a stark reminder that landscapes need time to establish and fulfil the designer’s vision…

Millennium Park is a 10ha a public park located alongside the commercial high rise edge of Chicago to the north and west, the Art Institute of Chicago to the south and Maggie Daly Park and Lake Michigan to the east. Originally intended to celebrate the second millennium the Park was opened in July 2004. By 2017 Millennium Park attracted 25 million annual visitors, making it the number one tourist attraction in the Midwest and one of the top ten in the United States.

When viewed in Google Earth the shape of this remarkable 285 metres long bridge resembles a snake with its head in Maggie Daley Park, tail in Millennium Park and belly stretching over Columbus Drive. Designed by Frank Gehry the reflective surface of stainless steel plates covering the sides of the bridge visually relates it to the curving metal surfaces of the Jay Ritzier Pavilion in Millennium Park, which was also designed by Gehry.

The capacity of New York to keep creating new public open space is inspiring. The lasts example is the Hudson Yards project which is using air space over a working railway yard with 30 active train tracks for the constructed of the largest private real estate development in the history of the United States. Covering 11.5 ha the development is being carried out on a deck over a working rail yard, three rail tunnels and the new Gateway Tunnel.

After entering Longwood Gardens through the Visitor Centre I was immediately aware of the carefully designed and highly managed parkland character of the Gardens. But this pleasant walk up a gentle slope gave no indication of the remarkable experience awaiting at the top. The stark facade of the Conservatory gave little evidence of what visual delights awaited inside. The physical discomfort of cold and windy conditions outside the Conservatory quickly gave way to a warm and comfortable interior with a spectacular display of plants growing within the light-filled space formed by the steel and glass roof with the distinctive trusses silhouetted against sky.

Located in the north-eastern part of Grant Park in Chicago Maggie Daley Park is named in honour of City’s longtime first lady, who was dedicated to improving the lives of children and enriching the culture of the city. The new Park incorporates a surprising diversity of play facilities and opportunities for children of all ages and abilities. Incorporating a network of curvilinear paths and layout of play facilities, dramatic topography and many whimsical elements the Park serves as a counterpoint to the symmetry and formality of Grant Park to the south and the Cancer Survivors’. 

The post-industrial waterfronts of New York City continue to undergo a dramatic transformation that is resulting in the creation of extensive new public open spaces. Located in Long Island City Queens, Hunters Point Park is another example of this transformation of abandoned post-industrial waterfront land to public open space use.

Opened in 2007 the Olympic Sculpture Park consists of a 3.6 hectare outdoor sculpture museum connected to the waterfront. Operated by the Seattle Art Museum, the Park provides free admission to visitors.  

Formerly occupied by the oil and gas corporation Unocal until the 1970s the site was a contaminated brownfield until the Seattle Art Museum proposed to transform the area into a new green spaces in Downtown Seattle.