Issue Papers and Case Studies
Visitor Experience
Coming Soon
Preservation and Environmental Stewardship
Stewards of Place: Celebrating Local Heritage in Parks and Public Spaces
By Allison Crnic, AICP,
Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin
This issue paper addresses how two problems—the increasing loss of community character and the homogenization of public spaces—can be used to solve each other. The root cause of both issues is the same: we are planning and designing in a culture that prizes convenience, swiftness, and the bottom line. This paper examines how a community’s story can be told effectively, affordably, and accessibly throughout its public space system, and in turn create more beautiful and engaging local parks for its citizens.
Boreal Forest Educational Opportunities
By Eric Burr, Retired National Park Service Ranger
This essay, submitted to the Union of Concerned Scientist for possible inclusion in a book about global warming, highlights the current neglect of the boreal relative to other forest types, and the highly successful National Park interpretive programs that could be revitalized and restored. It also suggests greater interpretive efforts on National Forests, Canadian Crown Lands, and ski areas.
Landscape Character is in the Details:Zion National Park, Lodge Cabins Landscape Rehabilitation
By Jill Cowley, Historical Landscape Architect, Intermountain Region, National Park Service; with assistance from Zion National Park Chief of Cultural Resources, Sarah Horton and Landscape Architect, Lisa Ogden.
Rehabilitation projects within historic landscapes, which have as objectives improved safety and accessibility and improved overall sustainability, can be designed and implemented with sensitivity to historic character, but often not without some compromises. The Zion Lodge Cabins rehabilitation project is an example. The decisions made during this project to balance sustainability with historic character raise issues of historic compatibility, differential treatment of structures and landscape, and how to decide if integrity has been compromised.
Preserving Playgrounds from Decades Past
By Senya Lubisich, Ph.D., History Department, Citrus College
In National Park Service “Preservation Brief 36”, by Charles Birnbaum, playgrounds are discussed as “designed cultural landscapes.” This is a little known designation in city departments and the rush to make playgrounds ADA and safety compliant has resulted in the loss of many creative and fantastic playgrounds – some of which were designed by renowned artists, architects and master craftsmen. This proposal seeks to consider creative options that would clarify playgrounds as designed cultural landscapes, provide opportunities to work within (and possibly beyond) safety guidelines and ADA legislation, and to educate cities about the cultural contribution that these playgrounds make to the community over generations if they are preserved
Hampton Park: Design with Culture
James L. Ward, Registered Landscape Architect & Assistant Professor at the College of
Charleston – Historic Preservation and Community Planning
This paper summarizes the key aspects of the historical development of this Hampton Park and draws inspiration for its continued management and new design elements from its past.
Design Imperatives
Modernism & Historical Precedents – Not Mutually Exclusive
by Alan E Reed, AIA, LEED AP, President & Design Principal, GWWO, Inc./Architects
The concepts of “modernism” and “historical precedents” are not mutually exclusive. In creating new architecture within park settings, parks and designers do not need to choose. Good modern designs do not ignore the past, and employing historical precedent in design does not mandate a solution that mimics what has come before. A good contextual design response fully considers all aspects of a site’s history and culture, past and present. “Context” goes beyond the immediate physical environment, and also explores the natural, historical, and cultural perspectives of a place.
Incorporating Financial Sustainability Considerations into the Planning and Design of New Facilities in the National Park Service
By Fred Richardson & Matthew Tetreault,
Booz Allen Hamilton, Washington, DC
The Past, Present, and Future Of Great Sand Dunes National Park And Preserve
By Art Hutchinson, National Park Service
The re-creation of Great Sand Dunes National Monument into Great Sand Dunes National Park and National Preserve required the support and active partnerships from many groups and individuals. The Nature Conservancy was very instrumental in this process and the major landowner inside the authorized boundaries remains involved with ecosystem management of the park and surrounding ranch lands also under their ownership. The park and the TNC are working together on many topics, one of which is expanding the partnerhip to include other agencies and small and large land owners along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from northern New Mexico to central Colorado. This ecosystem is largely intact and would play a major role in species movement between north and south in this area of the Rocky Mountains. This model for how a new park is structured and "designed" is one that has applicablity for future new or expanded parks.
