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46-601: Freshkills Park is a public park being built atop a former landfill on Staten Island . At about 2,200 acres (8.9 km), it will be the largest park developed in New York City since the 19th century. Its construction began in October 2008 and is slated to continue in phases for approximately 30 years. When fully developed by 2035–2037, Freshkills Park will be the second-largest park in New York City, after Pelham Bay Park in

92-451: A 10-minute walk , provides multiple benefits. A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintained by a local government. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics and sporting activities. Trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade , with an increasing emphasis on reducing an urban heat island effect. Some early parks include

138-488: A Request for Proposal (RFP) for a landscape architecture firm to develop a master plan for the park. The competition's first round was open to all participants, and in August 2001, six were chosen as finalists: James Corner Field Operations, Hargreaves Associates, Mathur/da Cunha, Tom Leader Studio, John McAslan + Partners , RIOS Associates, Inc., and Sasaki Associates .     In 2003, James Corner Field Operations

184-464: A large-scale artwork that would feed the city's electrical grid. Although construction of the winning design was not guaranteed, the initiative brought international attention to the aesthetic potential of renewable energy infrastructure. The 2006 Draft Master Plan for Freshkills Park envisioned the site as five parks in one, each with a distinct character and programming approach. The Plan was developed with input gathered in meetings and workshops between

230-477: Is home to a diverse array of wildlife; a 2015 BioBlitz recorded 320 species of plants and animals in a 24-hour period. Ongoing ecological research projects are tracking some of the changes in wildlife as the site transforms from industrial space to green space. Current projects include fish population monitoring, grassland habitat characterization, migratory bird banding, grassland bird monitoring, and bat population monitoring. Over 200 species of birds have been seen at

276-483: Is managing the project with the New York City Department of Sanitation . The Fresh Kills Landfill actively received New York City's municipal waste from 1947 to 2001. The subsoil was clay, with a layer of sand and silt on top. There were tidal wetlands, forests, and freshwater wetlands. The area was considered prime for development because the value of wetlands in buffering storm surges and filtering water

322-551: Is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, preparing plans and policies, and providing information to and advising the Mayor of New York City , Borough presidents , the New York City Council , Community Boards and other local government bodies on issues relating to

368-547: The La Alameda de Hércules , in Seville , a promenaded public mall, urban garden and park built in 1574, within the historic center of Seville. The Városliget ( City Park ) in the City of Pest , what is today Budapest, Hungary , was a city property when afforestation started in the middle of the 18th century, from the 1790s with the clear aim to create a public park. Between 1799 and 1805 it

414-602: The Village of Yorkville Park in Toronto , which won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Parks are sometimes made out of oddly shaped areas of land, much like the vacant lots that often become city neighborhood parks. Linked parks may form a greenbelt . There is a form of an urban park in the UK (officially called a "recreation ground", but commonly called a "rec" by

460-588: The Bronx , and almost three times the size of Central Park in Manhattan . The park is envisioned as a regional destination that integrates open grasslands, waterways and engineered structures into a cohesive and dynamic unit for social, cultural and physical activity, learning and play. Sections of the park will be connected by a circulation system for vehicles and a network of paths for bicyclists and pedestrians. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks)

506-1130: The Freshkills Park Alliance have hosted events and programs including active recreation on-site, in areas generally closed to the public. On bi-annual "Discovery Days" in the spring and fall, visitors have the opportunity to kayak, bike, hike, and fly kites in a closed section of the park. The Freshkills Park Alliance runs educational and public programs, including kayaking, cycling and running events, citizen science, art projects, tours, and field trips. In 2020, Freshkills Park began offering virtual field trips and programming. The Freshkills Park office regularly partners with cultural and academic organizations for these programs. Public park Depending on size, budget, and land features, which varies considerably among individual parks, common features include playgrounds , gardens , hiking, running, fitness trails or paths, bridle paths , sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, performance venues, or BBQ and picnic facilities. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within

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552-560: The Mayor's pleasure, and 12 other members who serve terms in office of five years on a staggered basis. The Mayor appoints the chair, who serves ex officio as the Director of City Planning, and six other members. Each Borough President appoints one member. The New York City Public Advocate appoints one member. The current chair is Daniel Garodnick . In 1976, after the original Greenmarket on 59th Street & 2nd Avenue proved to be successful,

598-703: The New York City Department of City Planning proposed to the Council on the Environment of New York City opening a second farmers market in Union Square and a third market in Brooklyn . The Union Square farmers market was smaller and considerably less hectic than the 59th Street & 2nd Avenue location. The Brooklyn Market was large and nearly as successful and the 59th Street & 2nd Avenue location. The land where

644-593: The UK, with around 2.6 billion visits to parks each year. Many parks are of cultural and historical interest, with 300 registered by Historic England as of national importance. Most public parks have been provided and run by local authorities over the past hundred and seventy years, but these authorities have no statutory duty to fund or maintain these public parks. In 2016 the Heritage Lottery Fund 's State of UK Public Parks reported that "92 per cent of park managers report their maintenance budgets have reduced in

690-486: The United States Department of Commerce. The City Planning Commission was created under the 1936 New York City Charter . It started functioning in 1938 with seven members, all of whom were appointed by the Mayor and was given responsibility for creating a master plan. The commission currently operates under the terms of the revised 1989 Charter, with 13 members. The board consists of a chair, who serves at

736-515: The United States and the world, though cow grazing did not end until the 1830s. Around the country, the predecessors to urban parks in the United States were generally rural cemeteries . The cemeteries were intended as civic institutions designed for public use. Before the widespread development of public parks, the rural cemetery provided a place for the general public to enjoy outdoor recreation amidst art and sculpture previously available only for

782-827: The United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Mission Bay Park in San Diego. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U.S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings, with the intention of Americanizing the immigrant residents. In the 1950s, when money became available after World War II , new parks continued to focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation with services, such as sports leagues using their ball fields and gymnasia. These smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space

828-560: The West Mound began in 2011 and was scheduled to be complete in 2022. The Department of Sanitation works with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to meet regulations for environmentally sound landfill closure; it will also maintain operating responsibility for on-site environmental monitoring and control systems after capping. NYC Parks must also meet NYSDEC's regulations – no area of

874-490: The confines of a serpentine carriageway, put in place the essential elements of his much-imitated design for Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead . The latter commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance and deployed the ideas which Paxton had pioneered at Princes Park on a more expansive scale. Frederick Law Olmsted visited Birkenhead Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is widely credited as having been one of

920-449: The designed landscape as a setting for the suburban domicile (an idea pioneered by John Nash at Regent's Park in London) and re-fashioned it for the provincial town in a most original way. Nash's remodelling of St James's Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regent's Park completely transformed the appearance of London's West End . With

966-447: The draft plan are described below: Capital projects entail a complex and lengthy design and permitting process, involving both City and State agencies, to ensure that all landfill infrastructure as well as the developing ecological resources are adequately protected. NYC Parks started work around the outer edges of the park, both to show the city's commitment to transforming the former landfill to local neighborhoods and because permitting

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1012-494: The establishment of Princes Park in 1842, Joseph Paxton did something similar for the benefit of a provincial town, albeit one of international stature by virtue of its flourishing mercantile sector. Liverpool had a burgeoning presence in global maritime trade before 1800, and during the Victorian era its wealth rivalled that of London itself. The form and layout of Paxton's ornamental grounds, structured about an informal lake within

1058-779: The form of walking, running, horse riding, mountain biking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing; or sedentary activity such as observing nature, bird watching, painting, photography, or picnicking. Limiting park or open space use to passive recreation over all or a portion of the park's area eliminates or reduces the burden of managing active recreation facilities and developed infrastructure. Many ski resorts combine active recreation facilities (ski lifts, gondolas, terrain parks, downhill runs, and lodges) with passive recreation facilities (cross-country ski trails). Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving increased attention and valuation as significant community assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas. Neighborhood groups around

1104-795: The landfill by 2002. Under strong community pressure and with support of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the landfill site was closed on March 22, 2001, but it was reopened after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan . Virtually all the materials from the World Trade Center site were sent to the temporarily reopened landfill for examination. Thousands of detectives and forensic evidence specialists worked for over 1.7 million hours at Fresh Kills Landfill to try to recover

1150-455: The landfill facility was closed permanently, in anticipation of the park on the site. Two of the four mounds at the site – the mounds referred to as North and South – were capped in the late 1990s with an impermeable cover separating waste from the environment. Capping of the East Mound, which will become East Park, began in 2007 and was completed in 2011. Capping of

1196-529: The landfill was the largest in the world. At the peak of its operation, the contents of twenty barges – each carrying 650 tons of garbage – were added to the site every day. By 1996, the mound had reached a height of 175 feet (53 m), taller than the Statue of Liberty in nearby New York Harbor . Although Staten Islanders had tried many times to close operations at the landfill, litigation efforts finally met with success that year, when regulations were passed to close

1242-525: The large amount of open space and natural habitat in the former pleasure grounds, they now serve as important wildlife refuges, and often provide the only opportunity for urban residents to hike or picnic in a semi-wild area. However, city managers or politicians can target these parks as sources of free land for other uses. Partly for this reason, some of these large parks have "friends of X park" advisory boards that help protect and maintain their semi-wild nature. There are around estimated 27,000 public parks in

1288-582: The macro-scale development of the city. The department is responsible for changes in New York City's city map , purchase and sale of city-owned real estate and office space and of the designation of landmark and historic district status. Its regulations are compiled in title 62 of the New York City Rules . The most recent Director of City Planning Marisa Lago resigned in December, 2021 following her confirmation as Under Secretary for International Trade at

1334-567: The need to provide substantial space to congregate, typically involves intensive management, maintenance, and high costs. Passive recreation, also called "low-intensity recreation" is that which emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and allows for the preservation of natural habitat. It usually involves a low level of development, such as rustic picnic areas, benches, and trails. Passive recreation typically requires little management and can be provided at very low costs. Some open space managers provide nothing other than trails for physical activity in

1380-729: The park either nesting, migrating, hunting, or foraging. Freshkills Park is now home to the largest nesting colony of grasshopper sparrows in New York State, a "Species of Special Concern" that began nesting on-site in 2015. Common wildlife species at Freshkills Park include red-winged blackbirds , American goldfinches , red-tailed hawks , American kestrels , ospreys , ring-necked pheasants , tree swallows , turkey vultures , northern harriers , Savannah sparrows , American woodcocks , white-tailed deer , muskrats , red foxes , northern snapping turtles and diamondback terrapins . While Freshkills Park continues its development, NYC Parks and

1426-863: The park is permitted to open to public access until it meets state standards for public access. NYC Parks completed and released the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) for the Freshkills Park project in May 2009. The document evaluates the entirety of the proposed project and its likely effects on the neighboring community. In compliance with state and local law, the FGEIS is designed to identify "any adverse environmental effects of proposed actions, assess their significance, and propose measures to eliminate or mitigate significant impacts". A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS)

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1472-404: The park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, an iron merchant and philanthropist, in 1841 for £50,000. The creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provision of open space for the benefit of townspeople and local residents within an area that was being rapidly built up. Secondly it took the concept of

1518-420: The past three years and 95 per cent expect their funding will continue to reduce". Parks can be divided into active and passive recreation areas. Active recreation is that which has an urban character and requires intensive development. It often involves cooperative or team activity, including playgrounds , ball fields, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and skateparks . Active recreation such as team sports, due to

1564-452: The principal influences on Olmsted and Calvert's design for New York's Central Park of 1857. Another early public park, the Peel Park, Salford , England, opened on 22 August 1846. Boston Common was purchased for public use grazing cows and as a military parade ground and dump in 1634. It first started to get recreational elements in 1728, arguably making it the first municipal park in

1610-480: The project team and Staten Islanders, nonprofit groups, and government officials. Goals emerging from the outreach efforts included: roads to ease traffic congestion surrounding the Freshkills Park site; active recreational uses such as kayaking and sports fields; and projects generating and using renewable sources of energy. The planning process also included the input of a community advisory group consisting of local leaders and stakeholders. The five areas envisioned in

1656-469: The public.) and some EU states that have mostly recreation grounds for kids to play within a park, but may also have a duck pond, large grassy zones not meant exclusively for sports, many trees, and several bushy places. When it occurs as a separate facility on its own, without any parkland, at a street corner or by a shop, the play facility is called a playground . New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning ( DCP )

1702-571: The remains of people killed in the attacks. A final count of 4,257 human remains were recovered, and more than 1,600 personal effects; the City's Chief Medical Examiner retains custody of all still-unidentified materials at a facility within the National 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. The remaining materials at Fresh Kills were then buried in a 40-acre (160,000 m) portion of the landfill, known as West Mound. Afterward,

1748-485: The wealthy. In The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1982), Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U.S. In the late 19th century, city governments purchased large tracts of land on the outskirts of cities to form "pleasure grounds": semi-open, charmingly landscaped areas whose primary purpose was to allow city residents, especially

1794-484: The workers, to relax in nature. As time passed and the urban area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses and museums. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks , because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land , the three most visited municipal parks in

1840-524: The world are joining together to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay and government neglect. A linear park is a park that has a much greater length than width. A typical example of a linear park is a section of a former railway that has been converted into a park called a rail trail or greenway (i.e. the tracks removed, vegetation allowed to grow back). Some examples of linear parks in North America include New York's High Line and

1886-556: Was completed in October 2009, which specifically focuses on the impact of proposed road construction through the East Park section of the plan and examines alternatives to the current plan. These environmental assessments are updated on a project-by-project basis, during the design phase, to ensure that any new or undisclosed environmental impacts are also identified and addressed. In 2001, the New York City Department of City Planning (NYCDCP) held an international design competition following

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1932-516: Was easier. Those projects include: In March 2012, NYC released a Request for Proposals for the construction of solar and/or wind energy facilities at Freshkills Park. A project for the construction of solar arrays was awarded to SunEdison in November 2013. NYC was in contractual negotiations with SunEdison when the company went bankrupt in 2016. No further work has been done with renewable energy at Freshkills Park since then. The in-construction park

1978-485: Was not understood at the time.     The initial plan was to raise the elevation of the land by filling for three years and then to redevelop it as a multi-use area with residential, recreational, and industrial components. However, three years turned into fifty years. New York City's population was growing and generating more trash and it was easy to expand the filling operation on Staten Island.  The landfill accepted garbage from 1948 through 2001. By 1955,

2024-525: Was of secondary importance. As urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks . One example of a pocket park is Chess Park in Glendale, California. The American Society of Landscape Architects gave this park a General Design Award of Honor in 2006. These small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a playground for children. All four types of park continue to exist in urban areas. Because of

2070-537: Was rented out to the Batthyány family to carry out such a project but the city had eventually taken back control and in 1813 announced a design competition to finally finish the park; works started in 1816. An early purpose-built public park, although financed privately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth . This was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which

2116-471: Was selected as the winner of the competition and was hired to prepare a draft master plan to guide long-term development of the park. The Draft Master Plan was prepared over the following years and released in March 2006. In 2006, NYC Parks became the lead agency overseeing the park development process. The Land Art Generator Initiative used Freshkills Park as the focus of its "LAGI 2012" competition, to design

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