Home garden designs

16 1 Harlequin Parks

16.1 Harlequin Parks
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Park character

Green space is all very well. It is soft, relaxing and favoured by those who are charged with keeping municipal order. But green is not the only colour.
Other hues, other emotions and other possibilities can be envisaged and then planned. Imagination and organization are the only requisites. By turns, we
feel solitary, gregarious, adventurous, amorous, aggressive, bored and excited. These, and all the other moods, some of which can be symbolized by colours,
deserve accommodation in the public realm of a town. So we need harlequin plans for harlequin space, to suit our harlequin lives (Figure 16.1).

16.2 Red Parks
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Red space is exciting (Figure 16.2). As blood is red, the colour symbolizes excitement in every country. One of the most awesome sights I have seen in a
public open space was on a frosty Novembers night. A travelling fair had come to Blackheath and put on a prismatic light show with fairy lights and strobe
beams illuminating a ghost train, a wall of death, roller coasters and dodgem cars. The fairground, in swirling mist, was almost deserted. We booked two
seats on a rickety old Ferris wheel. As it cranked into the icy dark, an opening salvo of rockets exploded from Blackheath to reveal thousands of spectators,
pressing forward to see the start of a Guy Fawkes firework display. It was the closet I have come to Flanders in 1916. Times Square, in New York City,
can also be a red space. Theme parks are merely pink: there is no uncertainty. After dark, red light districts proclaim their character. Cities should
have permanent and temporary fairgrounds.

Red by day

16.2 Red by night

16.3 Blue parks
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Blue space should be serene and cool, with water everywhere and sensuality beneath the surface (Figure 16.3). Fountains, waves and waterfalls release the
sensuality. It was mans skill in obtaining sustenance along the water margin that enabled the human brain to exceed the capability of all other species.
In spring, water can have the serenity of a frozen lake. In summer, water speaks of fulfilment. In autumn, water can be the most solemn thing on earth.
In winter, it promises growth, waiting for a new season and new life. Cities cannot afford to be without visible, touchable, swimmable water, fully accessible
to the public. Many of the artificial water features in northern Europe are disappointing, often because their inspiration comes from southern Europe.

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16.3 Bluespace should be serene and sensual

16.4 Yellow parks
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Yellow space should stimulate ones curiosity, with an abundance of things to hear, feel, smell and touch (Figure 4). In the countryside, it may be found
where two habitats meet. Meadowland is often yellow ochre. Species diversity should be high. One keeps wanting to pick things up, smell them and experience
the texture. Butterflies display their soft or hectic hues. Perfume fills the air. Yellow space heightens anticipation.

16.4 Habitat space is often yellow space, in mood.

16.5 Orange parks
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Orange is made from yellow and red. Orange space should be gay with movement, laughter and fun. Jewels sparkle on black velvet. Shopping streets and markets
are orange. So are busy waterfronts. Sportsfields are orange when they are busy. "Shes going for gold say the athletics commentators. This requires passion,
discipline and a thirst for achievement. Many of the sports facilities in public parks are not orange, because they are not busy or because they lack accommodation
for spectators. Watching and being watched are complementary pleasures.

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The start of a marathon race
 
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16.6 Purple parks
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16/purple-space2
Purple space should be mysterious, powerful and scarce: calm but with drama lurking in the shadows. Purple is mixed from red and blue. Since Roman times,
purple has symbolized royalty, because the natural pigment was so hard to find. Gorges, pits, caverns and narrow paths through obscure woods are purple
in mood.

16.7 Brown parks
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Brown space should be wholesome and satisfying. When ones sense of smell returns after a headcold, the aroma of freshly dug earth can be restorative, the
outdoor equivalent of coffee. From earth we came, unto earth we shall return. A great attraction of walking through agricultural land is the earth itself.
Urban space can also be brown, especially when the predominant materials are soil, wood, brick and stone, as in town forests and the historic cores of
old towns. Concrete, aluminium and steel do not contribute to brownness. Rocks should be visible and touchable. They are the most elemental things we have.
Just imagine a whole world of mown grass and concrete: it would be a crematorium. Forsaking the world of their ancestors, the architectural revolutionaries
of modernism dreamed of white architecture and green space, where leaves would be swept up and incinerated.

Medieval : Bruges

Modernist: Bauhaus

16.8 Grey parks
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Grey space is solemn. It surrounds tombs and memorials, encouraging us to reflect on the transience of human life and the glory of the departed. Every town
and village can benefit from grey space.

16.9 White parks
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White space is for the projection of ones soul. On a snow-capped mountain, your mind expands to the limits of your imagination. Cities can have white space,
of great extent, scale and prospect. The whitest space in Paris is around la Grand Arche at La Défense (Figure 16.5). The government quarter of Washington
DC is a white space.

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16. 10 Greenspace Parks
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Green space is made by mixing yellow with blue, to calm the diversity of the yellow and restrain the sublimity of the blue. It should be relaxing in every
way. City dwellers love green space, of course. Amidst the noise and stress of city life, it is wonderful to come across an island of green. But one does
not want every public open space in every city to be green.

Next time you hear that urban designers are proposing a new space for your town, please ask: "What colour is this space? If they do not have an answer,
they have not thought through their scheme with sufficient profundity. Colours can be mixed with each other, and with other ideas, to produce more and
different kinds of space. An urban walk can pass through spaces of many colours, each with a different mood. It is a curious fact that Gordon Cullens
ideas for spatial sequencing ignored this dimension of space (Cullen, 1971). He was a geometer. In the differentiation of urban space, there are other
themes that also require consideration: age, culture, ownership, religion, art, politics, ethnicity, urban functions and leisure activities.

16.11 Aged Parks
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Self-evidently, people of different ages require different sorts of parkspace. The Congress International dArchitecture Moderne (CIAM) was the first body
to give serious attention to the problem. Unfortunately, they saw age as a functional issue. Their ideas may be caricatured as follows:
Toddlers need sandpits.
Teenagers need sport.
Adults need grass and flowers.
Pensioners need seats.
The dead need graves.

There was a core of profound sense in the CIAM proposals. Unfortunately, they forgot that "character is destiny. The success or failure of an open space
depends upon its character, not just its facilities.

16.12 Toddler Parks
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Toddlers need pink space, which looks exciting but is really safe. Young children cannot be allowed to stray far from their parents. For crawling and scrambling,
they need clean dog-free space with good supervision and regular cleaning. Having seen hundreds of empty childrens playgrounds, many planning critics,
unlike practising planners, have concluded that childrens playgrounds are unloved and unwanted. This is not so. But play areas need central locations
and are suitable only for young children.

16.13 Childrens Parks
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In the years before puberty, children appreciate purple space and brown space. One of the fathers of town and country planning, Patrick Geddes, had a special
understanding of the males in this group, who love dirt, construction and exploration. He observed that in most parks:

... little girls may sit on the grass. But the boys? They are at most granted a cricket-pitch, or lent a space between football goals, but otherwise are
jealously watched, as potential savages, who on the least symptom of their natural activities of wigwam-building, cave-digging, stream-damming, and so
on must instantly be chevied away, and are lucky if not hounded out of the place. (Geddes, 1915)

A real childrens playground?

16.14 Teenager parks
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Teenagers like red, yellow and orange space. They want to be "where it happens: in central places, where there is lots to do, where they can see and meet
other teenagers. They like cafes. They like music. They like sport. They love skateboard ramps and roller skating. They like lounging in busy places. They
adore sunbathing.

The city of Munich provides more for teenagers
to do than most cities

16.15 Yuppie Parks
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Yuppies also like red, yellow and orange space. Their tastes are not so different from those of teenagers, but they have much more money to spend and like
to eat and drink more than is good for them. The Tivoli Gardens of Scandinavia are a good pattern to follow. [Yuppy = young urban professional person.]

16.16 Family Parks
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Families like green space and blue space. After a hectic week in the home, the office and the school, they need calm. In hot weather, families want to picnic
on the grass, not far from a car. In cool weather, they want exercise and places for children to exercise their expensive toys (bikes, boats, models etc.).
They like green space. This explains why the heads of households, when working as planners and designers, tend towards the belief that green is the paramount
colour for outdoor planning.

16.17 Third Age Parks
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Senior citizens like spaces of all colours, provided they are safe and comfortable. This may exclude red, purple and brown space. They like to see parks
that remind them of the world as it was when they were young, when their parents were young and when their grandparents were young. These worlds, they
know for sure, were safer and better than todays world. Each city that was great in the nineteenth century should have at least one fully themed Victorian
Park. London has the worlds first and most famous Victorian Park. Though recently restored, it remains insufficiently Victorian

16.18 Cultural parks
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High Culture differs from Low Culture. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has recognized this eternal truth by establishing a complementary set
of Radio Stations, numbered from 1 to 5. Proceeding from pop culture to elite culture, BBC Radios 1, 2 and 4 are in their correct positions. Radio 3 and
Radio 5 should switch places, because Radio 3 is a highbrow music station, while Radio 5 is a news and sport station. Using the BBCs present numbering,
we could plan five types of outdoor space. Rather than imprinting every corner of every park with a "middle culture, we could find opportunities for the
design of spaces that are the visual counterparts of classical music, light music and pop music.

Radio 1 Park: Pop culture

A really popular Pop Park might have the following characteristics: Pop music played to visitors. No higher learning required in order to interpret the
visual effects. Bright colours and ephemeral displays a speciality. Venues available for popular sports and popular outdoor activities: five-aside soccer,
volley-ball, frisbee throwing, dancing and cook-outs. Advertising space available for hire. Statues of pop, rap and rock musicians -- no political dignitaries
allowed. Many areas available for listening to pop music.

Radio 2 Park: Light entertainment

Similar to the Radio 1 park, but with more emphasis on light classical taste and reproductions of well-known works of art.

Radio 3 Park: Highbrow culture

No broadcast music, but personal stereos allowed. Beautifully managed natural habitats available for all to see and to photograph. Well-placed seats, with
good microclimate, for sitting and reading. Original sculptures of classical musicians and artists on display. High-quality long-life materials used for
walls and paving.

Radio 4 Park: Magazine features

Demonstration gardens with celebrity planting designs. Examples of different styles of garden design. Text panels explaining what there is to be seen. Some
garden areas with broadcast music. Speakers corners. Performances at the weekend. Statues of cultural heroes and novelists.

Radio 5 Park: News and sport

A sports park. Remembering that vastly more people like to watch sport than participate, this type of park would have comfortable accommodation for spectators
to watch non-professionals. There would be cafes, bars and sheltered seats in the sun and shade. Statues of sporting heroes, especially those from the
locality.

Overlays

Clothes can be self-coloured or multi-coloured. They can have rich patterns, harmonies and contrasts. A black coat with a white scarf can be worn over a
romantically patterned dress. It is the same with parks. Colours, shapes, moods and patterns can be overlaid, provided it is done with a sense of style.
The BBC does not mix classical music with pop music on a radio station, though some people like both. But their visual equivalents can be mixed in parks.
I can imagine a park that, like beautiful scenery, has different layers of appeal for the various cultural strata and special interest groups. It would
be an overlay landscape.

16.19 The ownership and management of public open space
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So far we have been considering park character. To make progress with the diversification of parks, organizational changes will be required. Specialists
need to become involved with park ownership and management. One can start with the question of public ownership. Should parks be owned by local government,
central government, commercial organizations, non-profit organizations, charitable trusts or community groups? All of them. Each provides strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. Public spaces should also be managed by churches and other beneficial organizations. Only one letter separates God from Good.
Both stand for that streak of altruism and non-materialism upon which civilization depends. The great merit of diverse ownership is that expertise can
be brought to bear on park management.

Even if municipalities wish to retain ownership and control of parks, they should certainly set up user groups to advise on park management. They may need
a noticeboard and a place to meet in the park. Without good information one cannot take good decisions. This is the principle of modern management, and
of generalship throughout the ages.

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The old approach to park management
  
A more modern approach?
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Park user feedback

16.20 Religious parks
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Many religions have distinctive ways of managing outdoor space. The Zen garden, the Christian cloister and the Islamic courtyard are celebrated examples.
Followers of different religions could be given the opportunity to design and manage public open spaces in a religious manner. Most religions have a great
number of symbols, which could become themes in outdoor design. Some religions describe sacred rivers and mountains. Perhaps some churches would like to
adopt adjoining parkspace, or make their churchyards into parks. Excepting the case of nature worship, the idea of creating outdoor religious space has
fallen into desuetude.

See notes on the history of
Sacred Space

16.21 Art Parks and Sculpture Parks
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Art galleries like placing sculpture out of doors. They deserve to be encouraged. If they are willing to provide the supervision, display space can be found
in parks. Nineteenth century art galleries resembled the drawing rooms of grand houses, with set places for each work of art. Twentieth century galleries
became white boxes, to give exhibits an abstract independence. Some sculptors have turned rooms into single works of art. Each of these approaches can
be used out of doors. If a sculpture is placed at a focal point, it becomes part of the park design. Dumped inconsequentially on the grass, the sculpture
treats the park as a characterless space. Too many sculpture parks are managed like this. It would be fun to have the gallerys influence radiating outwards,
like radio waves. At one kilometres remove, a bronze frog might poke its head out of a rainwater gully. Nearer, the pavement could turn into a colourful
mosaic. The park wall, or railings, should not be at all like those of ordinary parks. Within the imparked space, visitors should have an artistic experience,
whatever that is. Park design is itself an art which needs to be encouraged. Site-related sculptures can be incorporated.

Outdoor sculpture in Paris

Outdoor sculpture in Paris

Outdoor sculpture in Paris

Many Paris parks are managed as outdoor sculpture galleries

16. 22 Political Parks
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Governments are run by parties. In The Politics of Park Design, Galen Cranz demonstrated the inseparability of parks from politics (Cranz, 1982). Only one
government can run a country, but parks can be managed to suit all the political colours. A Capitalist Park would be privately owned and managed. We could
expect a high standard of order, and high prices for the attractions. A Socialist Park would have everything run by the people for the people. A Social
Democrat Park would
have public facilities in public ownership but would use the market economy to run cafes, beer gardens, carousels, rides and other attractions. A Green
Party Park would be planned with ecological objectives to conserve the worlds resources. In a Cooperative Park, people would work cooperatively for the
greatest good of the greatest number. The results could provide an interesting commentary on political systems.

Karl Marx and Frederich Engels

Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the former East Berlin

Mahatma Gandhi in Tavistock Square, London.

16.23 Ethnic parks
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The Puerto Ricans who come to our cities today have no place to roast pigs outdoors. (Jacobs, 1962)

Many countries are now multi-ethnic, composed of groups that have different tastes, which deserve recognition in different spaces. Never forget Jane Jacobs
profound observation, quoted above. Why were the Puerto Rican tastes denied? For politically incorrect reasons: on the east coast of America people were
expected to behave like good WASPs, buzzing around playing games, not sitting around roasting pork.

What are the preferences of other ethnic groups? I have noticed that:
Chinese and Italians enjoy collecting chestnuts;
Asians are enthusiastic about large family picnics;
Africans like to cook out of doors;
Japanese like cherry trees;
French like boule, which needs sandy or rough ground;
English like watching cricket;
Germans like beer gardens.
Turks like outdoor cooking

Instead of being lost in the melting pot, the traditions of outdoor life should give character to community open space.

Different cultures have different ways of using public open space

16.24 Flood Parks
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"
Parks and greenways should be designed to facilitate those processes that contribute to the efficient functioning of cities: surface water detention and
infiltration, waste management, air cooling and cleansing, urban agriculture and others.

Flood parks

Some of the money that is spent on building drains and channelizing rivers could be saved by giving parks a role in surface water management. Park owners
could then charge drainage authorities for this service. In times of heavy rainfall, these parks would be subject to controlled flooding. Luckily, floods
are beautiful phenomena. Drainage engineers reckon the size of a flood by the frequency with which it is likely to return. They speak of a 1-year flood,
a 10-year flood and a 100-year flood. Grassed and semi-natural areas in parks could be designed to flood. After a night of exceptionally heavy rainfall,
people would enjoy the sight of flood park as much as they enjoy seeing a blanket of snow.

16.25 Recycling Parks
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Once, when we lived in the country, a refuse tip was opened near the village where we lived. My wife thought it a wonderful opportunity to clear out the
house. I took unwanted items to the tip and enjoyed looking at what other people were casting away. The fun came to an end when my wife realized I was
bringing home more than I took away. There is an important principle here. Families can give away all sorts of things that they no longer need and take
home all sorts of things that they require. The possibilities include topsoil, subsoil, hardcore, timber, furniture, toys and household goods. This is
standard practice in Third World countries. Supervision would be required for recycling parks, as for other parks. It could be a temporary use for land
awaiting development.

16.26 Air conditioning parks
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In the 1950s, it seemed that urban air was improving, as gas and electric heating took the place of coal fires. Now, air quality appears to be getting worse,
as cars and other machines release more and worse pollutants into the atmosphere. Parks can make a small but valuable contribution to the problem. All
green plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. Deciduous plants collect particulate matter on their leaves and carry it to the ground when the
leaves fall. Trees can provide shelter and shade, cooling the air in summer and fending off cold winds in winter. This is air conditioning by natural means.

City as landscape

16.27 Permaculture parks
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Every community should have a park where people can collect "natures harvest. Some supervision would be required. In temperate climates parks could provide
apples, pears, plums, damsons, raspberries, blackberries, hazelnuts, sweet chestnuts, mushrooms and fresh herbs. Wild food contains a wider range of nutrients
than factory-farmed food, so that people do not have to spend so much money on vitamin and mineral tablets.

16.28 Restaurant Parks
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Indoor shopping malls have food courts offering eaters a wide choice of fast food. It can be taken to public tables, often in a conservatory-type space
with a pool and plants. A similar idea could work in parks. Tables with sunshades would be grouped in a courtyard. Local people with an interest in cooking,
or a desire to make money, could bring stalls, like market stalls, and offer high-quality cooked food at low prices. This idea could work in conjunction
with a vegetable, antique or book market. Just imagine how the smell of fresh cakes would attract shoppers! Unfortunately, outdoor markets are regulated
by municipal councils, which are unduly sympathetic to established restaurant owners, who pay local taxes, wield local influence and stiffle competition..

16.29 Public gardens
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One of the ancient reasons for imparking amenity land was to make protected space for plants. Flowers benefit from cultivation, shelter, irrigation, manure
and defence against hostile animals and people. Also, plants need to be cared for by people with an abundance of love, skill and knowledge about gardens.
Retired people are the greatest single repository of these qualities. To draw upon this resource, horticultural societies should become involved in park
management. Salaried park managers, who would still be required, are too harassed by the time and motion consciousness of their employers. Britains National
Rose Society owns and manages a superb rose garden. Visitors come from all over the world to see the flowers. They have to pay to enter, but season tickets
are available. If the management of a small public park was entrusted to a horticultural society, local residents could be issued with free tickets. Surveys
show that few people are willing to travel more than 1 km to visit a small urban park. By this means, local residents could enjoy a better park at a lower
cost.

16.30 Club parks
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Minority leisure pursuits are a major growth area in outdoor recreation. Inspection of the magazines in your local newsagent will give some idea of the
range. There are, for example, specialized clubs for radio-controlled models: powered aircraft, gliders, military vehicles, sailing boats, speed boats,
racing cars, hovercraft and others. All of them can become spectator sports and may benefit from some special accommodation. My local "park has municipally
provided accommodation for footballers but nothing for any other group. The fact that it is one of the two major kite-flying centres in Britain has escaped
municipal recognition. Like yachtsmen and golfers, kite-fliers would like a clubhouse, a noticeboard and a shop.Bowlers, because they have a club are well
catered for.

Kite flying

Bowling

16.31 Bird parks
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Birds, which are outstandingly popular animals, need food and habitats. Ornithologists are known to frequent the environs of sewage works, in pursuit of
their feathered friends. When a new sewage works is being designed, it should be conceived as a beautiful habitat for birds, as well as an efficient industrial
plant. There should be walks and hides for ornithologists in places where they will not interfere with the operation of the plant.

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16.32 Dog Parks
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Taking a dog for a walk is one of the most popular park activities in some countries. In other countries:
dogs are kept as home pets
dogs are banned from public parks

The reasons for not allowing dogs in parks are:
lumps of dog excrement are unwelcome
when not on a lead, dogs can intimidate other park users

The UK is a nation of dog lovers and taking your dog to the park has the almost the status of a human right. Since the 1990s it has been increasingly managed.
Owners often asked to carry a polythene bag and use it to collect any excrement their dog leaves.

In France, dogs have traditionally been banned from urban parks.

In the USA, there are special dog parks where owners are allowed to exercise their dogs.

16.33 Museum parks
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If shipbuilding comes to an end in an old shipbuilding town, the industry could be celebrated in a park rather than a museum. Instead of making it a folksy
or teacherly project, it could be a serious work of art, like Trajans Column or the Assyrian wall carvings. It would be delightful to have a park that
was rich in words, myths, stories, legends, deeds of heroism. The history of a people can be written in its outdoor space. Social and industrial history
is just as important as the history of battles and kings.

16.34 Photographic parks
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Stand near any of the worlds great landmarks and you will see people taking photographs of the view and of their friends. Similarly, in parks, when a rhododendron
is in bloom or a bedding scheme in top condition, people will be positioning their loved ones for a snap. After a wedding, the need for photographs becomes
urgent. Churchyards are used for the purpose, as are the litter-strewn traffic-blitzed streets outside their secular equivalents. So why not plan a special
park for taking photographs? There would be a vast choice of romantic settings, dramatic settings, trick settings, intimate settings and humorous settings.
In some places there could be fixed camera positions, to allow timed exposures from special viewpoints. Whether you marry in a church or a municipal office,
you are likely to want photographs to record the occasion. It would be no bad thing to site a marriage registry office in the midst of a photographic park.

16.35 Swimming parks
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Swimming is the most popular outdoor recreational activity. This conclusion has been reached by a Greater London Council survey of outdoor recreation (GLC,
1975) and by many other surveys. Yet even in the most enlightened cities, swimming is mainly available in special small pools, usually indoors. Coastal
cities and river cities have polluted their natural facilities. This will not do. No one should have to leave their city to swim out of doors. Outdoor
swimming is one of the Rights of Man. To make it available, almost everywhere, all we need do is adapt our procedures for water treatment and supply. "Safety
first proclaim the water engineers, forgetting that "covert enmity, under the smile of safety, wounds the world. Water treatment is a staged process.
If drawn from a river, water is allowed to settle in reservoirs, then filtered, then stored again, then distributed to customers. At one of these stages,
water is perfectly suited to outdoor swimming. To make the swimming even better, the water body could be heated with waste heat from a power station. Impossible?
Not if water engineers, power engineers, leisure managers and park designers were instructed to work together. This is far more practical than asking the
wolf to dwell with the lamb, the leopard with the kid and the young lion with the fatling.

16.36 Park Diversification
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Instead of embellishing their plans with green sauce, open space planners should produce harlequin plans and word plans.