April 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 19

What Constitutes a Resilient Park?
By Lori Robertson

arks will save the world! " exclaimed Miami-Dade County
Parks Commissioner Maria Nardi in her closing remarks at
NRPA's most recent Innovation Lab in Florida. This Innovation Lab focused on the role of parks in building climate resiliency, and with Miami-Dade County as the backdrop, the event brought to
bear pressing challenges faced by park departments in at-risk communities.
It also highlighted how one of the most vulnerable coastal areas in the
world is maximizing the value of parks and open spaces for resilience.
As predominant landowners within communities across the nation,
park and recreation agencies are on
the front lines of climate change and
should be key players in developing
resiliency strategies. We see examples of this in projects like The Estuary Commons in San Leandro Bay
and Living Breakwaters in Staten
Island, that involves natural infrastructure and the creation of new
and needed public space.
These projects integrate approaches such as living shorelines, establishing wetlands and new coastal
habitat with the creation of greenways and recreational amenities designed to shift and transform during
periods of extreme weather and
flood. In large urban centers, where
land is at a premium and public amenities are in high demand, this dualpurpose approach makes sense. It
also helps address social resilience
by creating neighborhood gathering
places and opportunities for diverse
community members to interact,
prior to and after a disaster.
Lower Manhattan's Big U project,
winner of Rebuild by Design's Hurricane Sandy Design Competition,
approached the resilient park concept with this dual-purpose method
until recently when the project drastically changed form. Originally, the

East River Park portion called for
protecting the surrounding areas
from storm surge and sea-level rise
via a bridge berm at the back of the
park. The new design would raise
the entire park 8-10 feet, creating
the park atop a berm and protecting
the surrounding homes and buildings, the park and its amenities, and
the critical programming and community use of the park in the aftermath of a disaster.
For many in the park and recreation field, this change is understandable. Often millions of dollars
are invested in these types of largescale, high-profile resiliency projects. But, what is commonly left
unaddressed is the need to increase
the park departments' capacity and
budget accordingly to properly maintain and care for these spaces over
the long term. While money seems
to flow freely for capital improvements, funding for maintenance and
operations is often less tangible and
less appealing. For this reason, park
professionals may prefer the " parkon-a-hill " approach over " repair and
improve " following every big weather
event. It's important to note, however, that the updated design of the Big
U East River Park project increased
the price tag by $700 million. A
missed opportunity? Perhaps.

This conundrum does raise an
interesting question which was
brought up by Amy Chester, Rebuild by Design's managing director, during this event. What exactly
is a resilient park? What and whom
are we trying to protect? Should we
design parks to absorb the impacts
of climate-related weather events
and natural disaster, or should we
focus on protecting the parks themselves? This question was not resolved during the Innovation Lab,
but, it did spark some interesting
conversation and thought among
participants.
Park and recreation agencies' ability to act on and prioritize climate
resilience as part of their mission
largely depends on the availability of resources; creative funding
approaches to maintenance, operations and programming; and the
willingness of leaders to prioritize
and include parks in resilience conversations. Park agencies must be at
the table as these decisions are being
made, raising their concerns, collaborating on solutions and working across departments. There is a
great opportunity for parks to " save
the world, " but there are still some
fundamental questions we need to
answer first.
This conversation is certainly far
from over, and we would love to hear
your thoughts on the subject. How do
you define a resilient park? Join us on
NRPA Connect www.nrpaconnect.org
during the month of April to share your
thoughts. We look forward to hearing
from you.
Lori Robertson (she, her, hers) is NRPA's Director
of Conservation (lrobertson@nrpa.org).

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April 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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