August 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 49

leading to a veranda underneath
the upper floors of a mixed-use
office/residential tower block.
Benches invite visitors to stop and
enjoy a view between the buildings, as others crossover the street
below on the opposite side of the
block heading to an even taller
building that's open for three stories so that the Park-Walk can pass
through it much in the same way
a sidewalk passes along any residential tower on the street level.
On Park-Walk, however, it's above
and away from the hustle and bustle of a city street.
The cost benefit of direct park
access would be attractive for elder
care co-op housing and for parents
with young children. The direct access to the park offers lawn space
for community yoga classes.
In a sense, we are going backwards to go forwards, reaching
toward a sustainable, healthy city.
The city of the future.

* Will the street lose its vitality if a
percentage of pedestrians prefer
a Park-Walk to a sidewalk?
* How best to establish publicprivate partnerships to build and
maintain Park-Walks?
" Traditionally, America's cities
have grown horizontally, spreading farther and farther into the
surrounding countryside. They

The cost benefit of direct park
access would be attractive
for elder care co-op housing
and for parents with young
children. The direct access to
the park offers lawn space for
community yoga classes.

A Starting Point?
The illustrations used throughout
this article give a painterly insight as to what this development
could look like were it to be developed with the principles of the
Park-Walk.
This introduction of Park-Walk
presents a starting point for a series
of rich discussions on how we want
to grow our cities around the world
and to address some of the vexing
problems that plague cities. Following are a few of the questions
that would need to be addressed:
* While we are offering public
parks for everyone, how can we
create affordable housing to keep
the economic diversity of the
neighborhood intact?
* Can Park-Walks offer an alternative for civic gatherings and democratic expressions?

Greenhouses and rooftop gardens.

have thus both despoiled our rural
character, while, at the same time,
dissipated the density that give cities their special energy, " says Mike
Abbate, an NRPA board member
and principal of Abbate Designs.
" Enlightened cities and states
have decided to create limits on
the sprawl that can happen by creating urban-growth boundaries.
This allows cities to grow up, not
out. Cincotta's visionary thinking (see www.ParkWalkPDX.org)
gives us a glimpse into a new future that is both denser and more
relaxing, both more vertical and
more beautiful, and both more

constructed and healthier.
" Where others see merely economic opportunity, " Abbate continues, " in the redevelopment of several blocks of downtown Portland,
Oregon, Cincotta sees the chance
to create a dynamic, new urbanism
that is welcoming to all, beautiful
and healthy. As an advocate for public parks and the former director of
Portland Parks & Recreation, I applaud his exciting vision: parks, like
cities, must evolve as we build better
and better urban habitats. "
Joseph Cincotta, AIA, LEED, NCARB, M.Arch., is the Principal
Architect for LineSync Architecture (jc@linesync.com).

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Parks & Recreation

August 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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