How We Do It: Park Ideas that Work

Visit Project for Public Spaces' Urban Parks Online to learn more about the influential role parks and plazas play in the quality of life of urban areas. Under Ask The Expert, Parks & People Director Steve Coleman discusses how to sustain park revitalization and public outreach for the long haul. Click on the links below to view his online essays.

• Five Principles for Media Outreach
• Stone Soup Park: Mobilizing Hidden Assets for Park Revitalization
• The Invisible Park: Revitalizing the Ten Invisible Landscapes (Reprinted and updated in the June 2003 issue of Places: A Forum of Environmental Design and also available from PPS)

In addition, Steve has also given talks and interviews about parks across the country and abroad. Click on the links below to hear the programs.

• AARP Radio Interview: "Taking Back City Parks"
• WAMU Diane Rehm Show Radio Interview Part One and Part Two
• WAMU Kojo Nnamdi Show Radio Interview (coming soon)
• 2004 Great Cities, Great Parks Conference Speech (coming soon)

Our efforts to revitalize greenspaces and communities across the city have been featured in numerous articles. Please be sure to check back; we are in the process of uploading more articles.

Parks & People's history and approach to public green space was featured in the June issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine.

Read about the Watts Branch stream-valley revitalization in the April 2005 issue of the UK's Spaces & Places magazine.
(NOTE: Scroll past the first page to see the full article.)

The first indication of an urgent need for change: "Dark Side of a Park"
Washington Post
August 30, 1981
by Linda Wheeler

"Ganging Up for Restoration"
Washington Post
July 4, 2002
by Tani Kahan

"New Spark in an Old Park"
The Shuttle Sheet
August 2001
by Karen Feld

"President Stops to Smell the Flowers"
Washington Post
April 22, 1994
by Linda Wheeler

"Capital Hills; Away From Cars and Concrete, Urban Hikers Discover Fresh Views Of a Monumentally Pretty City"
Washington Post, Style section
11 June 2003
by David Montgomery

"House of Blues; Marvin Gaye's Boyhood Home Awaits the Wrecking Ball or a Second Act" (Link coming soon!)
Washington Post, Style section
19 May 2003
by Natalie Hopkinson

"Urban Nature, A Monthly Feature Exploring Washington's Wild Side"
Washington Post, Kids Post
October 2003 by Patterson Clark

Additional Resources:

• DC Department of Parks and Recreation
• City Parks Alliance
• Cultural Tourism DC
• Project for Public Spaces (PPS)

We are honored to acknowledge our major donors for supporting our work!

• The Meyer Foundation
  The Meyer Foundation strengthens people and their communities by investing in Greater Washington's visionary nonprofits.

View the complete list of our major funders and volunteers.

Find out more about how you can make a difference by contributing online.