The Urban Forest—A Celebration of the Public Park
For hundreds of years, aristocrats would set aside a large portion of their land for the purpose of recreation. This piece of land contained much of what was found in the surrounding wilderness as well as exotic flowers, trees, and shrubs were usually imported from foriegn countries and were planted in the private gardens of the wealthy owners. During the early 19th Century in Europe, the middle class began funding construction of their own public gardens or parks. One of the first such gardens was the Birkenhead Park in Liverpool, England. The park was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton and was finished in 1847. In 1850 Frederick Law Olmsted visited the park, and in 1857, he designed New York’s Central Park, which was completed in 1863.
Today, public parks are scattered throughout our communities, and serve many functions. They serve to beautify the community and to provide a place of exercise, relaxation, and recreation for those who visit these parks. They often serve as a refuge for animals. The parks can also educate us about nature.
The park brings a bit of nature to the city, but it is a contained nature: trees are planted in specific places and are neatly pruned, grass is kept trimmed, “weedless” flowerbeds are grown and nurtured, and the fallen autumn leaves are raked and cleared from the ground. In the wilderness, none of these things are done to the landscape, and in this setting, it is considered beautiful and natural. In the urban setting, however, unpruned trees, and long, unkempt grass are considered an eyesore.
The parks photographed are all “mature” parks. They all have existed for some time, and therefore represent more closely what the landscape architect had envisioned when the park was first planned. They represent what I feel about the landscape in the urban environment.
