Nearly 900 people from 210 cities representing 20 countries gathered this morning in a hall on NYU’s campus. On stage, a biker rolled by a bench surrounded by plants, and a woman leisurely read a newspaper at a small table in front of a leafy tree. A lifeguard sat watch in his lofty lifeguard chair, surrounded by beach balls, watching over the entire scene.
No, this wasn’t New York City’s latest theater offering. This was the largest urban parks gathering in history — aka Greater & Greener: The International Urban Parks Conference, presented by City Parks Alliance. The purpose of the conference? To “increase awareness of the positive impact that parks and green spaces have on our urban communities and explore how urban parks will be designed, developed, programmed, funded and sustained to meet future demands.”
Catherine Nagel, executive director of the City Parks Alliance, kicked off the morning by welcoming the wide array of diverse attendees — everybody from “park professionals and advocates, public officials, designers and planners, healthcare providers, professors and students, philanthropists, corporate representatives — the important mix of people needed to create parklike cities.” She noted that over the course of the next days, more than 100 workshops and tours would highlight best practices, and help elevate the roles of parks and greenspace to address the challenges of the 21st century.
The morning continued with a keynote from Mayor Bloomberg, who highlighted the achievements made by New York City in parks and greenspace in the past decade. He noted that “parks have been shown to enhance city property values and quality of life,” and that it was important to continue to invest in greenspace even in tough economic times. Especially important, said the Mayor, was collaboration and private-public partnerships in creating great urban greenspaces — a theme that is sure to continue throughout the event.
Stay tuned for more Greater & Greener conference coverage from us here, as well as on our Twitter account and at the conference hashtag.
