Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back every Monday for our news roundups.
River of Hope in the Bronx
Perhaps the most unsung patch of heaven in New York City is a tiny sliver of riverfront parkland tucked between a metal-recycling yard and a giant wholesale produce market, on the far side of a six-lane highway and a pair of active freight train tracks. Hunts Point Riverside Park, a 1.4-acre speck in the South Bronx, opened a few years ago on what had been a filthy, weedy street end.
Vacant Lots Can Catalyze Positive Change
At Greater & Greener: Reimagining Parks for 21st Century Cities, a conference in New York City hosted by the City Parks Alliance, Nate Berg, a staff writer for The Atlantic Cities moderated a session that explored approaches for dealing with vacant urban land. Through sensitive design, a number of panelists who are working around the world explained, vacant sites can become catalyze positive change.
In Queens, An Artistic Alteration
Attempting to transform Queens Plaza from a wasteland of potholed roads, a parking lot and elevated subway tracks into a greenway that would attract businesses and greet pedestrians and motorists arriving in Queens.
New Therapy Improves Mental Health Through Nature
If you picture going to a therapy session, you might see yourself in a chair, in an office decorated with tacky floral paintings, with a therapist (in her chair) taking notes under the fluorescent light. If you’re lucky, the window looks out toward a few trees, and not just a parking lot.
If this image doesn’t seem inspiring, take heart— a new movement in therapy and counseling is moving the sessions outside for a breath of fresh air.
