The City Parks Forum is about collaboration, sharing information, community, and exchanging ideas.
We are facing a new era of defining what constitutes a park. No longer seen as simply grass and trees, parks provide a multitude of benefits to their users. In the past, parks brought an element of the country into the city. They provided relief from overcrowded housing conditions and congestion. They later evolved into recreation centers and facilities. These park functions all continue to have value today. Parks, however, have begun to play a more integrated role in our urban environments.
They provide formal and informal gathering places for building community. They help to positively influence property values. They give city dwellers a place to connect to the natural world. They make our urban areas more inviting for living, working, and relaxing.
To understand what the urban parks of the future — and the cities in which they exist — will be, urban leaders need a venue for addressing the challenges of creating and enhancing parks in their cities. The City Parks Forum provided this venue.
 | APA has published three monographs on urban parks issues as part of the Planning Advisory Service reports series: |
We have developed a series of briefing papers, written by nationally recognized park and open space experts, on topics that past mayoral participants have identified as the most pressing issues facing their cities.
In preparation for each forum, each city prepares a case study, which helps to define the program for the forum. The city presentations can be viewed at the various forum web pages, shown on the left. Check out Making a Difference as we track the progress of our parks grant projects.
A bibliography of urban parks resources has been developed specifically for The City Parks Forum.
This program has been made possible by a $2.5 million grant from the Wallace Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
©Copyright 2012 American Planning Association All Rights Reserved