Forums

Central to The City Parks Forum are the series of symposia that were held across the country. You can learn more about our past symposia by clicking on any of the date links to the left. Each forum page includes information on the participating mayors, their case studies, the city teams, the faculty, and proceedings from the event.

Louisville participants engage in a tour of the Waterfront Park.

Each symposium provided:

• A unique opportunity for mayors to focus for two days exclusively on parks. Public support for parks has emerged as a top political issue. In 1999 voters approved 90 percent of the open space acquisition referenda put forth by local governments. Mayoral agendas can be significantly strengthened by giving greater priority to parks issues.

• A chance for mayors along with their principal park advisor and a community leader to concentrate on a pressing park problem in their community. A discussion of these problems forms the core of the symposium agenda. Creating a park on a brownfields site and reestablishing a distressed neighborhood's connection to a park are two examples of appropriate CPF case problems.

• A venue in which mayors and other participants can learn about their peers' concerns, challenges, and successes regarding parks. During the two-day meeting, the mayors present their city's case problem. All the participants take part in the case problem discussions, reflecting on the issues at hand and possible approaches to take.

• A time for mayors and their partners to discuss case problem issues with recognized experts. Faculty, selected for their expertise on the issues that will be the focus of a symposium, lend their insights to the discussion. Participants also learn about best park practices and the myriad ways that parks are connected to the economic, environmental, social, and cultural health of cities.