GENERAL PLANNING OF A PARK SYSTEM 15 



VI. Areas devoted to a specific educational-recreational purpose, and in 

 which landscaping is a prominent feature. 



1. Botanical Gardens. 



2. Arboretums. 



3. Zoological Parks or Gardens. 

 VII. Miscellaneous Areas. 



1. Sites for Bath and Swimming Centers. 



2. Sites for Community Houses. 



3. Sites for Museums of Different Types. 



4. Sites for Utilitarian Structures and Uses. 



In actual practice there is not always the clear line of demarcation 

 among these several types of areas as indicated above. Thus a single area 

 may include a kindergarten playground, a children's playground, a neigh- 

 borhood playfield or a neighborhood playfield-park, an athletic field and 

 similar facilities. In fact, the inclusion of several different types of areas 

 in one area is more the rule than the exception, but there are a sufficient 

 number of exceptions to make it worth while to take note of the possible 

 classification as presented above. 



In the following sections each of the types outlined will be considered in 

 more or less detail relative to size, location, general character, and primary 

 and secondary functions. 



I. PLAYGROUNDS 



a. Playgrounds for children of kindergarten age and under. 1 The pri- 

 mary function of these areas is to provide a safe place for the active open- 

 air play of little children of five or six years of age and under and for 

 the sleep and rest periods of such children in the open air. Their second- 

 ary functions are to provide a rest and relaxation place for the mothers, 

 nurses, "little mothers" from the surrounding homes an isle of beauty 

 and a fresh air breathing spot for the immediate inhabitants. 



These playgrounds should preferably be located in the interior of 

 blocks, but a definite area of this type may be located in a playground 

 area for larger children, in neighborhood playfield-parks, in neighborhood 

 parks and in large parks. They are most needed in the congested sections 

 of cities and in tenement or apartment house districts where backyard 

 spaces are lacking, and should be as near as possible to the center of each 

 child population of one hundred children below school age. Children 

 should be able to reach the playground without crossing streets. 



1 The age group under five years of age comprised the following percentage of the total population for each 

 of the following decades: 1880, 13.9 per cent; 1890, 12.2 per cent; 1900, 12.1 per cent; 1910, 11.6 per cent; 1920, 

 10.9 per cent (United States Census). The average for the five decades is 10.1 per cent. Note the decrease in 

 the percentage from 1880 to 1920. 



