GENERAL PLANNING OF A PARK SYSTEM 17 



held in private ownership under easement by all the residents of each 

 block. Park departments might aid in designing and planting these areas, 

 and it is conceivable that they might maintain the plantations just as 

 they function now in the landscaping of the numerous small triangles and 

 other small properties found in most cities. 



Mr. Harland Bartholomew has pointed out that the city may do 

 certain specific things to aid in the provision of interior block playgrounds. 

 These he lists as follows: 



a. Prevent platting of two small building lots. 



b. Preserve rear yards by building regulations. 



c. Encourage real estate promoters to develop interior block play- 

 grounds, the common property of all residents of the block. 



d. Purchase numerous protected sites for junior playgrounds to which 

 little tots may go with brothers and sisters. 



e. Develop attractive parks and pleasure drives which can be used 

 by parents and small children. 



In Chapter IV, page 112, Plate 34, is illustrated a type of interior 

 block park-playground in the Sunnyside housing project of the City Hous- 

 ing Corporation of New York City. This subdivision, comprising approx- 

 imately seventy acres, is located only fifteen minutes from the Grand 

 Central Station in New York. Practically every block is laid out to include 

 an interior block park and little children's playground. This housing proj- 

 ect is an outstanding example of the practical possibilities of providing 

 small parks and little children's playgrounds in the interior of blocks in 

 a region of high land values and a fairly high density of population. 



b. Children's Playground Areas. These are areas intended for the 

 play of children from about five years of age to fourteen years -- the age 

 group usually comprising about twenty-two per cent of the total popu- 

 lation of any community. 1 In school organization the group includes chil- 

 dren from the last year in kindergarten through all the grades to the ninth 

 inclusive. Above the kindergarten (five years of age) the group is usually 

 classified as primary (grades from first to sixth inclusive), and interme- 

 diate or junior high school (grades from seventh to ninth inclusive). The 

 first group includes children from about six years of age to ten or twelve; 

 the second, children from about eleven or twelve to fourteen. There is no 

 hard and fast line between the two groups, and recent studies in certain 

 cities seem to indicate that the pre-adolescent age is beginning sooner than 

 formerly, at ten instead of eleven or twelve. There is wide variation among 

 children in this respect. 



1 United States Census: 1880, 24.3 per cent; 1890, 23.3 per cent; 1900, 22.3 per cent; 1910, 20.5 per cent 

 1920, 2O.8 per cent. The average per cent for the five decades is 22.4 per cent. 



