GENERAL PLANNING OF A PARK SYSTEM 19 



throughout a community in sections isolated by topographic conditions or 

 transportation lines, or which for some reason or other it is not practicable 

 to use the school centers. 



In actual practice throughout America today, municipal park author- 

 ities and recreation departments have secured many areas of this type 

 separate and apart from public schools, partly because the school authori- 

 ties have failed to provide areas of sufficient size or failed to develop areas 

 owned, and partly because of jurisdictional difficulties in working out the 

 problem of joint use of school properties for public playground purposes. 

 A further reason lies in the fact that while in building new centers, or in 

 erecting new schools in outlying sections, it is possible to secure sufficient 

 land for playfields and there is a rapidly growing tendency on the part 

 of school boards to secure larger and larger areas for school sites -- it 

 often happens that in the case of old school buildings it is impossible for 

 the school board to secure land adjacent to the school, however much it 

 may desire to do so. In such instances it is most important for park 

 departments to provide playground areas in neighborhood playfields and 

 large parks. 



Radius of Influence. 



Reasonable walking distance may be construed anywhere from a 

 quarter of a mile to one-half mile. Preference, however, is given by most 

 planners to such a distribution of these areas that their radius will be 

 approximately one-quarter of a mile. At the 1924 annual conference of 

 the American Institute of Park Executives, Mr. C. E. Brewer, Chairman 

 of the Playground and Recreation Committee of the Institute, presented 

 the following conclusions as a result of a study of the use radius of chil- 

 dren's playgrounds in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Washington, Detroit and 

 St. Paul. "In the average city 50.4 per cent of the children travel one- 

 fourth and one-half mile; 10.5 per cent travel between one-half mile and 

 three-fourths mile; while 14 per cent travel a mile or more." 



Size of Children's Playgrounds. 



In considering the size of children's playgrounds it is important first 

 to decide whether children's playground areas should be limited to chil- 

 dren up to twelve years of age or should include children to fourteen years 

 inclusive. 



As a general rule it is desirable to plan for children's playgrounds for 

 the larger group. Most rural schools and a large percentage of urban schools 

 are still organized on the basis of an age grouping including all children 

 up to fourteen years of age inclusive in one center, and even in public 

 playgrounds separate from 



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