GENERAL MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY PARK PLANNING 97 



Taking into consideration only those properties within the city limits 

 or in close proximity to them, Minneapolis is the only city within this 

 group that comes within the ratio of one acre to every hundred inhabitants. 

 Denver, of course, if the mountain park system be included, far exceeds 

 this ratio. The majority of the cities have had comprehensive plans made 

 and in some instances supplementary plans have been made. 



There is a marked lack of comprehensive metropolitan area planning 

 among the cities of this group. Denver, with its great system of mountain 

 parks, has made marked advance in this respect, while Milwaukee is meet- 

 ing this need through the development of a county park system. To some 

 extent the county park systems in the vicinity of Newark and Jersey City 

 are meeting this need. 



Every one of the cities is lacking in adequate provisions for children's 

 playground and neighborhood playfield-park areas. Even Minneapolis, 

 which has the most comprehensive system of municipally owned properties 

 within easy reach of the people, needs additional neighborhood playfield- 

 park areas. Washington, which has the largest number of individual prop- 

 erties, is especially lacking in children's playground and neighborhood play- 

 field-park areas. This system is an example of what a radial system of 

 streets or avenues superimposed over a gridiron street plan does in creating 

 a very large number of small properties which because of their size, and 

 especially because of their location, contribute very little to the active 

 recreation resources of the community. In most of these cities the school 

 play areas, taken as a whole, are totally inadequate. 



It appears that the fields for intensive attention now and in the future 

 in these cities lie in supplying the deficiencies in playground and neighbor- 

 hood playfield-park areas and in planning a system of metropolitan areas. 



The children's playground area need should be a primary duty and 

 responsibility of the various school boards in cooperation with the municipal 

 authorities. The planning and providing of neighborhood playfield-park 

 areas is a primary duty and responsibility of the municipal authorities in 

 cooperation with the boards of education. The planning of a metropolitan 

 system of areas and the securing of these areas is a primary function of the 

 municipal authorities in cooperation with county authorities. However, it is 

 more desirable to plan a metropolitan system on a district basis than upon 

 a county basis for the reason that often it is necessary to go outside the 

 limits of a county in which a given city is situated to secure needed properties. 



Group IX. Cities Having a Population of from 500,000 to 1,000,000. 



In 1920 there were 9 such communities having a total population of 



Note: For more detailed information concerning some of these cities see list of survey and city plan reports, 

 Chapter II, pages 68 and 69. 



