DESIGN OF PARK AND RECREATION AREAS 179 



the case along deep bedded streams or in hilly regions. Small parks of the 

 naturalistic type may have more than a neighborhood appeal because of 

 some particularly fine specimens of native tree growth, or because of fine 

 views that may be had from a prominent elevation or other unusual con- 

 ditions. In point of fact there are many intown parks of a natural char- 

 acter that provide some of the conditions which are found at their best 

 only in large parks and reservations. 



3. Areas used by pedestrians. One other location factor is likely to 

 affect the design of areas located in any of the above-mentioned divisions 



- the location of the park in such a position as will cause it to be used 

 largely by pedestrians as a part of the general street plan. Examples of 

 such locations are large triangles and circles at street intersections or where 

 squares are located directly across street lines. 



In such locations the system of pathways and walks becomes of prime 

 consideration, and arrangements for seats must not be such as to obstruct 

 unnecessarily the movement of the people. The terminal points of the 

 walks will need to be so designed as to connect with the adjoining street 

 system in such a manner as to enable people to go, without too much wan- 

 dering, directly to the point they desire. 



4. Design as affected by some distinct educational-recreational purpose. 

 Occasionally an area of the intown park type may be designed to serve 

 some direct educational-recreational purpose. The Boston Public Gardens 

 and the Fleischmann Gardens (Cincinnati) are examples, although in such 

 instances they might properly fall into a separate and distinct classification 

 of their own. 



Statuary in Intown Parks. 



All over the United States the small intown parks have been seized 

 upon as sites for statues and monuments, and as repositories for cannon 

 balls and cannon and various other things of supposedly memorial char- 

 acter and value. To some extent such use of very formally designed down- 

 town squares and plazas may have some justification, but on the whole 

 the cluttering up of these spots has no justification from the standpoint of 

 taste and certainly has no justification from the standpoint of the funda- 

 mental purpose of the areas. 



The Use of Water in the Design of Intown Parks. 



The use of water in intown parks, either in the form of fountains, ponds, 

 miniature lakes, running streams with cascades and falls, may be a most 

 pleasing feature, for if skillfully handled it may contribute very much 

 indeed to the fundamental purpose of these areas. A fountain that is not 

 too active (and without too much architecture), the gurgle of a little water- 



