DESIGN OF PARK AND RECREATION AREAS 185 



landscape architecture upon principles evolved by the pioneer park planners 

 and builders in this country. 



While there may be spaces here and there in larger city recreation 

 parks treated after a formal design, the predominating characteristic of the 

 large park areas in American cities is their naturalness. This naturalness 

 has been attained through the skill of the designers in utilizing already 

 existing natural features or in more or less transforming, topographically 

 and botanically, given areas of ground. 



Factors to Be Considered in Selecting Large Park Areas. 



1. Accessibility. If large parks are to perform the functions intended 

 of them they must be readily accessible not only to those owning their 

 own means of transportation but especially to those who do not. Distance 

 from the people to be served is more or less a relative matter. A property 

 twenty miles from a city with a rapid transit line to or near it would likely 

 be as accessible as another property ten miles from the city but reached 

 only by an ordinary street car line. The latter property, on the other hand, 

 would be as near as one located only five miles from the city if there were 

 no means of transportation within a reasonable distance from it. Due regard 

 therefore should be given to the question of existing transportation or to 

 the possibilities of securing transportation in the immediate future. 



2. Interference with major traffic ways. It is very desirable that the 

 property selected will not in the future interfere with major traffic ways. 

 Otherwise it will likely be necessary to destroy its desirability by projecting 

 these lines through or across it or else ingress to the city or egress from the 

 city will be seriously obstructed. This problem may be obviated some- 

 times by securing property in the form of a huge wedge, the edge of which 

 projects toward the heart of the city. 



3. Boundaries. Special attention should be given to the boundaries. 

 If the property is within an area that is already platted, boundaries should 

 extend to the street; if in the vicinity of a roadway, entirely to the road; 

 if along a river, the entire bank of the river should be secured. Properties 

 facing upon back yards are not particularly desirable. It is sometimes 

 possible by donating some land and by making an agreement with the 

 property owners to get an extra street run through in such a situation. 

 By building a mound and using heavy screen planting the undesirable view 

 may be shut out, but property owners are likely to object to this. 



4. Topographical features. Care should be exercised to secure the 

 whole of any topographical feature. Thus, if there is a lake, stream, or hill, 

 the entire area in which the feature is situated should be secured, and 

 not merely a part of it. 



