DESIGN OF PARK AND RECREATION AREAS 2or 



Group and Family Camping. 



While this is an activity perfectly proper and permissible in large 

 outlying reservations, it is not to be recommended for large city recrea- 

 tion parks. There are only a few examples of such use of this type of park 

 areas in the United States. So far as group or organized camping is con- 

 cerned, too close proximity to regions from which the campers come and 

 the inevitable presence of large crowds making general use of the park, 

 create a condition that renders the organization and conduct of a group 

 camp next to impossible. The general environmental condition for this 

 type of activity is also likely to be undesirable. Moreover, because of the 

 extensive and intensive demands for general daily use of various facilities 

 in such parks, it is unwise policy to set aside any portion for the exclusive 

 and extended use of any group. 



The chief objection to family camping in large landscaped parks is 

 that no citizen and his family has the right to preempt any portion of a 

 public property of this type designed for general public use. In the few 

 large parks where camping is permitted, a few hundred families have grown 

 through the course of years to feel that they have almost a proprietary right 

 to the season's use of a portion of a public property that was purchased by 

 all the people for the use of all the people. The nominal rent that is usually 

 charged is no adequate return for this service even if the policy were a 

 correct one. 



Educational-Recreational Features in Large Parks. 



While many of the activities listed under the head of Provisions for 

 Recreation Activities in Large Parks are somewhat educational in their 

 effects, other features found in large parks in the United States may be char- 

 acterized as educational-recreational. Among these features are: botanical 

 gardens, arboretums, conservatories, museums, art galleries, aquariums and 

 zoological gardens. 



1. Botanical gardens. The almost inevitable necessity of using a 

 formal design in laying out a botanical garden introduces a jarring element 

 into the general design of a large park. The same may be said of the intro- 

 duction of a rose garden, or a commemorative garden such as a Shake- 

 speare garden. If a botanical garden or any of the special varieties of 

 gardens are introduced and there are many of them in large parks in 

 the United States the only thing that can be done is to give such a 

 garden a specific place and treat it as though it had no primary relation 

 to the design of the park as a whole. 



2. Arboretums in large parks. The arboretum, on the other hand, 

 may lend itself to introduction into a large park without changing the 



