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KEY POINT #3: <br />When Manned as part of a system <br />of green infrastructure, parks can <br />help shape urban form and buffer <br />incompatible uses. <br />Another value of interconnected urban green space systems <br />is that they can enhance city aesthetics, help shape urban <br />form, and improve urban quality of life. In Seattle's <br />University District, residents and visitors can walk only a <br />few blocks to descend into Ravenna Park and escape the <br />city's hustle and bustle in a protected green oasis. Strategic <br />design and placement of green space elements across the <br />urban landscape can provide visual relief, separate incompati- <br />ble land uses and complement the placement of new build- <br />ings, roads, and other city infrastructure. <br />Minneapolis, Minnesota In 1883, the Minneapolis Board of <br />Trade adopted a resolution to establish an independent park <br />commission, reasoning that the rapid growth of the city "warns <br />us that the time has come when, if ever, steps should be taken <br />to secure the necessary land for such a grand system of Parks <br />and Boulevards as the natural situation offers" The state legisla- <br />ture then authorized a voter referendum that was overwhelm- <br />ingly approved that same year. One of the first acts of the <br />newly established board was to engage the services of two <br />well-known landscape architects of the time, H.W. S. Cleveland, <br />the former head of the Boston park commission, and Frederick <br />Law Olmsted.They both pressed for acquiring parklands well in <br />advance of the existing need.The board followed their advice, <br />acquiring large areas of land that would have been prohibitively <br />expensive, if even available, in later years. <br />Theodore Wirth, parks superintendent from 1905 to 1935, <br />was largely responsible for the development and expansion <br />of the Minneapolis park system in its formative years.The <br />park system he built, influenced by Olmsted's vision, reflects <br />the individuality of the various components contained within. <br />Today the 53-mile Grand Rounds parkway system contains <br />numerous parks and parkways, 22 lakes within the city limits, <br />streams and creeks, the Mississippi River, and the 53-foot <br />high Minnehaha Falls, made famous by Henry Wadsworth <br />Longfellow in his "Song of Hiawatha."The 6,400-acre park <br />system is designed so that every home in Minneapolis is <br />within six blocks of green space.The Minneapolis park sys- <br />tem has been called "the best -located, best -financed, best - <br />designed, best maintained public open space in America."' <br />KEY POINT #4: <br />Cities can use parks to reduce public <br />costs for stormwater management, <br />flood control, transportation, and other <br />forms of built infrastructure. <br />Perhaps the greatest value of an interconnected green space <br />system is the financial benefit that may be gained when <br />green infrastructure reduces the need for built infrastructure. <br />When designed to include stream networks, wetlands, and <br />other low-lying areas, a city's green space system can provide <br />numerous stormwater management benefits, including stor- <br />ing, carrying, and filtering storm runoff. American Forests esti- <br />mates that the 187,767 acres of tree canopy in the <br />Washington, D.C., metropolitan region provides 949 million <br />cubic feet in avoided storage of water, valued at $4.7 billion <br />annually.' Other benefits include the provision of alternative, <br />less expensive modes of transportation. The Rails -to -Trails <br />Conservancy estimates that one-third of weekday trail users <br />are commuting in major urban areas with trail systems, such <br />as Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Tampa. <br />Believue,Washington. Flood control and stormwater <br />management in urban areas typically involve vast networks of <br />underground storm sewers that feed into channelized streams <br />or ditches and eventually into natural waterways.These sys- <br />tems are very expensive, and under extreme flood conditions <br />they often fail. Bellevue has reclaimed its natural systems <br />through the coordinated design of a citywide park system and <br />a stormwater management program. In the early 1970s the <br />city government made a decision to change its stormwater <br />systems from an underground piped system to a less expen- <br />sive surface drainage system.Today two city agencies, the <br />Storm and Surface Water Utility and the Parks and Recreation <br />Department, use the same land to accomplish multiple objec- <br />tives.The utility bears responsibility for water resources and <br />has a budget for land acquisition.The parks department man- <br />ages much of the utility's land for parks, ball fields, playgrounds, <br />interpretive areas, and trails. Many of these open space assets <br />are also elements of the stormwater system. As a result of this <br />partnership, both agencies have reduced their costs while <br />achieving their diverse objectives. <br />3 OF 4 American Planning Association <br />