start-with-the-park

58 Start with the park
What is a well-designed
green space?
Good design is rarely brought about
by prescribing rigid quantitative
standards, but rather by approaches that
emphasise the qualities that make space
work. It depends on understanding
a wide range of considerations and
finding creative resolutions to potential
conflicts. Good design needs inspiration,
innovation and experimentation.
Minimising risk is important but needs
to be balanced with the need to create
stimulating environments that can be
surprising and educational. 19
The design of a successful green space
depends on understanding the particular
needs it will meet. Why is the space being
created? Who will use it and how? In
many places there are already too many
pointless unused areas of grass or small
patches of leftover green space adjacent
to buildings, which offer little value but still
impose a maintenance burden.
Successful green spaces come in a wide
range of types and sizes, and have a
variety of functions. What works best for
a particular locality will depend on local
circumstances. But there are a number of
qualities that successful parks, squares
and green spaces have in common.
These are shown in the box and are
explored in the following pages. These
qualities can provide a useful framework
for designing new spaces or improving
existing places. They are prompts for
thinking, not rules. The qualities overlap
and reinforce each other.
The qualities have been adapted from
By design: urban design in the planning
system 20 which, like this publication,
focuses on the everyday experience of
people in the urban environment. There
is one other quality that many successful
green spaces have: beauty. Like the
other eight, beauty should also be one
of the objectives, even though it may be
difficult to define. In a place that has the
other eight qualities, beauty may well
be the natural product of the patterns
of nature and human life and the skills
of talented designers.
The qualities of
successful green spaces
1. Sustainability
2. Character and distinctiveness
3. Definition and enclosure
4. Connectivity and accessibility
5. Legibility
6. Adaptability and robustness
7. Inclusiveness
8. Biodiversity