Copenhagen - Pocket parks, a drop of urban green
Green cities are on the rise. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is one of the cities trying to improve the urban environment and deal with the daily green needs and desires of its inhabitants. One way of doing so is pocket parks: Open green spaces at a very small scale, often created on vacant building lots or on irregular pieces of land.
Copenhagen has a vision of becoming the capital city in the world with the best urban environment by 2015. The enhancement of urban green is one of the tools for reaching this vision. Within the next 7 years, the municipality will establish 14 pocket parks throughout the city and plant 3,000 trees to create green streets and connections. The goal is that 90 % of all Copenhageners by 2015 can walk to a park, a beach or a harbour bath in less than 15 minutes.
A pocket park is a small park accessible to the general public. It is only a few house lots in size and typically created on vacant building lots or small irregular pieces of land. Functions include spaces for relaxation, meeting friends, taking lunch breaks, reading a book, play areas for children etc. Often pocket parks are placed around a monument, a historic mark or in relation to an art project.
"Pocket parks are a unique opportunity to create drops of urban green close to where Copenhageners live."
Klaus Bondam, Mayor for Technical and Environmental Administration, City of Copenhagen
The City of Copenhagen highlights 5 elements key to the creation of pocket parks in Copenhagen:
• Size
• A visible green element
• Openness and a positive image
• Demarcation and protection
• Identity and local community
A pocket park is defined as less than 5,000 square meters - less than half the size of a soccer field. The green element is visible and a clear priority, preferably with a focus on long-term solutions, i.e. vegetation that becomes more green and attractive in time. The park has to be open and inviting to everybody and signs have to be positive and informative. Special consideration must be given to lighting so the park feels safe, also after dark.
A characteristic feature of a pocket park in Copenhagen is that it has to be situated between other elements in the city; Buildings, walls, maybe a green wall, or art installations. A clear demarcation must be visible on three sides so that it stands out as a “pocket.” Each park will have its own identity and has to be developed specifically to the site in question. Involvement of local residents in the development process is important to ensure that the park fits the needs and desires of the local community.
Besides serving the local community, the establishment of pocket parks throughout Copenhagen also has the potential to benefit the overall urban climate. Communities with parks that meet their needs within walking distance are less likely to drive out of the city for nature experiences, thereby reducing pollution and traffic. Furthermore, pocket parks can potentially relieve pressure on the larger parks, thus allowing flexibility to devote larger areas of the parks to habitat and ecological functions.
In a city strategy from May 2008, the establishment of pocket parks in Copenhagen will go hand in hand with the creation of green streets and connections. The vision is to create a green liveable city with quality and variation which will be a role model in featuring urban environmental responses to global warming.
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Inspiration: New York - city of pocket parks
New York City has a number of pocket parks, both historic and modern. The most famous example is Paley Park in Midtown Manhattan on the North side of East 53rd Street between Madison and 5th Avenue. It is a private owned public park designed by Robert Lewis Zion of Zion & Breen and funded by the William S. Paley Foundation.
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Completed in 1967, the park features12 honey locust trees, a 20-foot-high waterwall, vertical walls adorned with ivy and cobblestones set unevenly to slow pedestrian traffic. The waterfall, flowing more than 6,800 litres of water per minute, creates a backdrop of grey noise masking the sounds of the city. The park is inviting to passersby, partly because it is elevated above street level. Though it is a very popular and often crowded, locals describe it as a quiet and restful place.
Pocket parks - not just an urban phenomenon
Pocket parks can be urban, suburban or rural, and can be on either public or private land. Northamptonshire, a county of 630,000 inhabitants in the English East Midlands, has created more than 80 pocket parks within the past 18 years. The parks vary in size from 0.04 ha to 35 ha and location types vary from town centres to quiet villages. In contrast to Copenhagen, pocket parks in Northamptonshire do not have to be “walled.” Any available space can become a pocket park - for example a former parking lot on open ground. All needed is political and grass root support. Read more
Comments
New York City has a number of pocket parks, that's right, but it can't be compared with Copenhagen—simpy because the American city is much more densely populated than the Danish one, and therefore the parks are much more used.
And that's what a pocket park need to be—used like a cafe or a foyer, else it will be a place for dogs ...
well, density is relative! if you are talking about mass density it's true that it isn't easy to find a city compared to ny in europe. totally different if you think about the density of small shops or cafés per meter street! that's what creates street life, that's what could make these places interesting. still depending on a whole variety of other factors!
since it changes the 'streetscape' I appreciated it!
...
paul
Thank you very much for your comments, Jan Gralle.
We are currently working on the concepts of making pocketsparks in Copenhagen, and i would like to answer your questions / comments.
You are absolutely right, when you say that Copenhagen is not like NY. But we have been inspirered by the way NY has been able to create green spaces, in a city that has such a high density. Now, we want to "translate" this to a Copenhagen version - to create our own pocketpark s that is right for Copenhagen.
This is what we are working on currently, and it will involve landscape architecs and the citizens of Copenhagen.
Kind Regards,
Line Mortensen, City of Copenhagen
I think it is an excellent idea.
I see pocket parks as another type of green areas than traditional parks.
It is more a neighborhood park used as a semi-private garden for the densely populated ´bro-kvarter´. If the possibility is there I am sure the people will use it and take care of it as their own garden.
It will also be a green, and very much needed contribution to the environment in general.
MORE TREES IN THE STREETS.
cecilia
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