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Open Space Design As a follow up to the Biophilic design post yesterday, here's a paper on the importance of urban open space for what the author calls intergenerational activities.

Urban open space is the common ground for people to engage in activities and rituals that bind a community together (Carr et al. 1992). What are the qualities of such an intergenerational space?

GreenPlan Philadelphia has a great website that looks at this topic with specificity.

Lessons Learned About Planning & Designing Great
Open Spaces
# Involve the neighborhood
# Design with a vision
# Revive underused or unused space
# Design parks with flexible programming in mind
# Cleanliness equals respectfulness

With this type of work being done, it's easy to be more optimistic that we can make a difference and reconnect children with nature.
Posted by Steve Chase at Tuesday, August 07, 2007