How the Man who Designed Central Park Changed U.S. Cities

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Walking through Central Park is one of the few activities mutually enjoyed by both tourists and native New Yorkers. But before Frederick Law Olmsted forever altered New York City by designing the park, New Yorkers had no place to freely enjoy the outdoors.

An article in the upcoming September issue of "The Atlantic" examines the legendary landscape architect's influences for designing Central Park and how his designs changed the way cities in the United States approached public green spaces.

"That public parks should exist at all was a radical idea. Olmsted’s solutions — Central Park, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, among dozens of others, many designed with his longtime collaborator Calvert Vaux — were just as radical," reads an excerpt of the article written by Nathaniel Rich.

The article explains how Olmsted used influences from his own life, specifically his travels to public parks across the globe, to lobby for better public parks in the United States. Olmsted travelled to parks in Liverpool, England and studied much older examples of public space such as Babylon's Hanging Gardens, according to the article.

Now New York City has more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds and outdoor facilities within its city limits, according to the Parks Department website.

>>> Read the full Atlantic article here.

[Photo: Flickr user mariko]