The Reinvention of Public Green Space

Much attention has been paid to preserving land at the urban fringe, and to the negative effects of sprawl and its costs. There is increasing recognition that enhancing green, public open spaces in cities provides a strategy to make those cities more sustainable, more livable, and more equitable. This involves a new approach to public spaces that integrates infra-structure needs, takes equity into account, and reexamines the range of uses public spaces offer. We consider the potential for urban greening through a case study in the dense inner core of Los Angeles that probed local resident attitudes and values toward a more inclusive strategy, and that measured the potential value of nature’s services in the urban fabric using a GIS program. [Key words: Los Angeles, public urban open space, sustainability, regreening, GIS.] Our collective perception of cities depends on the landscape of open spaces. They lace a city with their voids. … City is not so much a construction as a landscape of open spaces.