Parks of the 21st Century: Reinvented Landscapes, Reclaimed Territories by Victoria Newhouse and Alex Pisha surveys fifty-two parks across the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and China that have transformed former industrial land — railways, airports, quarries, and contaminated waterfronts — into exemplary public landscapes for the contemporary city.
About This Book
The argument at the heart of this book is straightforward but urgent: we are living through a golden age of park creation, and landscape architecture is at the centre of it. Where postwar urbanism stripped cities of green space, a new generation of landscape architects is reclaiming the most degraded land — brownfields, capped highways, decommissioned airstrips — and returning it to public life. Organised into eight chapters by the former life of each site, from railways and waterside industry to quarries and strongholds, the book documents how parks are now understood not merely as amenity but as instruments of ecological repair, economic revitalisation, and climate resilience. Among the practices featured are James Corner Field Operations, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Kongjian Yu/Turenscape, and Catherine Mosbach.
Key Features
- Fifty-two case studies spanning the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and China
- Work by James Corner Field Operations, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Turenscape, and Catherine Mosbach
- Organised by former site typology: railways, highways, airports, waterside industry, quarries, and strongholds
- A final chapter surveys four in-progress projects including Freshkills Park, Staten Island
What You'll Discover
- How post-industrial brownfield sites are being transformed into ecologically productive public landscapes
- The role of landscape architecture in urban climate resilience and environmental remediation
- Case studies ranging from the High Line in New York to waterfront parks in China and Europe
- How park design has shifted from passive amenity to proactive environmental infrastructure
About the Author
Victoria Newhouse is an architectural historian and the author of Towards a New Museum, Chaos and Culture, and several other widely respected works on architecture and design. Alex Pisha is a landscape and architectural designer whose practice spans cultural, academic, and civic projects.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 356
- Dimensions: 27.9 x 21.6 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780847870622
- Publisher: Rizzoli
- Publication Date: September 2021
Perfect For: Landscape architects, urban designers, environmental practitioners, architecture students, and anyone engaged with the future of public space in the contemporary city