What Makes a Great Park Project?
Is it the community? The amenities? The experience? The truth is, no two great parks are exactly alike, and every great park brings these elements together in its own unique way.
At PEA Group, we help connect communities and the environment through park planning and design. Parks are more than attractive green spaces. They are places to gather, play, learn, exercise, and connect with nature while supporting environmental health, economic value, and overall quality of life.
We asked a few members of our team what they believe makes a great park project. Here is what they had to say:
- Getting stakeholder input early in the design phase is essential to creating a successful park project. Recognizing how children and adults use spaces differently is also important when designing for multigenerational users. – Violet Mak, PLA RAS, SITES AP, ENV SP
- Local connections are what make a park unique. A great park project reflects the adjacent neighborhoods, the history of the site, and the people it serves. Those connections create a strong foundation, foster civic pride, and help balance ecology, connectivity, and aesthetics. – James Goff, PLA, LEED AP ND
- A great park is more than the sum of its play areas, natural spaces, or walking paths. It celebrates its community, brings people together, and creates opportunities for meaningful connections. – Burke Jenkins, PLA
So, what makes a great park project? It is not defined by a single community, amenity, or experience. Great park projects are the result of thoughtful planning, meaningful public engagement, and design that reflect the people and places it is meant to serve. Those principles create spaces that people continue to enjoy for generations to come.
