Critics, including some influential environmental groups, would prefer to see naturalization of the river itself. But during a recent Zoom call from his Los Angeles studio, a grin crossed the Pritzker Prize winner’s face as he shared his plans to transform the forlorn industrial confluence of the Los Angeles River and the Rio Hondo in South Gate into an urban cultural park like no other. — Los Angeles Times

It's been billed as the underground High Line: a park, not above the street but below ground, in an abandoned trolley terminal on the Lower East Side.

But after more than a decade of planning, one of the founders of the proposed Lowline says the project is now on hold because there isn't enough money to build it. — Spectrum News NY1

As Los Angeles officials ponder ways to cut down on traffic in and around Griffith Park, an engineering firm hired by the city is analyzing the pros and cons of installing a gondola or similar aerial transit system that could ferry riders in and out of the park. [...]

City leaders ordered the study last year, after reviewing a list of 29 recommendations from an outside consultant brought in to analyze traffic issues in the communities surrounding the 4,511-acre park. — Curbed LA

The crowded field of competitors who’ve proposed solutions for the ailing Brooklyn-Queens Expressway has gotten another entrant: Bjarke Ingels Group, which has unveiled a proposal that it calls “BQP.”

The “P” stands for park, and in BIG’s plan, green space takes center stage. [...] the vehicles that use the BQE would be moved to a roadway that would be covered and topped with as much as 10 acres of new parkland. — Curbed NY

A Holocaust memorial proposed for outside Parliament would have a "significant harmful impact" on the area, the Royal Parks have said.

The landmark is planned to be built at Victoria Tower Gardens on Millbank, alongside the River Thames.

Royal Parks, which looks after the space, said it could not support the plans as the Grade II listed park was a "highly sensitive location". — BBC

The Russian President Vladimir Putin opened Zaryadye Park near Red Square on 9 September, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, creators of New York’s High Line, but what Moscow city officials are lauding as a “new symbol of Russia” preservationists are decrying as a travesty that impinges on the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral, two of Russia’s most sacred landmarks. — The Art Newspaper

A pair of USB ports on a console on the front of the bench provides juice from the solar panel mounted at lap level between the seats. Who wouldn’t want to hang out at a bench like this? It certainly catches the eye of passersby. What these kids might not realize, however, is that this bench is watching them back. — Landscape Architecture Magazine

The Trinity River Park, which will be 10 times the size of Central Park in New York, will be made up of 7,000 acres of the Great Trinity Forest, 2,000 acres of space between the Trinity River levees and 1,000 acres of already developed space.

MVVA’s design will build on municipal efforts to connect the river with the city. It envisions the space as a “beautiful and naturalistic network of trails, meadows and lakes living in harmony with the river”. — globalconstructionreview.com

This is the urban park of today. Unlike the neatly drawn public spaces of an earlier age, these parks are reclaimed from the discarded parcels of our cities: Stranded patches of woods, abandoned military bases and airports, storm-water systems, rail lines and bridges, places where scraps of land are pieced together like quilts or strung together like beads.

The experimentation is global. — National Geographic

Perkins Eastman is taking two of the best-loved urban land-use stories of the Bloomberg era—the High Line and Times Square—and combining them into one.

The Green Line extends the logic of changes that have already taken root along the limited stretch of Broadway running through Times Square. [...] proposal builds on the work of Jan Gehl and Snøhetta, the architects who pedestrianized Times Square. Yet it also echoes the High Line by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. — citylab.com

Visitors to the garden bridge in London will be tracked by their mobile phone signals and supervised by staff with powers to take people’s names and addresses and confiscate and destroy banned items, including kites and musical instruments, according to a planning document. [...]

Caroline Pidgeon [...] said she feared the bridge was following “a worrying trend of the privatisation of public places, where the rights of private owners trump those of ordinary people”. — theguardian.com

Since the capping and closure of Fresh Kills’ five mounds, this 2,200-acre expanse of wetlands, marshlands, dry lowlands, forests, and grasslands has evolved into an unusual combination of natural and engineered beauty. — urbanomnibus.net

To be recognized as a Great Tree, in New York City, is not just a matter of having the correct heritage or coming from the right family. [...]

For a person, achieving fame or prominence comes with both perks and pitfalls. But what are the advantages of being a celebrated tree? And what are the dangers? While humans have long venerated old and large trees, we've also cut them down and razed whole forests of their less superlative brethren. — atlasobscura.com