Lyudmila Bilodid, the founder of the Beloded Landscaping bureau, a full member of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD), spoke about the trend that today's most successful and rapidly developing cities of the world are including in their development strategies, and its perspective in the Ukrainian context.
The very term pocket park, or vest pocket park in the West, appeared in the mid-1960s. Cities in Europe, the United States, and Canada began to densify, the value of land increased, but even in the most densely built-up areas, there remained patches of territory that were too small or inconvenient for the construction of a new building. These areas were used for spontaneous parking, landfills or were not used at all. Sometimes a wasteland arose on the site of an old destroyed house. And so the wastelands excluded from the life of the city began to be gradually ennobled, turned into green islands - at the initiative of the authorities or the residents themselves. Today, this process has spread throughout the world.
Lyudmila Bilodid, landscape designer, director and founder of Beloded Landscaping bureau
One of London's most picturesque pocket parks, St Dunstan in the East, arose on the ruins of an ancient church. It was built in the XNUMXth century, and the bell tower with a spire at the end of the XNUMXth century. completed according to the project of the famous British architect of that era, Sir Christopher Wren. The architectural masterpiece was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, only the spire and part of the perimeter walls of the building survived.
In the 70s, the municipal authorities decided not to reconstruct the ruins, which at that time were densely overgrown with ivy, because the city did not need another church. But it was not possible to demolish the remains of the architectural heritage. So they decided to turn the ruins into a public park. A fountain appeared in the center of the former nave, and several benches were installed around it.
The design was developed in the Department of Architecture and Parks of London. This Landscape Heritage Award-winning mini-park is often referred to as a 'secret garden' as it is hidden deep within a block behind monotonous buildings.
Some pocket parks can be compared to gems in the urban setting. Yes, one of the first pocket parks of New York Paley Park, the area of which is only 390 square meters. m, rightly considered to be the most successful public space in the USA.
Paley Park Plan. Graphic author: Charlton Jenks
It was designed by landscape architects Zion Breen Richardson Associates back in 1967 and, in fact, started the mass craze for pocket parks around the world. A small site between residential buildings in the very center of Manhattan belonged to the foundation of the influential media magnate William Paley (by the way, his grandfather was an emigrant from Brovary).
The board of the foundation decided not to develop the plot, but to arrange a small public square on this place, where passers-by and local residents could hide from the city bustle. Architect Robert Zion enhanced the space's intimate atmosphere by turning the side walls into supports for ivy, and at the back he designed a waterfall that creates "white noise," an acoustic curtain from the sounds of the street. To create a transparent shade, Zion planted 12 holly trees - this is one of the most resistant, unpretentious and fast-growing urban trees. Cobblestones and light wire chairs give the space a graphic feel.
Paley Park is one of New York's first pocket parks, designed by Zion Breen Richardson Associates in 1967.
Even in winter, the minipark does not lose its appeal. It is a real masterpiece of landscape art and a very popular place among New Yorkers. Urbanist William (Holly) White documented how people use this space in his film The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. During the day, people come here to rest or have a snack - snacks can be bought from the kiosk in front of the entrance, and in the evening, Paley Park often becomes a place for public events or private parties.
Not a park or a square
I would like to emphasize: a pocket park is not a park in our understanding, not a city garden or a public square. First of all, the pocket park is distinguished by its small size. It can be said that this is the smallest bead in the green necklace of the city. Small, but with huge potential, not only social, but also economic. Such a green city room can be used by the community for business events, for minimarkets of local products, chamber concerts in the fresh air. In a global sense, tiny miniparks improve the quality of the environment, help overcome isolation and loneliness, and strengthen ties between residents of the quarter and district.
Wasteland or ruins - areas removed from city life can be turned into pocket parks
In Ukrainian legislation, the pocket park as a phenomenon is still missing. The area of our city parks is usually 0,5–2 hectares, and the area of parks reaches tens or even thousands of hectares. For example, Holosiivsky Park, the largest in Kyiv, is 4 hectares.
Until recently, there were no mentions of the size of city parks and squares in the State Building Regulations. DBN 360-92**, valid until 2019, regulated that the area of the territory of parks, gardens and squares should be taken based on specific urban planning and natural conditions. Except that in the order of the Ministry of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Communal Affairs of Ukraine No. 105 dated 10.04.2006, which is called "Rules for maintaining green spaces in populated areas of Ukraine", the definition of city gardens, parks, and public squares is given.
So, according to these rules, a square is "an orderly and landscaped area with an area of 0,02 ha to 2,0 ha, which is an element of the architectural and artistic design of populated areas, intended for short-term recreation of the population." And smaller plantings — "green areas with an area of less than 0,02 ha, adjacent to transport highways in the form of islands of lawns and flower gardens without paths and rest areas, are included in the composition of streets as special purpose plantings."
In 2019, DBN 360-92** was replaced by a new document — DBN B. 2.2-12:2019 "Planning and development of territories". According to it, "the minimum area of green areas should be accepted: parks - 2 hectares, squares - 0,05 hectares, gardens - 1,5 hectares."
A pocket park on the site of the ruined church of St Dunstan in the East. London, Great Britain. Photo source: thelondoni.com
Meanwhile, in Great Britain, most urban pocket parks are no larger than a tennis court - 0,02 hectares. And most often they are even smaller. Yes, it is not enough for jogging or cycling, but as a place to pause, the pocket park is just perfect. And, unlike our "special purpose areas", even the smallest pocket park has several benches or built-in seats, that is, it meets the rules of placemaking regarding the creation of modern and comfortable public places.
New York's Central Park vs 220 Pocket Parks
Medium.com last year published an interesting study co-authored by urban planner Jiachen Zhou and master of architecture Jihae Park. The researchers set out to prove mathematically that New York's Central Park would bring much more social and economic benefits if its green space were evenly distributed across the city in the form of individual pocket parks.
Greenacre Pocket Park is a private public park in Manhattan designed by landscape architect Hideo Sasaki in collaboration with architect Harmon Goldstone. New York, USA. Photo source: todaysthedayi.com
The creation of pocket parks allows to achieve the transformation of the urban environment without global investments
A pocket park near the Greenwood Theater building, created in collaboration by the famous British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and garden designer Joe Swift. London, Great Britain. Photo source: cityscapes.org.uk
As early as 1961, Jane Jacobs in her book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" wrote about the value of short blocks and intersections as places of meeting and interaction. "This is also true for parks, if you perceive them as a place of social communication," thought the authors of the study, and as an experiment, they divided Central Park into 220 rectangular parts.
They spread them out on a map within Manhattan, trying to keep these imaginary pocket parks closer to busy streets and intersections. If an average of 110 people visit the Central Park per day, then, as the researchers found, almost 22 million people would visit pocket parks of the same area in total, but distributed across the district.
Certainly no one is going to belittle Frederick Law Olmsted's masterpiece. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate that by returning lost, unused areas to the city in the form of tiny oases, it is possible to achieve an even better result without global reconstruction than by creating one outstanding, gigantic park, which requires a large-scale mobilization of resources and, above all, a large area free from development.
London: There aren't many pocket parks
Despite the fact that the history of pocket parks began in New York, today this topic is most seriously promoted at the state level in Great Britain. Thus, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government of Great Britain in the budget for 2020 provided for the allocation of 1,35 million pounds for the creation of new pocket parks.
And last year, Pocket Parks Plus funded 198 projects across England. "I am delighted that the pioneering pocket parks program has been given the go-ahead and look forward to hearing from citizens about their creative plans to shape and improve their neighborhoods for generations to come," said the campaigner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and of local self-government of Great Britain Robert Jenrick.
Pocket Park, designed by landscape designer Tony Woods. London, Great Britain. Photo source: metro.co.uk
The state program supports civic initiatives of urban communities by allocating grants of up to 15 pounds. Officials leave project initiators complete freedom in the design of new pocket parks: "There is no recipe for the appearance of a pocket park. We welcome both innovative and traditional proposals."
The program assumes that the design can be developed by non-professionals, but welcomes the involvement of design experts: garden designers, landscape architects and arborists. At the same time, the designation of new spaces is quite strictly regulated. All projects should be aimed at improving the quality of green areas for citizens.
Quality means sustainability. Maintenance and management of the new pocket parks falls on the community, and the grant application must specify how and who will maintain the new park for at least 5 years. By the way, in Great Britain they support the creation of pocket parks not only in the capital or cities, but also in rural areas.
Typology and characteristics of pocket parks
Today, planners, talking about the types of pocket parks, distinguish active, passive and bonus. A similar typology was introduced in 2012 by urbanist Alison Lefler. Active parks offer a specific usage scenario: they can have a playground or a mini basketball court (it can be just one basketball hoop).
Passive parks usually take the form of several benches or tables in the shade, centered around a small fountain. And the bonus ones are the smallest green fragments that appeared as an island of freshness on several tens of square meters at intersections, former parking lots on the initiative of the municipality or near shops or small cafes, which arose as a result of the improvement of the territory adjacent to the object of a private property Due to their small size, all pocket parks are monofunctional.
Designers distinguish three types of modern pocket parks: active, passive and bonus
At first glance, it may seem that creating a pocket park is as simple as installing a bench. Or that the area of 2 hectares does not allow the designer to show any idea. But we must not deceive ourselves. Just as the planning and setting of a smart apartment requires thoughtful calculations and designer life hacks, designing a tiny oasis is a responsible and difficult process. Uncomfortable and improperly planned pocket parks will attract only marginal people, turning into a problem for the residents of the quarter.
A high-quality pocket park always has a highlight, a focal object or an unusual architectural and landscape solution that attracts people. It can be an original sculpture, an unusual or very old tree, a memorial stone, a historical artifact or an authentic sign significant for the neighborhood. Anything can be a source of inspiration for a designer, even cracks in the asphalt, as, for example, in Copenhagen's first pocket park on Odinsgade.
A pocket park across from a shopping center in the city of Marianna. State of Florida, USA. Photo: Michael Rivera. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons
When urban planners surveyed residents of New York, London and other large cities, women with small children and the elderly were the most vocal in support of pocket parks — for them, the most important characteristic is not the size, but the easy accessibility of the green area.
But the main critics of the idea remain motorists who use vacant lots and "pockets" for parking personal vehicles closer to the house. When people were asked what they would like to see the new pocket parks look like, they mostly talked about the importance of lighting after dark, safety and seating.
Innovative and chamber
Today, the term pocket park is strongly associated with a private, cute and original urban space, which, due to its small size and involvement in the center of urban life, is also often used as an experimental and testing ground for innovative, social technologies and design methods, a kind of experimental stand, success and the impact of which can be studied in real time before implementing the innovation in large projects.
A pocket park can become a testing ground for innovative technologies і design techniques
New pocket parks will appear even when the resource of vacant plots is exhausted. Now urbanists also use the water area of rivers or bays within the city limits. The basis for the Floating Pocket Park in London, created by the famous landscape designer Tony Woods, was pontoons made of recycled plastic, and for the container beds selected spicy herbs and honey plants that attract bees and birds.
Floating Pocket Park designed by landscape designer Tony Woods. London, Great Britain. Photo source: metro.co.uk
Recycled Park is both a public park and equipment for cleaning the river from garbage. Rotterdam, Netherlands. Photo source: Recycled Park
Recycled Park in Rotterdam is a set of several floating octagonal platforms that double as traps for trash floating down the Maas River. Several platforms are filled with soil, in which field grasses are planted, while others have benches for visitors.
This water park with a total area of only 100 square meters. m were created by activists of the Recycled Island Foundation public organization in the summer of 2018. They recently announced that the pilot project was recognized as a success, and promised to launch a whole series of similar floating parks that, acting as public spaces, will simultaneously clean the river.
In Copenhagen, a program for the development of urban pocket parks focuses on solving climate problems. The specifications from the city contain requirements: the new oases must absorb stormwater and serve as protection from the heat on summer days.
Why do Ukrainian cities need pocket parks?
If you walk along almost any of the streets of Kyiv, even in the densely built-up center, you can easily find spaces that are not used or poorly used - empty spaces with some rusty MAFs or ancient garages, concrete yards-wells lined with cars.
Some areas even have some signs of landscaping, but it would be unthinkable to call a gloomy front garden with a "dog grave" (a pile of rocks for a rock garden) a secret garden. Usually there is not even a bench to sit on. Sometimes the residents of the surrounding buildings themselves dismantle the benches installed by ZHEK, so that alcoholics and noisy youth do not gather there.
And, to be honest, there is no particular benefit from such front gardens: the maximum that is good there is old trees that create shade. And in the off-season, due to improperly installed curbs, these patchy green areas turn into a source of dirt on the sidewalks. But if desired, they can be reformatted into modern pocket parks, thereby significantly improving the quality of our urban environment.
In cottage towns, pocket parks can act as public spaces
The project of a pocket park for a cottage town, created by Beloded Landscaping. Kyiv region, Ukraine
The project of a pocket park for a cottage town, created by Beloded Landscaping. Kyiv region, Ukraine
The creation of a network of pocket parks will partially solve the problem of the availability of green areas. My colleagues from Kharkiv proposed to introduce a new, similar to the European, norm to the DBN that a green recreational zone should be located within a 20-minute walking distance from urban housing. But in the new edition of DBN B. 2.2-12:2019 "Planning and development of territories" we read: "The time of availability of city parks when traveling by transport should be no more than 20 minutes, and district parks - no more than 15 minutes."
However, 20 minutes on foot and 20 minutes by public transport are different things. At the same time, officials note that the creation of new green recreational areas under conditions of dense construction is unrealistic. Yes, but they do not take into account such an integral part of the green urban framework as a pocket park. Sometimes it seems to me that we speak different languages with formal urbanists.
Astor Place is a pocket park on the square. New York, USA
Moreover, pocket parks are a relevant topic not only for the urban environment. In the suburbs, in cottage towns, they can perform the role of public spaces, public "green rooms", where residents of the village can meet, discuss urgent issues in a relaxed atmosphere, more informal, natural and comfortable than a typical square or club. For suburbs, buffer zones, where the natural environment already dominates the artificial one, this is the smartest and most organic solution.
We have experience working on similar projects, and I consider this direction very promising. The fact that the concept of a pocket park, as I told you, is absent in our urban planning documentation and does not fall under regulations and standards (for example, how many and which plants to plant, what amount of paving should be provided, what street furniture or a fountain should be), on the one hand , not bad, because it leaves room for creativity and gives an opportunity for self-expression even to non-professionals.
To run government programs, you need to pin в legislation on the status of pocket parks
Omoken Park, created by Yabashi architects & associates on the site of a house destroyed by the earthquake. Kumamoto, Japan. Photo: © yashiro photo office. Photo source: archdaily.com
But if our task is to create not a temporary, but a long-term green oasis, then, of course, the project must have a legal basis and be under the protection of the law. Government grant programs like those in London and New York cannot be launched until we have legislated the status of these small but promising urban spaces.
