Synopses & Reviews
Galen Cranz surveys the rise of the park system from 1850 to the present through 4 stages - the pleasure ground, the reform park, the recreation facility and the open space system. Looking at both their physical design and social purpose, Cranz argues that city parks have become an instrument of social policy with the potential for reflecting and serving social values.
Galen Cranz is Associate Professor of Sociology in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley
Review
"An important work that should be read by every historian of the built environment."
- J. Meredith Neil, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
Review
"Galen Cranz, once a designer of playgrounds in Chicago, has written an excellent, well illustrated, comprehensive history of urban parks in America. Tracing 130 years of the movement to provide open and recreation space in cities, Cranz follows the physical, political, and ideological development of parks using New York, Chicago, and San Francisco as case studies.... For planning historians, Cranz offers a wealth of background material. For contemporary park planners, administrators, and users, this book contains insights that should aid in the design and clarify the function of our cities' parks."
- Ann L. Buttenwieser, APA Journal