Urban parks and urban problems: An historical perspective on green space development as a cultural fix

Why does everyone think cities can save the planet? Contemporary planning interventions promise salvation via spatial fixes that might reduce carbon emissions, boost metropolitan economies, and allow urban society to thrive in spite of rising seas and climate disasters. New wetlands, floodgates, and other adaptive infrastructures allow water to coexist with urban space; new parks, such as New York’s High Line and Chicago’s 606, celebrate the interweaving of built and natural environments and suggest how outmoded infrastructure can be repurposed for civic benefit. While the climate dilemmas at hand are historically new, the use of landscaped environments in the service of solving social problems is not. Dating to the first generation of urban park development in the 19th century, planners have deployed green spaces as solutions to various cultural, political, and economic conundrums of the city. Offering an historical parallel and counterweight to investigations of contemporary urban–environmental dynamics, this paper investigates the period of park development that occurred in the 19th century in North America and Europe, using Chicago’s Olmsted-designed South Park (the contemporary Washington and Jackson Parks) as a case study. I argue that green spaces’ distinct nexus of (1) normative cultural meanings around nature, (2) power relations bound up in dominant landscape aesthetics, and (3) direct link to the economic realm via the structuring of land values have made green space development a powerful ‘cultural fix’: a means of using social space to mitigate perceived social crises. Understanding the historical foundations of green spaces’ use as cultural fixes can inform contemporary analyses, particularly as new landscape ideologies emerge as part of broader green urbanism development and climate change adaptation strategies. 为什么每个人都认为城市可以拯救地球？当代的规划干预措施通过空间修复来承诺拯救，这些修复可能会减少碳排放，推动大都市经济，并允许城市社会蓬勃发展，尽管海平面上升和气候灾难日益严重。新的湿地、洪水闸门和其他适应性基础设施使水能够与城市空间共存；纽约High Line和芝加哥606等新公园实现了建筑环境和自然环境的交融，并说明老旧的基础设施可以怎样为公民利益重新发挥作用。 虽然目前的气候困境是有史以来前所未有的，但在解决社会问题的过程中使用景观环境并不是什么新鲜事。早在十九世纪第一代城市公园建设过程中，规划者们已将绿色空间的部署视为各种城市文化、政治和经济难题的解决方案。本文在当代城市环境动态进行研究中引入类似的历史事件作为平衡因素。作者探讨了19世纪发生在北美和欧洲的公园建设时期，并采用奥姆斯特德设计的芝加哥南方公园（相当于当代的华盛顿公园和杰克逊公园） 作为案例研究。笔者认为，绿色空间的独特之处在于：（1）围绕自然的规范性文化含义，（2）与主导景观美学紧密相连的权力关系，以及（3）通过土地价值的结构与经济领域的直接联系。这些独特之处使得绿色空间的开发成为了一种强大的“文化修复”：一种利用社会空间来减轻对社会危机的感知的手段。 了解绿色空间作为文化修复的历史基础可以为当代分析提供启示，特别是考虑到，新的景观意识形态是作为更广泛的“绿色城市化发展”和“气候变化适应战略”的一部分涌现的。