What Makes A Great Urban Park?

Yesterday we decided to spend some time at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the premier art museums in the United States and home to pieces like American Gothic, Nighthawks, and a vast collection of impressionism and 20th century artwork. Because it was on our way, we walked through Millennium Park, which has to be one of the finest urban parks in the world. Chicago definitely got this one right.

As we walked through Millennium Park, I thought about what makes a great urban park. Of course, you want to have some green space, like the lovely garden area shown in the photo above. And you also want to include some interesting large-space artwork, like the gleaming reflective sculpture nicknamed “the Bean” that is shown in the first photo of this post. It draws people like a magnet, as they search to find themselves on the rounded, mirror-like surface, and probably has become, over the years, one of the most photographed objects in the city’s history.

One of the big questions for urban park planners has to be deciding how to treat the surrounding city. Do you plant a lot of big trees, to block out the skyscrapers as best you can and try to create a quiet, green space, or do you focus instead on creating vistas that frame the towering spires in interesting ways? The Millennium Park designers took the second approach, and I think it was a wise decision. Everywhere you look–even in the reflection in the Bean–you can see Chicago’s skyscrapers. And why not? This is some of the best urban architecture in the world, and it makes sense to show it off. But I appreciate the little touches that the planners have created, like the wooden walkway through the garden area, shown above, and careful thinking that the bridge shown in the photos below.

The BP pedestrian bridge, which links two parts of Millennium Park, is a good example of how creativity and attention to detail can add so much to a park. The designers needed a bridge to allow park visitors to easily cross over a highway. They could have made a simple overpass, but instead they created a shimmering, serpentine structure that winds around and makes you forget that you are on a bridge at all. You walk along, dazzled by the glint of sunlight on the sides of the walkway and gaping at the skyline and surrounding buildings, and before you know it you’ve reached the other side and have a hankering to walk back over the bridge again, just for the heck of it, because crossing it in the first place was so cool.

I’m confident that most of the tourists who visit Millennium Park end up leaving with the thought that they wish that their hometowns had a place like it. What better testament is there for a successful urban park?

Modern Art Along The Scioto Mile

Columbus wants to complete its Scioto Mile Park with a monumental sculpture.  The plan is to add a large piece of artwork along the riverfront that will become as identifiable with Columbus as the Gateway Arch is with St. Louis and the Space Needle is with Seattle.

The proposed piece would be abstract, six stories tall, made of reflective metal, and shaped like . . . the cooling tower of a nuclear plant.  Not surprisingly, some people are questioning that design.

I like the idea of putting a large piece of public art along the Scioto Mile.  I think it should be a bold statement, not some timid, compromise product of a committee.  We don’t need another realistic sculpture like the big statue of Christopher Columbus in front of City Hall.  I’m not sure how I feel about the “cooling tower” design — it seems like the shape is so defined with nuclear plants that viewers won’t really see or think of anything else — but I’m willing to reserve judgment if that is the piece that is selected.

Anyone who has been to Millennium Park in Chicago knows that people are attracted to large, memorable public art pieces like “the Bean.”  If the “cooling tower” is interesting, fun to look at, well made, and allows for interesting photo opportunities, people will go see it — and that, after all, is the idea.

Civic Money Well Spent

Last weekend Kish and I visited Chicago’s Millennium Park for the first time.  I had high expectations because I’ve heard a lot about it, and those high expectations were fully met.

The fountain at Wrigley Square

Millennium Park is a 24.5 acre park located on the site of the former Illinois Central Railroad rail yard and parking lot, in an area between the Loop section of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan.  The park, which took years to build and opened four years behind schedule, was dogged by artistic and aesthetic controversies and cost overruns.

At the time it opened, some predicted that the cost overruns and controversies would soon be forgotten after people got to experience the park and its many spectacular features.  I think those people were right.  Since its opening in 2004, Millennium Park has become one of Chicago’s most visited attractions, as well as the site of concerts, festivals, and many other activities.  When we visited there last weekend it was hopping.

A side view of "The Bean" at the Cloud Gate

The location of the park is inspired.  By putting the park at the site of the old rail yard, Chicago’s leaders and city planners subtracted a downtown eyesore and added a beautiful green space area that provides a great perspective from which to view the rest of the city and the impressive Chicago skyline.

And the features of the park show what can be done when a city and private entities work in partnership.  Millennium Park started as a smaller concept, with a smaller price tag, then grew in scale and cost as private benefactors and contributions were attracted.  Ultimately, the entire project cost $475 million and was funded through civic money and substantial private contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations.  The result is a world-class combination of architecture, gardens, bridges, cool shaded areas, and fun stuff for just about everybody.

One of the "face fountains" at the Crown Fountain

The thing about Millennium Park that was most impressive to me was that it already seems deeply woven into the fabric of life for Chicago residents.  Sure, the architecture of the Pritzker Pavilion is striking, but it wouldn’t mean much if people in the community weren’t using and enjoying the facilities — and it sure looks like Millennium Park is used and enjoyed.  When we were there, we saw a number of wedding parties getting their pictures taken at Millennium Park landmarks.  We saw kids jumping and playing in the Crown Fountain, waiting for its iconic faces to spew out water.  We saw people with strollers walking past “the Bean” and enjoying the gardens.  I’d be confident in guessing that the people of Chicago are very happy that Millennium Park is there.

I’ve always thought that well-planned parks and fountains make a hugely positive contribution to a great city.  Chicago’s Millennium Park certainly supports that theory.