Designing for ecology : the ecological park

This thesis aims to define a) what an ecological park is, and b) whether it is a new model in park design. Reference to the literature on landscape ecology is used to analyze the natural ecological merit of these parks, while reference to the literature on communicative elements of the landscape is used to analyze the pedagogic, or socio-cultural merit of these parks. Two case studies of recently built ecological parks - Xochimilco in Mexico City and Crissy Field in San Francisco, are analyzed and compared to two older picturesque parks - Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and the Back Bay Fens in Boston.The analysis shows that the ecological park is indeed a new phenomenon and model of park design.This new model redefines the relationship between park and city by connecting the cultural and natural ecological aspects of the park's site with a larger context.The ecological park model moves beyond the experientially isolated urban parks of years past, providing society instead with a sustainable, ecologically viable, self-replicating vehicle to improve the links between the built environment and the landscape.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Power, Andres M

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Eran Ben-Joseph.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37863

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37863