Playing in Parks

Parks departments are perpetually asked to justify their budgets. The strongest answer is also the simplest which is that planned parks outperform unplanned ones on every metric that matters including health outcomes, community use, economic return, and long-term fiscal sustainability. A master plan is the mechanism that makes every subsequent dollar work harder. What Makes a Well-Planned Park?  The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) identifies five qualities that distinguish high-performing parks: equitable access, diverse programming, ecological function, safe and welcoming design, and long-term maintainability. None of these qualities emerge from reactive, site-by-site decision-making. They require a coordinated framework such as a master plan that sets level-of-service standards, identifies gaps, and sequences investment across a system rather than one park at a time. Arlington County's 2021 Parks Master Plan directed investment to underserved neighborhoods first, ...

Rick's Garden Doesn't Belong to Anyone  For 35 years, Rick Bridgforth has tended a garden tucked into an alley between Hanover and Grove avenues in Richmond's Fan. With flagstone paths and a green arch entrance, thousands of flowers change each season to be, in his word, " glimmerous" . He started it to stop littering and tt became a neighborhood landmark. Now a proposed carriage house could erase most of it. Rick doesn't own the land, a developer purchased it in 2023. But as a park professional, the conservation path here is clear. "There's already a place, a public space that people love and care about."  - Fan District Association Under Virginia law, adverse possession is one option: 35 years of open, continuous public use is a strong factual record. A Richmond city ordinance (§17.36) offers another: any parcel used "as a public place" for five years becomes a public space. The garden qualifies many times over. The most impactful lon...

Monroe Park supports placemaking because it functions as a true convergence point. With pedestrian routes from VCU's academic core, the Fan District, and campus housing all terminating here, it is a space people pass through and choose to stay in. Its central fountain, radiating path system, and generous tree canopy create the conditions for spontaneous social interaction that define successful public space. Established in 1851, Monroe Park is Richmond's oldest public park and sits at the western edge of VCU's Monroe Park Campus. After a $6.9 million renovation completed in 2019, the park re-opened with restored infrastructure, improved lighting, and ADA-accessible pathways. Today it draws students, Fan residents, and visitors alike into a genuinely shared urban space that belongs equally to the university and the city. For VCU, Monroe Park is a rare asset as a historic, activated outdoor room that extends the campus into Richmond without a fence or a gate. It already works...