A Park of Two Cities

A Park of Two Cities

By: Sam Harshman

What is a park?

        Google says a park is "a large public green area in a town, used for recreation."

Dictionary.com says a park is "an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation."

So what do I think a park is?

        I believe a park is what the above says a park is but I think there is more to a park than just green spaces used for rest and recreation.  A park is also a connection point in a city.  Or as in my thesis project in Little Rock/North Little Rock, a space or spaces connecting two cities.

Little Rock and North Little Rock are separated geologically, by the Arkansas River, therefore the only way to get to and from one another, one has to cross the river.  A person can do that multiple ways: they can ride a boat, they could swim (personally swimming across sounds like a bad idea), or they could take one of the many bridges via car, trolley, bike, feet, etc.

         Last year. three of my classmates and I, went to Little Rock/North Little Rock to study these river cities.  We crossed the river multiple times in those four days, and we tried all the above mentioned ways (minus the swimming.)  My favorite way of crossing it was the pedestrian way.  On either side of the river there are linear parks with trails along the river.  These trails connected with a few of the bridges so that a person could walk in loops from Little Rock to North Little Rock.  A couple of the bridges were strictly pedestrian bridges too.

        This is where I got my definition of a park.  To get from one city to the next, a person literally has to go through one park, cross a bridge, and enter the other side through another park.  These parks not only connect the two cities, but also connects the people of the two cities.  While watching people use the trails and parks, I could not tell who was from Little Rock and who was from North Little Rock.  The trails and parks allow the people to mingle and interact with each other blurring the line of who's from where.

Why does this affect my thesis?

        My thesis has many different parts to it, but all of them have to do with finishing a bike loop that runs through the parks and trails that I just talked about.  One part of my thesis is the closing of a trail on the Little Rock side.  For a while a biker has to ride along busy streets and it feels dangerous.  My thesis is going to involve designing a new park in which bikers can take instead of riding the dangerous streets through downtown Little Rock.  The other two parts of my thesis is going to involve designing a new bike center and also design a boardwalk area along the trail on the Little Rock side. 

Until next time...