Technology · Public space

The public park

1843–1858 · Birkenhead / New York
Hand-coloured 1868 plan of Olmsted and Vaux's Central Park, the designed public landscape that set the pattern for the municipal park
Hand-coloured 1868 plan of Olmsted and Vaux's Central Park, the designed public landscape that set the pattern for the municipal park · Public domain · Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, printed by Sarony for the Board of Commissioners

What it is

The public park is a large designed landscape of meadow, water and planting open to all citizens free of charge. Birkenhead Park near Liverpool, designed by Joseph Paxton and opened in 1847, was the first park created at public expense expressly for the general public, and it directly inspired Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's Central Park in New York, begun in 1858. Both used naturalistic scenery and separated paths to give city dwellers an experience of open country within the city.

Why it matters

The public park democratised access to designed landscape that had previously belonged to private estates, and was promoted as a remedy for the health and morals of the industrial city. Park provision became, and remains, a core measure of urban health, amenity and social equity.

Plans it shaped

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