|
|
| Our Olmsted Legacy:
Learning from the Past, Inspiring the Future |
Lectures and workshops are organized
along three tracks:
Track A - Honoring our Legacy
Track B - Extending the Vision
Track C - Responding to Contemporary Issues:
Environment, Economy and Social
Challenges
(for more about conference themes click
here)
|
In the Footsteps of John Charles Olmsted: A round-trip train tour
to Portland and tour of Portland's Olmsted landscapes.
A century ago, after completing his initial survey of Portland
for a new park plan, John Charles Olmsted took the train from
Portland, Oregon to Seattle on April 30th, 1903 to begin planning
Seattle's comprehensive system of parks and boulevards. We have
arranged a train tour from Seattle to Portland and back, including
a lecture on the train by J. Kingston Pierce, popular historian
and author of the soon to be released "Eccentric Seattle",
and a full day tour of some of Portland's Parks and Olmsted landscapes.
Train travel is aboard the Amtrak Cascades Train, featuring new
European-designed high speed cars. The route follows the impressive
Cascade Corridor with views of the Cascade and Olympic Mountains,
as well as two of the Pacific Northwest's most spectacular volcanos,
Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood.
|
For more information
about this tour:
|
Click
Here |
|
For more information
about the Amtrak Cascades Route:
|
Click
Here |
Portland
Olmsted Symposium, April 28th - 30th.
The city of Portland, Oregon is also celebrating the centennial
of the Olmsted Brothers' design of their city park system
with a symposium immediately preceding the Seattle conference.
For more information about the Portland symposium please visit
the Symposium website. |
Click
Here |
| |
| |
| |
Travel between Portland and Seattle:
People registering for the Portland Olmsted Symposium and/or
the Seattle NAOP Conference will receive a discount on round-trip
or one-way tickets between the two cities. Please contact the
Portland or Seattle organizing committees for more information
about discounted train tickets.
|
8:00-9:00
|
Registration and Displays
|
| 9:00-9:20 |
Welcome
|
| |
Mayor
Greg Nickels (invited)
Ken Bounds, Superintendent, Seattle Parks and Recreation
Jerry Baum, President, National Association for Olmsted Parks
|
|
| 9:30-10:30 |
Opening
Lectures |
| |
"John
Charles Olmsted in Seattle: A Vision for a Century"
In 1903 the Seattle Park Commissioners hired the Olmsted Brothers
to plan a park system that would serve a future city of half
a million people and would be developed over the course of a
hundred years. Arleyn Levee, the foremost authority on the life
and work of John Charles Olmsted, will discuss J. C. Olmsted's
role in shaping the character of open space and urban planning
throughout the country with particular emphasis on the Olmsted
Brothers' work in Seattle for a comprehensive park and boulevard
system and their visionary approach to city planning.
Presenter: Arleyn Levee, Olmsted Scholar and Landscape
Historian, Belmont, MA. |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 10:45-
12:15 |
SESSION
1 (choose one) |
| 1A |
Panel:
Challenges in Historic Landscapes - an introductory dialogue
A panel discussion with local and national experts on the
aesthetic, cultural and ecological challenges associated with
working in historic landscapes. These topics will be explored
further in following sessions.
Presenters: Charles Birnbaum, Historic
Landscape Initiative, National Park Service;
Mary Fox, Prospect Park Alliance; Taylor
Bressler, Spokane Parks and Recreation
Moderator: Lucy Lawliss, National
Park Service
|
|
| |
1B |
Panel: Parkways to Greenways:
Connecting Olmsted Landscapes - an introductory dialogue
The Olmsted vision of a healthy urban landscape is based on
a system of interconnected parks and green spaces. This panel
of local experts will present examples of many ways in which
the Olmsted concept of interconnected parks and parkways has
been developed and extended to reach throughout urban and
rural regions of Puget Sound. (Mobile workshop 6B1 offered
Friday afternoon continues this topic)
Presenters: Barbara Culp, Bicycle Alliance;
Dan Dewald, Natural Resource Manager;
Nancy Keith, Mountains to Sound Greenway
Moderator: Gene Duvernoy, Cascade Land
Conservancy
|
| |
1C |
Panel:
Parks are for People: The Role of Parks Today - an introductory
dialogue
Parks are unique public gathering spaces that offer healthy
recreational options as well as opportunities for community
building, public dialogue, and education about the environment
and our neighbors. National and local experts address the contemporary
challenges facing our urban parks today within the context of
the changing role of parks over the last century in Seattle
and across the country.
Presenters: Ken Bounds, Seattle Parks
and Recreation; Kevin Moore, Weequahic
Park Association, Newark;Tupper Thomas, Prospect
Park, Brooklyn
Moderator: Catherine Anstett, Seattle
Parks and Recreation
|
| 12:15-1:00 |
Break-
Pick up box lunches for tours |
| 1:00-5:00 |
SESSION
2 (choose one) |
| 2T1 |
A
Tour in Olmsted's Footsteps - By Boat and Bus
The Seattle landscape is defined by its waterways. When John
Charles Olmsted visited Seattle in 1903 he took numerous boating
trips on Lake Union and Lake Washington in order to develop
a better understanding of Seattle and its natural setting. After
only one day in Seattle, he recognized the full value of Seattle's
waterways, noting that "One acre of park on the water is
worth ten acres inland and surrounded by houses." (Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, May 1, 1903)
Join us aboard the 1922 Steamer Virginia V for a two-hour tour
of proposed and completed Olmsted landscapes bordering Lake
Union and Lake Washington. After landing at Leschi Park along
the Olmsted-designed Lake Washington Boulevard and pausing for
a Seattle-style coffee break, take a bus tour through a selection
of Seattle's Olmsted park landscapes to return to South Lake
Union.
Cosponsored by the Steamer Virginia V Foundation and the
Seattle Parks Foundation
|
|
| |
2T2 |
Seattle
Olmsted Parks- By Bus Only
For those who choose not to take the boat tour, the bus
tour provides an opportunity to travel along Olmsted-designed
boulevards and through numerous Olmsted-designed and recommended
parks along Seattle's Lake Union, Lake Washington and the neighborhoods
bordering the lakes. We will meet the boat tour for a Seattle-style
coffee break on the shores of Lake Washington at Leschi Park.
|
| 5:00-
5:30 |
Break |
| 5:30-
7:00 |
Opening
Night Reception |
Join
us for a reception at the South Lake Union Center at the site
of the future South Lake Union Park. A century ago, the
original plan for a Seattle park system proposed by John Charles
Olmsted recommended that Seattle set aside land for a park at
the south end of Lake Union. Olmsted believed the proximity
of the site to downtown Seattle would provide a unique and valuable
waterfront park for the neighborhoods in Seattle's inner-urban
core.
Nearly one hundred years later, in 2000 Seattle Parks and Recreation
acquired the former Naval Reserve Center at South Lake Union.
It will be the first major project by the Seattle Parks Foundation
and will provide much-needed greenspace in Seattle's rapidly
developing South Lake Union neighborhood.
Reception cosponsored by the Canadian Consulate General
and Seattle Parks Foundation. The reception will
be held in the South Lake Union Center and the 1922 Steamer
Virginia V will be docked at the Center and open for informal
tours.
|
|
| 7:00-8:30 |
Keynote
Lecture |
|
Welcome:
Douglas Jackson, President, Friends of Seattle's Olmsted
Parks
John Chaney, Executive Director, Historic Seattle; Vice
President, Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks
Introduction:
Ron Sims, King County Executive (invited)
Keynote Lecture: "Olmsted, Now More Than Ever"
by Jane Holtz Kay
One hundred years ago, John Charles Olmsted recognized
the extraordinary natural landscape advantages that Seattle
enjoyed, and recommended that Seattle preserve as many water
views, mountain vistas, shorelines and natural open spaces
as possible for future generations. As a result, Seattle now
possesses one of the most diverse, fully integrated and interconnected
urban park systems in the country. However, explosive growth
over the last few years in Seattle and the surrounding region
has sent development creeping up the foothills of the Cascades.
Similar to other metropolitan regions across the country,
Seattle is faced with the challenges of preserving open space,
providing parks and recreation opportunities and protecting
critical wildlife habitat while accommodating growth in increasingly
dense urban areas .
Jane Holtz Kay will discuss the need to consider the Olmsted
vision, philosophy and concepts as we plan for growth in our
urban and rural areas in order to provide an interconnected
and well-distributed park and open space system to meet the
needs of future generations. Ms. Kay has broad experience
in describing and analyzing the built and natural environments.
Her commentary on green issues - from building design and
preservation to land use and transportation - appears regularly
in The Nation, where she is architecture and planning
critic, as well as in such other periodicals as Preservation,
Planning, Sierra, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture.
She also writes frequently for newspapers, including the Boston
Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and The New
York Times. She is the author of several books, including
Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America; How
We Can Take It Back, Preserving New England; and Lost
Boston.
Lecture cosponsored by:
Cascade Land Conservancy, Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks,
Historic Seattle, Washington Trust for Historic Preservation
and 1000 Friends of Washington
|
|
| |
| 8:00-9:00 |
Registration
and Displays
CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST AND PRESENTATION - Hosted by the City
Parks Alliance, the new national advocacy organization working
to strengthen urban parks.
|
| |
| 9:00-10:00 |
SESSION
3 (choose one) |
| 3A1 |
Lecture: "The Future
of Our Parks: In Harmony with the Past"
Working in historic parks presents challenges as well as great
opportunities. This presentation on historic preservation
planning methods and outcomes will address a range of approaches
to park landscape preservation treatment, implementation philosophy,
and application to historic parks with examples from Louisville,
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Seattle as examples.
Presenter: Patricia O'Donnell, FASLA
of LANDSCAPES Landscape Architecture, Planning, Historic Preservation
of Vermont and Connecticut
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
3B1 |
Panel:
"Filling the Gaps: How the Olmsted Vision Keeps Growing"
Local and national experts discuss the many ways in which
Seattle and Portland are extending the Olmsted vision to find
and create parks and green spaces in unlikely locations. (The
mobile workshops 6B2- "Brownfields to Greenspaces",
6B3- "Red, White and Blue to Green", and 6B4- "Greenspaces
from Thin Air" offered Friday afternoon are continuations
of the topic)
Presenters: Mike Houck, Urban
Greenspaces Institute; Paul Morris,
President, ASLA; Nancy Rottle, Assistant
Professor, Landscape Architecture, UW
Moderator: Tom Byers,
Cedar River Associates
|
| |
3B2 |
Presentation: "The Excellent
Park System in the 21st Century"
America's 50 largest
cities alone contain more than 600,000 acres of parkland,
serving scores of purposes from providing playfields to teaching
ecology, offering exercise trails, mitigating flood waters,
hosting rock concerts, protecting wildlife, as well as providing
space for a respite from traffic and noise. However, in all
cities, old and new, a common theme emerges: the tremendous
interest in using parks to help shape revitalization and create
a more cohesive urban identity. Weaving together ideas gathered
during an intensive two-day colloquium that resulted in his
new booklet, The Excellent City Park System; What Makes
it Great and How to Get There, Harnik will provide answers
to the question that every mayor wants to know: "How
do I get the best possible park system?"
Presenter: Peter Harnik, Trust for Public Land
|
| |
3C1 |
Panel:
"Environmental Challenges in Historic Urban Landscapes"
Historic parks face ongoing environmental challenges resulting
from neglect and vandalism, as well as new ideas regarding the
role of urban greenspaces as pieces of the larger ecological
landscape. Using national case studies, such as The Ramble in
New York's Central Park, and Seattle's historic park landscapes,
panelists present different approaches to confronting the contemporary
environmental challenges facing our urban parks. (Mobile
workshop 6A1 offered Friday afternoon continues this topic)
Presenters: Ethan Carr, University of
Massachusetts; Guy Michaelson,
The Berger Partnership;
Mark Mead, Seattle Parks and Recreation
Local Participants: Douglas Jackson,
Landscape Architect, Seattle; Steve Dubiel,
Director, EarthCorps, Seattle
|
| |
3TX |
Cancelled
|
| 10:10-11:10 |
SESSION
4 (choose one) |
| 4A1 |
Workshop: "Tools of Historic
Assessment"
How do we preserve our historic landscapes? The first
step is to identify and assess the characteristics that distinguish
our unique historic landscapes. In this workshop, learn about
the tools available and the steps involved in assessing
the historic elements of park landscapes. (Mobile
workshops 6A1 and 6A2 offered Friday afternoon continue this
topic)
Presenter: Lucy Lawliss, National Park
Service, NAOP
|
|
| |
4B |
Lecture: "Designing New
Projects in the Olmsted Spirit"
The Olmsted design concepts and philosophies are still
relevant for contemporary landscape design challenges. This
presentation will explore new landscape projects guided by
the Olmsted vision of transforming nature into a work of art
by designing and managing water and forest, defining edges
and vistas and creating places for people.
Presenter: Faye Harwell, Principal, Rhodeside
and Harwell, and NAOP.
|
| |
4C1 |
Panel: "Economic Benefits of Open Space"
Communities around the country are learning that parks and
open space are not an expense but an investment that produces
important economic benefits. Studies show that trees and greenspaces
are beneficial to local businesses and property values. Learn
how to make the economic case for parks and open space conservation.
Presenters: Peter Harnik, Trust for Public
Land; Kathy Wolf, University of Washington
|
| 11:20-12:20 |
SESSION
5 (choose one) |
| 5A1 |
Presentation:
"Managing for Character" Part 1
Defining and preserving the character of historic landscapes
is often difficult when parks are subjected to the combined
pressures of maintenance and use. This presentation and the
following mobile workshop employ national examples and a local
case study to explore possible approaches to confronting maintenance
and use challenges.
(Mobile workshop 6A1 offered Friday afternoon continues this
topic)
Presenters: Eliot Foulds, Olmsted Center
for Landscape Preservation
Moderator: Mark Mead, Seattle Parks and
Recreation
|
|
| |
5A2 |
Presentation: "Save It, Restore It, Change It? Case studies
of designing in historic landscapes" Part 1
National and local experts introduce examples of recent
design projects
involving historic landscapes. The panel discussion will explore
concepts of saving, restoring, or changing landscapes based
on site
conditions, historic integrity and design intent. (Mobile
workshop 6A2 offered Friday afternoon continues this topic with
specific case studies in local historic landscapes.)
Presenters: Jeff Girvin, The Berger Partnership;
Becca Hanson, The Portico Group; Susan
Rademacher, Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy
Moderator: Iain Robertson, Landscape
Architect, University of Washington
|
| |
5B1 |
Presentations:
"Weaving Open Space Through Cities"
On his first day in Seattle, Olmsted noted that "There
do not appear to be many spots which could be taken for local
playgrounds, at least in the thickly populated districts."
Today, the challenges of acquiring and developing greenspaces
in urban areas are many times greater. Learn about the "Blue
Ring" proposal, a strategy for creating a ring of greenspace
within Seattle's urban core over the next 100 years, and other
strategies for acquiring and maintaining open space in the Pacific
Northwest.
Presenters: Roger Hoesterey, Regional
Director, Trust for Public Land;
John Rahaim, Executive Director of the Seattle
Design Commission and CityDesign
|
| |
5C |
Presentations:
"Responding to Social Needs and Issues: Historic perspectives
and contemporary challenges"
Learn how Frederick Law Olmsted's social and political concerns
shaped his concept of the role of landscape architecture in
American society and how an Olmsted-designed park has become
the focal point for its community as it helps fulfill current
social needs.
Presenters: Charles E. Beveridge, Editor
of the Frederick Law Olmsted Papers, American University;
Kevin Moore, Weequahic Park Association,
Newark, N.J
|
| 12:20-1:00 |
Break-
Pick up box lunches for tours |
| 1:00-5:00 |
SESSION
6 (choose
one) |
| 6A1 |
Mobile Workshop: "Managing
for Character" Part 2
Defining and preserving the character of historic landscapes
is often difficult when parks are subjected to the pressures
of maintenance and use. This mobile workshop will address
these issues using one of Seattle's most familiar Olmsted
landscapes as a case study. The tour will follow Lake Washington
Boulevard from the Washington Park Arboretum through Frink
and Colman Parks to end with a workshop at Seward Park. The
focus of the workshop will be the development of management/maintenance
plans for historic landscapes.
Workshop Participants: Ethan Carr, University
of Massachusetts; Susan Dolan, National
Park Service, Seattle; Mary Fox,
Prospect Park; Eliot Foulds, Olmsted
Center for Landscape Preservation
Local Participants: Mark Mead, Seattle
Parks and Recreation; Steve Dubiel,
EarthCorps
|
| |
| |
6A2 |
Mobile
Workshop: "Save It, Restore It, Change It? Case studies
of designing in historic landscapes" Part 2
This workshop will use local examples of recent and current
projects in Olmsted landscapes to investigate the challenges
associated with design projects in historic landscapes. It will
travel through Washington Park Arboretum and along Interlaken
Boulevard to Volunteer Park, the site of future covering of
a reservoir central to the original Olmsted design, and on to
Bobby Morris/Lincoln Reservoir Park, the site of current restoration
work and reservoir covering. The tour will end with a workshop
and presentation in the newly constructed shelterhouse at Bobby
Morris Playfield.
Workshop Participants: Jeff Girvin, The
Berger Partnership; Becca Hanson, The
Portico Group; Susan Rademacher, Louisville
Olmsted Parks Conservancy
Moderator: Iain Robertson, University
of Washington
|
| |
6B1 |
Mobile
Workshop: Parkways to Greenways
Explore how the Olmsted vision has been extended from Puget
Sound to the Cascade Mountains. The tour bill follow the Mountains
to Sound Greenway to Snoqualmie Summit and return to Seattle,
winding through numerous protected greenbelts and along bike
and pedestrian trails that lead from the open spaces of Seattle's
suburbs to the heart of Seattle's urban core. We will also examine
how Bellevue, a booming suburb, has created its own system of
interconnected spaces tied to both regional and local systems
and inspired by the Olmsted concepts.
Workshop leaders: Dan Dewald, Natural
Resource Manager ;
Nancy Keith, Mountains to Sound Greenway
Trust
|
| |
6B2 |
Mobile Workshop: Brownfields
to Greenfields
Explore three examples of Seattle's most successful conversions
of former industrial sites to parklands. Rich Haag will lead
a tour of his award-winning work at Gas Works Park on the
northern shore of Lake Union, originally recommended as a
parksite by the Olmsted plan in 1903. The Olmsted vision was
only realized 75 years later after decades of use as the site
of a gasification plant. Charles Anderson, member of the design
team with Weiss/Manfreddi, will present the current work at
Seattle Art Museum's new outdoor Olympic Sculpture Park on
the site of a former oil tankyard. Kevin Stoops will explore
the development of the recently-completed Herrings House Park
on the site of the former Seaboard Lumber Company.
Workshop leaders: Charles
Anderson, Principal, Charles Anderson
Landscape Architecture; Richard Haag, Principal,
Richard Haag Associates Inc.;
Kevin Stoops, Seattle Parks and
Recreation
|
| |
6B3 |
Cancelled
|
| |
6B4 |
Cancelled
|
| |
6T1 |
Tour:
Olmsted Parks and Boulevards by Bicycle (rental fee may
apply)
Join members of the Cascade Bicycle Club for a tour of parks
designed and influenced by the Olmsted Brothers and see how
they've grown in the 100 years since their inception. Rides
of varying lengths and degree of difficulty (i.e. hills) will
depart from the conference site to tour parks along Lake Washington
and other sites. All rides will involve riding on public roads,
though most have bike lanes or are less traveled streets - and
Seattle is very bike friendly. Come enjoy the beauty of Seattle
and the Olmsted legacy in a way that allows you to fully appreciate
and be involved with the landscape.
Ride Coordinator: David Robinson, Cascade
Bicycle Club
|
| |
6T2 |
Tour
(self-guided): Paddle Lake Union (rental fee may apply)
In 1903 Olmsted recommended 5 parks around Lake Union. While
noen were developed at the time, four parks have since been
built at or near the sites inthe 1903 plan. Rent a kayak or
canoe from the neighboring Center for Wooden Boats or Moss Bay
Rowing Club and paddle along the shores of Lake Union exploring
the parks, housebaots and industrail uses around the lake.
Tour leader: Seattle Parks Foundation |
| |
6TX |
Tour:
E.B. Dunn Garden ($10 charge - space limited)
From the Trilliums of early spring to the coppery Dawn Redwoods
in the fall, visitors to the historic Olmsted-designed Dunn
Gardens view an array of native and exotic plants against the
backdrop of Puget Sound.
After purchasing 10 acres of undeveloped land in north Seattle
in 1914, Arthur Dunn hired the Olmsted Brothers to plan the
Dunn family's summer "country place". True to the
Olmsteds' design philosophy, the master plan retained and enhance
many of the site's natural features. The plan took advantage
of the western slope's panoramic views, a ravine crossing the
southern edge of the property, and large stands of second-growth
Douglas Firs. The garden is now managed by the E.B.Dunn Historic
Garden Trust.
This tour is also offered Friday afternoon and Saturday. (Tour
will return in time for Session 5)
|
| 6:00-8:00 |
Friday
Night Reception and Special Presentation at the Rainier Club
($25 charge) |
John
Charles Olmsted was a guest at the Rainier Club
in downtown Seattle for many months in the early 1900s while
he worked on the plans for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition,
Seattle's first World's Fair. Join the NAOP Board, the Friends
of Seattle's Olmsted Parks, the Rainier Club's Literary Arts
Committee and members of Seattle's historic Rainier Club for
an evening reception and a special reading from the daily correspondence
between John Charles Olmsted and his wife, Sophie. Also
included in the evening's festivities will be the presentation
of an Olmsted Award in recognition of significant contribution
to the preservation and expansion of parks and open space.
Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Business attire required.
Cosponsored by the Rainier Club
and FSOP
| For
more information about the reception: |
Click
Here |
|
| |
| |
| 8:00-9:00 |
Registration
and Displays |
| 9:00-9:45 |
SESSION
7 (choose one) |
| 7A |
Lecture: "Olmsted's Design Principles and Their Relevance
Today"
Charles E. Beveridge, author of Frederick Law Olmsted:
Designing the American Landscape, will examine the distinctive
qualities that make Olmsted-designed landscapes "Olmstedian,"
and will describe the Olmsted design principles that he finds
most useful for contemporary designers. |
| |
| |
7TX |
Cancelled
|
| 10:00-10:45 |
SESSION
8 (choose
one) |
| 8A1 |
Presentation:
"The Olmsteds in the West"
The Olmsteds worked on projects in the West for almost a
century. This lecture will begin with an overview of Frederick
Law Olmsted, Sr.'s work in California, including the unrealized
plan for a city park sysem for San Francisco, and then take
a look at the Olmsted Brothers' work throughout the west, including
their work on Palos Verdes and private residential landscapes,
particularly in the Pacific Northwest.
Presenter: David Streatfield, Professor of
Landscape Architecture, University of Washington
|
|
| |
8A2 |
Presentation:
"Restoring Olmsted Parks - Prospect Park"
It is said that Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. remarked that
Central Park was his first park but that Prospect Park was his
best park design. After recent years of neglect, Prospect Park
has made a remarkable recovery due to careful research, analysis
and reconstruction focusing on historic integrity but considering
contemporary uses and challenges. This session presents the
design and construction techniques and standards for the preservation
and restoration of the landscape and water course in Prospect
Park.
Presenter: Christian Zimmerman, Director
of Design, Prospect Park, New York
|
| |
8C1 |
Lecture:
Urban Planning, Public Parks and Public Health: Natural Partners
Urban planning and public health have common origins. John Snow,
one of our first public health heroes is reported to have stopped
a London Cholera epidemic by removing the pump handle from a
contaminated well, Fredrick Law Olmsted, pioneer urban and park
planner also identified the strong link between community design
and health. Olmsted linked poor health and disease to the city.
He advocated the abandonment of the "old-fashioned compact
way of building towns and the gradual adoption of a custom of
laying them out with much larger space open to sun light and
fresh air". Olmsted built these features into his plans
for New York's Central Park, Atlanta, Seattle and dozens of
other urban park systems across the country. Unfortunately urban
planning and public health have gone their separate ways. Since
the 1950's urban planning has been essentially relegated to
accommodating the Automobile. Public health focused on reducing
infectious disease and providing health education messages.
There is now, however, growing recognition that the two disciplines
could benefit from reestablishing their mutual partnerships.
Automobile Gridlock and the Obesity Epidemic are two of the
motivating forces. This presentation will describe efforts the
CDC and others are involved in to better understand how community
design influences important health conditions (obesity, heart
disease) and health related behaviors such as walking and bicycling,
with a goal of building the evidence for these relationship
and understanding how to induce practical changes in community
design and transportation infrastructure that can result in
improved health for the whole community.
(Session 9C1 will continue this topic)
Presenter: Tom Schmid, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
Moderator: Patricia McInturff, Seattle
Parks and Recreation
|
| |
8C2 |
Panel:
Parks and Cultural Diversity
As reflected in his diary, The Cotton Kingdom, Frederick
Law Olmsted's 1852 tour of the American South deeply affected
him and influenced his approach to the equitable use of landscape
within his nineteenth century world-view. This panel starts
with a discussion of how Olmsted might frame today's challenges
of providing culturally and economically appropriate park land.
The panel will provide case studies of how Seattle Parks' staff
has tried to engage diverse economic and cultural groups in
planning, as well as actions taken to provide equitable and
culturally significant park programs and spaces.
Presenters: Royal
Alley-Barnes, Seattle Parks Sector Manager;
Christina Gallegos, Seattle Parks Naturalist;
Cathy Tuttle, Seattle Parks Planner
|
| 11:00-12:15 |
SESSION
9 (choose
one) |
9A1
|
Presentations: Olmsted From Canada to California
"John Charles Olmsted in Western Canada: Designs for the
twentieth-century suburban landscape"
Larry McCann, Professor of Geography, University of Victoria,
considers the various projects that comprise John Olmsted's
lasting contribution to the shaping of Western Canada's suburban
landscape. His plans for residential subdivisions, particularly
the Uplands in Victoria, B. C., established new standards of
design that were widely imitated in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary
and Winnipeg. These plans also shaped public policies that continue
to regulate the building and social fabric of these and other
regional cities.
cosponsored by Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson
School of International Studies, University of Washington
"The Panama-California Exposition (1915): A Critical Evaluation
of the Olmsted Brothers' Western Design Model"
Christy O'Hara, Landscape Architect, California
The design for the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa
Park, San Diego (1915), was the first large-scale plan by the
Olmsted Brothers in Southern California. Though never constructed,
it explored innovative ideas for city planning and landscape
design in the arid West, responding to both the ecology and
historic Hispanic culture of the region in a fresh approach
to American design.
|
|
| |
9A2 |
Presentations:
Exploring Three Olmsted Park Systems.
"A Tale of Two Parks Systems - Baltimore and Seattle"
Dr. Edward Orser, Professor of American Studies, University
of Maryland, Baltimore, compares and contrasts two park system
reports from 1903. In that year, the Olmsted Brothers firm developed
proposals for cities on both coasts, Baltimore, Maryland and
Seattle, Washington.
"Recognizing
Spokane's Olmsted Park System", Sally Reynolds, of
the Spokane Preservation Advocates, will present a history of
Spokane's Olmsted Park System, including how the Olmsted recommendations
were implemented and the process of successfully listing the
system on the National Registry.
|
| |
9C1 |
Panel:
Parks and Happiness
This session continues the discussion of the human benefits
of nature in urban environments (see also 8C1) with a panel
addressing the psycho-social benefits of peoples' experiences
of urban nature. The panel will also discuss how public perceptions,
values and health needs can be integrated into planning and
management of urban open spaces.
Presenters: Francesca Lyman, Environmental
Journalist, Seattle; Kathy Wolf,
Research Assistant Professor, UW
Moderator: Catherine Anstett, Seattle Parks and Recreation
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9C2 |
Panel:
Greenbacks for Greenspaces
Conservation Futures Tax? Neighborhood Matching Funds? How
do I get public approval for bonds and levies? Local experts
will discuss some of the unique strategies in Seattle and the
surrounding region for raising support for green space acquisition,development,
protection and restoration.
Participants: Karen Daubert, Seattle Parks
Foundation; Gene Duvernoy, Cascade Land
Conservancy; Donald Harris, Seattle Parks
and Recreation
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| 12:30-2:00 |
Luncheon
and Plenary Session |
"The
Olmsted Vision and The Future of Parks and Open Space"
A concluding plenary presentation by local and national experts
on the Olmsted vision and the future of parks and open space
in our urban areas, with emphasis on the importance of organizing
communities and involving diverse populations in the effort
to keep our parks vital and viable in the 21st century.
Presenters:
Robert Garcia, Director of the City Project, Center for
Law in the Public Interest, Los Angeles
Mike Houck, Founder and Executive Director of the Urban
Greenspaces Institute and Urban Naturalist with the Audubon
Society of Portland, Portland, Oregon
Tupper Thomas, President of Prospect Park Alliance and
Administrator of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
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| 2:00-5:30 |
SESSION
10 (choose one) |
| 10C1 |
10C1. Tour: Revitalizing Neighborhood
Parks
The Olmsted firm recognized the immense social and health
benefits of greenspace in dense urban areas - parks provide
unique public spaces where all community members from diverse
backgrounds can come together to relax, celebrate, work, or
play and escape from the pressures of contemporary urban life.
Today, many cities are making a concerted effort to revitalize
these invaluable public gathering places. This tour visits
some of Seattle's recent park projects focused on restoring,
enhancing and developing community activities in neighborhood
parks. Tour will include Volunteer Park for the
Dedication, Closing Presentations and Reception.
Tour leaders: Pam Kliment, Seattle Parks
and Recreation; Steve Orser, Seattle
Parks Foundation
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10C2 |
Tour:
Walk Around Olmsted's Green Lake
Take a healthy stroll along the loop trail winding around
Green Lake, the centerpiece of one of Seattle's best-loved and
most-used Olmsted landscapes. The tour will explore the natural
and cultural history of Green Lake Park, neighboring Woodland
Park and their influence on the surrounding neighborhoods. The
tour will be led by Martin Muller, of the Seattle Audubon Society,
and Inge Theissen, of the Pacific Northwest Historian's Guild.
Tour will include Volunteer Park for the Dedication,
Closing Presentations and Reception.
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10T1 |
Tour:
Seattle Olmsted Parks and Boulevards by Bus
The green ring of parks and boulevards proposed by John
Charles Olmsted a century ago has come to be known as Seattle's
Emerald Necklace. This bus tour will travel along a number of
Olmsted-designed boulevards, winding throughout Seattle and
stopping for short walking tours and a closer look at a few
of the gems comprising Seattle's historic ring of Olmsted parks
and parkways. Tour will include Volunteer Park for the Dedication,
Closing Presentations and Reception.
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10T2 |
Tour:
Washington Park Arboretum
Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum was one of the last
arboreta designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm and is currently
undergoing development of a new master plan. Join John
Wott, Director of the Arboretum, for a walking tour of Washington
Park with its 230 acres of specimen trees and shrubs intertwined
under a Pacific Northwest native canopy. A highlight of this
tour is the stroll along Azalea Way, designed by James Frederick
Dawson, sure to be in full bloom during the first week of May.
Tour will include Volunteer Park for the Dedication, Closing
Presentations and Reception.
Tour leader: John Wott, Director of the Washington Park
Arboretum.
| For
more information about the Arboretum: |
Click
Here |
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10T3 |
Tour:
Olmsted Parks and Boulevards by Bicycle (rental fee may
apply)
Join members of the Cascade Bicycle Club for a tour of parks
designed and influenced by the Olmsted Brothers and see how
they've grown in the 100 years since their inception. Rides
of varying lengths and degree of difficulty (i.e. hills) will
depart from the conference site to tour parks along Lake Washington
and other sites. All rides will involve riding on public roads,
though most have bike lanes or are less traveled streets - and
Seattle is very bike friendly. There will be rides suitable
for all abilities. Come enjoy the beauty of Seattle and the
Olmsted legacy in a way that allows you to fully appreciate
and be involved with the landscape.
Ride Coordinator: David Robinson, Cascade
Bicycle Club |
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10T4 |
Tour:
Paddle Lake Union (rental fee may apply)
In 1903 Olmsted recommended 5 parks around Lake Union. While
noen were developed at the time, four parks have since been
built at or near the sites inthe 1903 plan. Rent a kayak or
canoe from the neighboring Center for Wooden Boats or Moss Bay
Rowing Club and paddle along the shores of Lake Union exploring
the parks, housebaots and industrail uses around the lake.
Tour coordinator: Seattle Parks Foundation
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10TX
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Tour:
E. B. Dunn Garden ($10 charge - space limited)
Tour an Olmsted-designed residential garden in the Broadview
neighborhood of North Seattle. (See Session 3TX for full
description)
This tour is also offered Saturday morning and Friday morning
and afternoon.
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| 5:00-7:00 |
Groundbreaking
Ceremony and Conference Closing Presentations at Seattle Parks
Foundation Reception |
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Join the Seattle
Parks Foundation,
Seattle Parks and Recreation, the
NAOP Board,
the Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks, and local civic
leaders for a Groundbreaking Ceremony and Conference Closing
Presentations and Reception in Volunteer Park.
In
honor of Seattle's Olmsted Centennial, the Seattle Parks
Foundation has spearheaded the fundraising effort to restore
the Lily Ponds in Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park, the gem of
Seattle's Olmsted park system.
Hosted by the Seattle Parks Foundation
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For
more information: |
Click
Here |
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ST1 |
Center for Urban Horticulture and Washington Park
Arboretum |
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Cancelled
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| ST2 |
Rhododendron
Species Garden |
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Cancelled
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| ST3 |
Bloedel Reserve and IslandWood
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Cancelled
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| 9:00-4:00 |
ST4 |
Thornewood
Castle and Lakewold |
$50
charge |
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Enjoy
a day of gardens. The tour will include a visit to Thornewood
Garden, originally designed by the Olmsted Brothers, lunch and
a tour of Lakewold Gardens, portions of which are rumored to
include Olmsted designs.
Thornewood Castle, a large magnificent three-story manor
home dating from the turn of the century is elegantly sited
on the shore of America Lake just south of Tacoma. Thornewood
Castle, built to the specifications of Chester Thorne, was designed
by Kertland Kelsey Cutter. To continue the grand theme, Thorne
hired the Olmsted Brothers to create 30 acres of gardens around
his home (4-1/2 acres remain today). The Olmsted plan for the
grounds carefully manipulated views of Mt. Rainier. The large
rectangular walled garden was designed on axis with the view.
In 1926 House Beautiful magazine named Thornewood one of the
five most beautiful formal gardens in America and it was designated
as one of the Smithsonian Institute's historic gardens.
Lakewold, on the shores of Tacoma's Gravelly Lake is
outstanding for its landscaped grounds and gardens. Nestled
between Puget Sound and Mount Rainier in the Lakes District
south of Tacoma, Lakewold Gardens boasts near-perfect growing
conditions that has been called "a gardener's paradise."
Much of the property is wooded, its native trees mingling with
rare Asian species, and much of it is under planted with a large
collection of rhododendrons and azaleas. Formal gardens of roses,
herbs and topiary near the house give way to an open lawn that
slopes down to the water. Naturalistic woodland walks thread
through mature stands of trees on either side. It is believed
that the Olmsted Brothers designed the perimeter fence, gate
and brick walkway.
Tour fee includes: bus transportation, entry fees and
lunch
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ST5 |
Mountains
to Sound Greenway and Cedar River
Environmental Learning Center
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Cancelled
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| 1:00-3:00 |
ST6.
Special Tour - The
Highlands: an Olmsted-designed Subdivision on Puget Sound |
$50
charge |
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A special driving tour of The
Highlands, Seattle's Olmsted-designed residential community,
has been arranged for Sunday mid-morning. This will provide
an overview of the layout of the drives which honor the Pacific
Northwest Puget Sound natural environment and terrain and
provide a picturesque and romantic setting for the many large
private estates.
There may be an opportunity for brief visits to one or more
of the gardens that would show the varying degrees of preservation
of the Olmsted original landscape. Included in the discussion
will be an introduction to the contemporary challenges of
retaining the Olmsted design in a mature Northwest forest
landscape and the approaches to dealing with issues of light,
fire management, and vistas. This is a rare opportunity to
visit this beautiful secluded community.
Tour permission courtesy of The Highlands
Tour Leader: Tom Berger, The Berger Partnership
Tour fee includes: bus transportation and a contribution
to the Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks for the Olmsted
Centennial.
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Pre-
and Post-conference Extended Tours
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Tour
1:
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Wednesday,
April 30,
7am - 10pm |
Travel
in the Footsteps of John Charles Olmsted |
| Take
a round-trip train tour, Seattle-Portland-Seattle, including lectures
and a tour of Portland's Olmsted Landscapes |
more
information |
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Tour
2:
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Sunday,
May 4,
7am - 8pm |
His
Residential Masterpiece: The Uplands, Victoria, British Columbia |
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Travel
by boat aboard the Victoria Clipper to Victoria, B.C. for a tour
of J. C. Olmsted's residential masterpiece, "The Uplands",
and Victoria, B.C. |
more
information |
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Tour
3:
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Saturday
- optional return,
May 3 - 4/5 |
Rosario
Resort- A residential landscape on Orcas Island in the San Juan
Islands |
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Travel
by float plane to visit Olmsted-designed landscapes: Rosario Resort,
on Orcas Island and The Uplands, Victoria, B.C.. Participants
have the option to return Sunday evening, Monday or Tuesday. |
more
information |
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