Green – my favorite color for a city

I always love a city when I see green. In Dallas I love the tree-shaded neighborhoods, residential boulevards with allées of trees, tree-lined trails and bike paths, the Klyde Warren deck park connecting the City to the neighborhoods, the Dallas Arboretum and forest found at White Rock Lake, the city parks and the Trinity River Park. Cities are associated with skyscrapers, density, and crowded streets. Most do have that, but my first thoughts of a city are the parks and greenspace. New York is known for so much, but Central Park is what comes to my mind first. On my first trip to London I was most surprised and delighted by the parks: Green Park, Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, and small parks on what seems like every corner. Chicago is a city that I visited skyscrapers as a child. My father took me to the top of the Prudential Building which looked down on the Chicago Board of Trade Building which my father visited the observation floor of with his father. Then some years later I went to the top of the Hancock Building and the Sears Building as they became the tallest in Chicago. But what did we look at when we felt like we were at the top of the world? We looked at Lake Michigan and Grant Park. Driving into the city or walking through the parks linking the museums, Chicago for me will always be associated with parks. Dallas has increased its attention to trails, forests and parks. At some point, maybe one’s first impression of Dallas will be its parks. Visitors to Dallas do go away talking about the parks and trees in Highland Park. They are also surprised on how green the neighborhoods are close to downtown. Revitalized neighborhoods, reclaimed houses, and autonomous transportation will provide affordable housing. Protecting the single family neighborhoods from added density like the two-story secondary house/granny flat overlay the City Manager is proposing that would eliminate towering trees in the backyards of single family homes is the most important step to keeping Dallas green. #green #park #centralpark #trees #dallas #landscape #JoySpotting #architect #skyscraper #architecturephotography #neighborhood #nyc #architecture #horizon #art