This program focuses on some of New York City’s most important and original new parks. Their designers and citizen advocates discuss why and how they were created and their contributions to city life. They also explain how these parks both resemble and differ from older ones in New York’s rich legacy of park design. The color and lushness of their planting design and many imaginative features suggest we view them as engaging “public gardens,” enriching the lives of New Yorkers and visitors alike.

The program singles out four parks for special attention. Warrie Price, dynamic director of the Battery Conservancy, discusses the redesign of historic Battery Park. Lee Weintraub, award-winning New York landscape architect, recounts the transformation of a former Queens waterfront industrial site into Gantry Plaza State Park, featuring remnants of its industrial machinery. Finally, distinguished landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh shares his design for the new Teardrop Park, one of the city’s most original. He also briefly discusses plans for the future Brooklyn Bridge Park, which promises to reconnect city residents with the waterfront of New York.

This episode vividly portrays how all four of these innovative public gardens provide their users with the restorative power of nature, the pleasure of informal gatherings, the fascination of cultural history, and the invigorating delight of recreation, while addressing the needs of a highly diverse 21st century urban population.