Greenway (landscape)
A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.
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[edit] Terminology
Greenways are distinct from green belts or green corridors. The term greenway comes from the green in green belt and the way in parkway, implying a recreational or pedestrian use rather than a typical street corridor, as well as an emphasis on introducing or maintaining vegetation, in a location where such vegetation is otherwise lacking. Some greenways include community gardens as well as typical park-style landscaping of trees and shrubs. They also tend to have a mostly contiguous pathway, allowing urban commuting via bicycle or foot.
Tom Turner has theorized the term Greenway in the publication: "Greenways, blueways, skyways and other ways to a better London Landscape and Urban Planning" (1995). The same term was used in the Declaration of Lille adopted on September 12, 2000 in Lille, on which to base the future large European Greenways Network.
[edit] Characteristics
The land may be newly developed, but usually it is redeveloped, having been formerly occupied by a railroad, highway, or other transportation route. Many greenways in urban centers or developed areas are linear parks. Greenways often are defined by municipal governments as having the following characteristics: vegetated, linear, and multi-purpose.[1]
[edit] Global greenways
Greenways are recognised internationally such as the Trans Canada Trail in Canada, the East Coast Greenway in the United States, the High Line (New York City), the Vías Verdes in Spain, the Gold Coast Oceanway in Australia or the EuroVelo cycle routes and the European Greenways Association routes throughout Europe.
[edit] Types
- A greenbridge is a greenway crossing a waterway
- A foreshoreway is a greenway along the coast or beside an estuary or lake
- A Riverwalk is a greenway along a river
[edit] Notable greenways
- Boise River Greenbelt, a 20 mile long trail system in Boise, Idaho.
- Capital Area Greenway, one of the nation's oldest community greenway systems in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Cherry Creek Greenway, Denver, Colorado's premiere urban greenway
- Chrysler Canada Greenway is a 42 km-long rail trail in Essex County, Ontario
- Capital Area Greenbelt, a twenty mile greenway connecting neighborhoods, parks and opens spaces in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- Central Valley Greenway, a 24-kilometre pedestrian and cyclist route through Metro Vancouver, running from Vancouver to New Westminster.
- Carrall Street Greenway, currently under development in Vancouver
- Dequindre Cut, a greenway connecting to the International Riverfront in Detroit, Michigan.
- East Coast Greenway, a trail being constructed along the Atlantic coast of the United States
- The Emerald Necklace, a series of interconnected parks in Boston, Massachusetts designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
- Ohlone Greenway, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area
- GD Greenway, in the Pearl River Delta, PRC.
- Greater Grand Forks Greenway, large public park on the banks of the Red River and Red Lake River in Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota
- The Greenway, foot and cycle path in East London, England
- Guangdong Greenway, Guangdong province, China including much of Guangzhou city including the Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center in Panyu District provides foot and bicycle paths along the pearl river and other scenic areas.
- Leon Creek Greenway, San Antonio, Texas linking The University of Texas at San Antonio by foot and bicycle path to Leon Valley and beyond.
- Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, a circumferential foot and cycle path around Manhattan Island.
- Maryville Alcoa Greenway, an eight mile long foot and cycle path extending from Maryville Intermediate School in Maryville, Tennessee to the end of Springbrook Park in Alcoa, Tennessee
- Midtown Greenway, five-and-a-half mile pedestrian and bicycle path through Minneapolis, Minnesota
- MillionMile Greenway, an organization and a system of connected greenways across metro Atlanta, the state of Georgia and the eastern United States
- Mountains to Sound Greenway, a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 90 between Seattle and Thorp, Washington protected from logging and development
- Niagara River Greenway Plan, along the US Niagara Frontier
- Rachel Carson Greenway, in Maryland
- The River Ring, a system of connected greenways encircling St. Louis, Missouri
- Rose Kennedy Greenway, a series of parks and open spaces in Boston, Massachusetts
- Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, 50 mile trail in southwestern New Hampshire
- South East London Green Chain, a set of connected parks and open spaces in London, UK
- Dequindre Cut Greenway, Links the Detroit International Riverfront with the Eastern Market Farmers Market District, cutting through Van Der Rohe designed Lafayette Park in Detroit,MI
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Greenways, blueways, skyways and other ways to a better London Landscape and Urban Planning 33 - Tom Turner (1995) 269-282
- Flink, Charles A. & Searns, Robert M. (1993) Greenways A Guide to Planning, Design and Development Island Press
- Flink, Charles A., Searns, Robert M. & Olka, Kristine (2001) Trails for the Twenty-First Century Island Press
- Smith, Daniel S. & Hellmund, Paul Cawood. (1993) Ecology of Greenways: Design and Function of Linear Conservation Areas. University of Minnesota Press
- Fabos, Julius Gy. and Ahern, Jack (Eds.) (1995) Greenways: The Beginning of an International Movement, Elsevier Press
- Little, Charles E. Greenways for America (1990) Johns Hopkins University Press
- Guide to the Charles E. Little papers, 1975-1990, an advocate for greenways
