Grant Park vs. Millennium Park: evolution of urban park development

Chen, Feixue

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/44415 Copy

Description

Title

Grant Park vs. Millennium Park: evolution of urban park development

Author(s)

Chen, Feixue

Issue Date

2013-05-24T22:15:19Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

• Sears, Stephen M.
• Emmerling-DiNovo, Carol
• Rost, Craig

Department of Study

Landscape Architecture

Discipline

Landscape Architecture

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.L.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Grant Park
• Millennium Park
• urban park development
• public-private partnership

Abstract

The research focuses on Grant Park and Millennium Park to determine the mechanisms of urban park development and its evolution throughout the 20th century in Chicago. Both the parks both played a significant role in park development for the city, and are used in this work as comparative case studies to examine the circumstances in which decisions were made regarding public spaces. This thesis demonstrates the crucial influences of the public and private sectors in the establishment of public parks, and how these influences control the design process as established by landscape architects. This research also makes a close examination of evolution of public-private partnership in urban park development. This includes the shared goals and motivations, the private interest in public space and the mechanisms of achieving equilibrium between oppositional interests. This thesis makes a contribution by providing designers, such as landscape architects a way to understand the evolution of urban park development, which would thus give designers an opportunity to be part of public process and take more proactive measures in order to promote a shared vision and get more people involved in the process.

Graduation Semester

2013-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44415

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2013 Feixue Chen

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