This past week Fairfax County posted their first draft of the new Tysons Park System Concept Plan, which serves as one part master plan, one part “where we are” in terms of agreements and existing parks in the growing city. It’s an important step to help iron out the goals and interaction of open spaces between individual development, which the absence of has left Tysons disconnected and sporadically “green”.
The benefits of parks in this new concept plan are interconnected to not only green open space (traditional park definitions) but to the ease of how the public can both access them and move between them. As the Executive Summary puts it “As Tysons transforms from a suburban commercial center to a major regional urban center, a connected network of urban parks will help to distinguish Tysons as a great urban area and bring benefits to the local economy and quality of life.”
The vocabulary and elements of the park designs are divided as:
- Placement and Typology
- Connectivity
- Recreational
- Civic
- Cultural
- Natural
These differentiations are necessary because not all parks have common goals. Some are for quiet and retreat, some are for community gathering, and some are for sports and activities. Enough on the definitions and rational, let’s talk placement and plan.
The full draft park plan can be found here. Comments should be forwarded to Parkmail@fairfaxcounty.gov .