On September 18th, 2007, a jury of architecture, planning and design experts selected Park Design for the 21st Century as one of two Design Trust projects for the upcoming year (download the press release here). This proposal, submitted by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, was one of over 20 proposals received in response to the Design Trust's RFP released in May 2007. (The other project selected was Reinventing Grand Army Plaza, in partnership with the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. Read about that project here.)

In their submission, the Parks Department proposed a project that would build upon the Design Trust's groundbreaking work in sustainable design and construction. Park Design for the 21st Century will provide the Parks Department with research and instruction in methodologies for the creation of high-performance park design, and will help the City bring its 29,000 acres of parkland into the new millenium.

Park Design for the 21st Century will culminate in the publication of the High Performance Landscape Guidelines - the third in our trilogy of sustainable design manuals. The Design Trust's previous publications, High Performance Building Guidelines (1999) and High Performance Infrastructure Guidelines (2005) set the stage for a paradigm shift in the way New York City is constructed. These two publications led directly to the enactment of local laws that encourage high performance construction, and also paved the way for Mayor Bloomberg's recent sustainability initiatives.