unit 2   Optional Listening 4

Creating spaces

Jin Hee Park is a student at Stanford University in California. She studies hard. “Of course, I came here for the academics,” she says. “But it doesn’t hurt that the campus is so beautiful. I walk around sometimes just to relax.”

Alejandro Vega, a banker in New York City, jogs every evening after work in Central Park. “I never got bored. The park is so big. I can always find a different path with a new view.”

Niagara Falls was on Ross Howard’s list of places to visit in upstate New York. “The footpaths allow you to get a wonderful view. You can even feel the spray from the falls on your face.”

What do these three places— Stanford University, Central Park, and Niagara Falls State Park— all have in common? They were all landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted (1822—1903) has been called the “father of landscape architecture.”

In the 1800s, more and more people were moving to the cities. Some community leaders became worried about the quality of life. They began a beautification campaign.

In 1857, a design contest was held for a new park in the New York City. Olmsted and his partner, Cavert Vaux, won the contest. Central Park was the finished product— the first landscape public park in the United States. Today, no trip to New York is complete without a visit to this beautiful park.

Later in his life, Olmsted designed landscapes for college campus, including Stanford University. In the late 1860s, he joined the “Free Niagara” movement. Members of the movement wanted to preserve the beauty of Niagara Falls. Despite opposition and pressures from businesses to industrialize the area, Olmsted and others resisted. Olmsted designed footpaths to give visitors better views of the falls. In his work, Olmsted preferred to preserve the natural beauty of an area.

Today, there are pressures again to develop Niagara. On Goat Island, an island in Niagara Falls State Park, there are now souvenir shops. There may be signs that say “No Littering,” but there is still a lot of trash on the island. Most of the animals have disappeared. What would Frederick Law Olmsted say to all this?