By Robyn A. Friedman
The Wall Street Journal
When River Landing Shops and Residences is completed in 2018, the development west of downtown Miami will bring more to the city than just another apartment building and shopping mall. The $300 million project will include an 850-foot linear park.
In a city bereft of green space, residents hope the River Landing park will become part of a trend that lifts Miami’s lowly ranking when it comes to public parkland.
In 2014, Miami ranked 95th out of 100 cities for park acreage by the Trust for Public Land, with 3.5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents, or 1,442 acres total. In comparison, San Francisco has 5,693 acres and New York City has 39,006 acres of parkland.
One of the easiest ways to add green space is with linear parks, which are long, narrow greenways that follow either a natural corridor, such as a riverfront, or traverse a man-made feature like a railroad right of way, according to Ed McMahon, a senior resident fellow for the Urban Land Institute. He said linear parks are becoming popular for several reasons.
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