GREENWAYS AND THE MAKING OF URBAN FORM

One aspect of greenways which is exciting popular interest in the US i s the durability of nineteenth-century parkways and park systems to st itch together fragmenting cities and urbanizing areas. What the Olmste ds, Cleveland, Eliot and Kessler achieved in their regional open-space plans can be the model for a new version of Howard's 'town/country' i n which greenways/greenbelts/greenspaces together make a comprehensive 'green' infrastructure. Some of the literature and the highlights of historic greenway planning and design in the US are reviewed. Their ad aptation to current projects is illustrated through a series of case s tudies of gradually increasing scale-villages, towns, cities and regio ns. Such common strategies as 'green' streets, parks and playgrounds s tructuring walkable neighborhoods, intra-neighborhood parkways connect ing town/city districts, and regional park systems protecting natural areas for recreation/conservation still confer similar social, economi c and environmental benefits. Whether Pedestrian Pockets or Co-housing , expanding historic settlements or preserving the countryside, planni ng new 'urban villages' or neo-traditional towns, greenways can be pow erful makers and shapers of urban form at both macro- and micro-scales .