Problem
People need green open places to go to; when they are close they use them. But if the greens are more than three minutes away, the distance overwhelms the need.
Solution
Build one open public green within three minutes’ walk—about 750 feet—of every house and workplace. This means that the greens need to be uniformly scattered at 1,500-foot intervals, through the city. Make the greens at least 150 feet across, and at least 60,000 square feet in area.
Related Patterns
… at the heart of neighborhoods, and near all work communities, there need to be small greens - Identifiable Neighborhood (14), Work Community (41) Of course it makes the most sense to locate these greens in such a way that they help form the boundaries and neighborhoods and backs - Subculture Boundary (13), Neighborhood Boundary (15), Quiet Backs (59).
Pay special attention to old trees, look after them - Tree Places (171); shape the green so that it forms one or more positive room-like spaces and surround it with trees, or walls, or buildings, but not roads or cars - Positive Outdoor Space (106), Garden Wall (173); and perhaps set aside some part of the green for special community functions - Holy Ground (66), Grave Sites (70), Local Sports (72), Animals (74), Sleeping in Public (94) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 304.