Advocate's Reading List


Starter Resources
V Background knowledge
V D. J. Chavez, "Invite, Include and Involve! Racial Groups, Ethnic Groups and Leisure" in Diversity and the Recreation Profession: Organizational Perspectives, ed. M. T. Allison, and I.E. Schneider (State College, PA: Venture Publishing, 2000), p. 179-191. PDF
* An essential text book chapter that provides an excellent overview of immigrant issues for park advocates.
V Rufat Yunayev, Immigrants and Parks: Civic Participation in Public Open Space (J.M. Kaplan Fund, 12 Sept 2005). PDF
* A sampling of various parks throughout the US and their degree of civic participation. Observations are filtered through a stated set of advocacy tools. Relevant topics: New York City Parks, Advocacy Tools, Observational research, National retrospective, US Census, Immigration patterns
V Paul M. Sherer, The Benefits of Parks: Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space (San Francisco, The Trust for Public Land, 2006). PDF
* Institutional report promoting the public health, environmental, economic, recreational, tourism and security benefits of parks. Also includes a short history of parks in America. Relevant topics: Public Health, Crime, Open space, Environment, Recreation, Urban space, History, Policy concerns
V General knowledge
V Miguel Vasquez, "Latinos," CRM 5 (2001): 22-24. PDF
* A brief rant on the diversity of America's Hispanic community. Relevant topics: Latino/a America, multi-cultural complexity, nationality, race, demography, geography

 

Strategies for Success & Failure
V Ethnography, Anthropology & Demography
V Center for Cultural Understanding and Change (CCUC) et al., "Creative Networks: Mexican Immigrant Assets in Chicago" (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2004). PDF
* A survey of Mexican immigrants in Chicago; their artistic contributions to the social, cultural and economic well-being of neighborhoods, organizations and institutions in the Chicagoland area; and their networking opportunities. Relevant topics: Asset-mapping, Policy Recommendations, Art, Ethnography, Civic Participation, Social Networking, Cultural Institutions, Re-creating Identity, Shared Heritage, Proximity, Mexican immigrants, Chicago.
V Muriel 'Miki' Crespi , "Stewards of the Human Landscape," National Park Service, Spring 2001. PDF
* An overview of a cultural anthropology research program at the National Park Service. Relevant topics: Cultural anthropology, ethnography, community stewardship, national parks.
V Muriel 'Miki' Crespi , "Raising Muted Voices and Invisible Resources," CRM 5 (2001). PDF
* A brief essay on heritage resource programming challenges, contributions and developments. Relevant topics: Ethnography, Database, Cultural heritage.
V Rebecca Joseph, "Stewards of the Human Landscape," National Park Service, Spring 2001. PDF
* Approaches and responsibilities of National Park Service public research. Relevant topics: Cultural anthropology, ethnography, community stewardship, national parks.
V Urban Planning & Public Policy
V Ashley Graves Lanfer and Madeleine Taylor, Immigrant Engagement in Public Open Space: Strategies for the New Boston (Barr Foundation, Boston, 2005).
* Lanfer and Taylor highlight specific strategies that have proved successful in engaging urban immigrant residents both in Boston and around the nation.
V John Kixmiller, Andrew White and Rob Fisher, A Schoolyard in Brooklyn (Center for New York City Affairs, Milano: the New School for Management and Urban Policy, June 2007). PDF
* This institutional report presents P.S. 503/506's Community Plaza in Sunset Park, Brooklyn as a successful model for reclaiming urban community space to serve the ever-changing needs of an ever-changing demographic. Community leaders, students, youth, school staff and policy-makers evolved a broad vision for taking 'ownership' of public space that provides lessons for stakeholders seeking to reclaim other venues throughout New York City.
* Relevant topics: Brooklyn, PlaNYC, Urban Policy, Tools for Success, Neighborhood Centers, Sustainable Practices

 

Further Perspectives
V Institutional View
V Chris Walker, "The Public Value of Urban Parks," Beyond Recreation: A Broader View of Urban Parks (The Wallace Foundation, 2004). PDF
* Walker presents a ?new view? of urban parks as integral contributors to community development, public health and social capital. Relevant topics: History of Parks Movement, Community, Public Policy, Collaborative Partnerships
V Surveys & Descriptive Research
V Patrick L. Phillips, Real Estate Impacts of Urban Parks (Economic Research Associates, undated). PDF
* A compilation of case studies on six urban parks (Boston's Post Office Square, NYC's Union Square and Bryant Parks, Bellevue, WA's Downtown Park, Shreveport, LA's Riverfront Park and Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park) and their influence on surrounding development. Relevant topics: Real Estate Investment, Economic Development
V Making the Most of Our Parks (Citizens Budget Commission, June 2007). PDF
* A comprehensive analysis of management and resource issues confronting the New York City Dept. of Parks & Recreation. Relevant topics: PlaNYC, Public Policy, Parks Dept. (NYC), Needs Assessment, Private vs. City-Owned Public Spaces, Planned Expansions, Budget, Resource Management, Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture
V Peter Harnik, The Excellent City Park System (Trust for Public Land, 2003). PDF
* Facts, data and descriptive highlights of excellent park management practices throughout cities nationwide.

 

Theory & Advanced Topics
V Practitioners
V Frances Kuo, Magdalena Bacaicoa and William C. Sullivan, "Transforming Inner-City Landscapes: Trees, Sense of Safety, and Preference," Environment and Behavior 30, no. 1(January 1998): 28-59. PDF
* Researchers test resident responses to landscape preferences in a 100-resident inner-city Chicago neighborhood.
V Irene Miles, William C. Sullivan and Frances E. Kuo, "Ecological restoration volunteers: the benefits of participation," Urban Ecosystems 2 (1998): 27-41. PDF
* A study on the effectiveness of civic participation in ecological restoration according to tenure, competence, levels of involvement, scale, etc. Relevant topics: Civic participation, Ecology
V Randall Mason, Assessing Values in Conservation Planning:
Methodological Issues and Choices (The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2002). PDF
* Aimed at conservation professionals, this report discusses various methods of identifying, articulating and establishing cultural significance for an increasingly broad set of stakeholders. Relevant topics: Heritage Conservation, Ethics, Value Assessment, Anthropological-Ethnographic Methodology, Economic Valuation,Sustainability, Environmental Issues
V Academic
V Nina Morris, "Black and Minority Ethnic Groups and Public Open Space," OPENspace: the research centre for inclusive access to outdoor environments (Edinburgh College of Art and Heriot-Watt University, July 2003). PDF
* Morris deconstructs ethnicity and exclusion as contested terms; examines minority, racial and ethnic barriers in public discourse; and presents strategies to increase the presence of underrepresented groups in public spaces.
* Relevant topics: Black (race), African diaspora, Racism, Exclusion, Ethnicity, Multiculturalism, Rural, Scotland (UK), Citizenship
V Kitty Calavita, "Law, Citizenship, and the Construction of (Some) Immigrant ?Others,?" Law & Social Inquiry (2005): 401-420. PDF
* Calavita addresses legal, cultural, economic and societal practices that exclude, restrict or disallow immigrant-outsiders from formally participating as citizen-members. Relevant topics: Legal Status, Government Policy, Formal vs. Informal Economies, Dichotomies, Consumerism, Inclusion/Exclusion, First vs. Third World
V Levent Soysal, "World City Berlin and the Spectacles of Identity: Public Events, Immigrants and the Politics of Performance" (Migration Research Project, Koc University, 2005). PDF
* Soysal explores how Berlin's Turkish community imprints its identity in the public sphere through civic participation in festivals, gatherings and events as both audience and performer. The presence of the immigrant community contributes to the social and cultural spaces of the host country, evolving a new hybrid space that displaces neither the host or the home nation. Relevant topics: Hybrid Identities, International Perspectives, Global Cities, Immigration, Social Anthropology, Civic Duty, Cultural Imprinting
V Philosophical
V John Brady, "From the Ethics of Allegiance to the Ethics of Recognition: the Public Realm in an Age of Immigration" (draft, States and Migrants: New Challenges, Changing Responsibilities, The 6th Annual Travers Ethics Conference, Berkeley, California, 26 April 2002). Word (doc)
* A conference paper on the ethical challenges of pursuing multi-ethnic integration into existing institutional frameworks. Relevant topics: Ethics, Values, Social Theory, Pluralism, Democracy, Tradition, Hybridity, Citizenship, Nation-State, Identity