Emerald Networks: Reviving the Legacy of City Parks

Sasaki Associates is a multidisciplinary design firm that largely focuses on landscape architecture and urban planning. The Emerald Networks project is a combination of research branding and exhibition work, combining the clean sans-serif display Verlag with the elegance of Adobe Garamond. The quite neutral typography is disrupted by colorful iconography and interesting placement. From Sasaki:

Cities with park systems designed by historic visionaries are endowed with a legacy of generous, well-connected open spaces. However, the financial pressures facing today’s cities, along with new thinking about park use, can challenge these historic frameworks. Emerald Networks: Reviving the Legacy of City Parks explores how cities are innovating within historic park visions to meet contemporary needs.

This research initiative examines case studies of six cities with historically planned park systems: Boston, Chicago, Hartford, Minneapolis, Raleigh, and Washington, DC. Emerald Networks explores how these cities are building on their legacy plans with innovative contemporary projects focused on the principles of sustainability and resiliency, active programming and use, community connectivity, social equity, economic development, and rethinking infrastructure. The research initiative and exhibition build on Sasaki’s expertise in park system planning for cities across the country.

Emerald Networks first appeared as an exhibition at Northeastern University, sponsored by Sasaki Associates in collaboration with the Humanities Center, The Northeastern Center for the Arts, The College of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the College of Arts, Media and Design.