nairobi arboretum

is over 100 years old. Rich with soaring trees and a fabulous diversity of native and migrant plants, rimmed by roads and high-rise apartment blocks, it has been resurrected in the last few years from a hideout for muggers and gangsters to a vibrant public resource again. A green space, in a city gasping for green spaces. A public space in a city that's turning into a collection of gated communities.

The stream that runs along one side of the periphery is liberally decorated with plastic bags and other rubbish, rank with pollution.The grass in the meadows is worn and trampled. But the whole place was alive with people yesterday. Family picnics. Open air religious services. Kids playing football and kati. And under every tree, in every available nook, young couples holding hands, lying on the grass, sitting on logs, gazing at each other or trying not to gaze at each other, making out or on the verge of making out.

This morning P, who walked the arboretum with me yesterday, sent me an article: Designing Cities For People. It's definitely worth reading the whole thing, but here are some choice quotes:

the ratio of parks to parking lots may be the best single indicator of the livability of a city

high quality public pedestrian space in general and parks in particular are evidence of a true democracy at work (Enrique Penalosa, ex-Mayor of Bogota, Colombia)

Parks and public spaces are also important to a democratic society because they are the only places where people meet as equals....In a city, parks are as essential to the physical and emotional health of a city as the water supply. (Penalosa again)