Shared Spaces

The environments in which we live, learn, work and play significantly impact our health. Having access to safe, quality parks can lead to beneficial health impacts, from increased physical activity to improved social cohesion and better mental health to reduced water, air and noise pollution. Yet lack of park access, availability, size, safety, recreational facilities […]

Frederick Law Olmsted created hundreds of works of landscape architecture. While they were all different, they embodied a set of design principles that Olmsted developed in his writing and “on the ground.”  What were Olmsted’s design concerns? And what should one look for when walking through an Olmsted design? Key principles shaped Olmsted’s designs and serve […]

After spending nearly two years steeped in the Olmsted story working at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, I recall what former supervisory park ranger and current Friends of Fairsted member Alan Banks told me soon after I joined the staff. He said something along these lines: “When you start learning about Olmsted and […]

Olmsted was more than the founder of American landscape architecture. He was an author, public servant and an antislavery advocate, too. See the seminal moments in his extraordinary life below.

Landscape architect and Harvard University professor Sara Zewde on Frederick Law Olmsted’s “Southern Chronicles” and the lessons his writings about slavery teach us.