There always were good reasons for bounding space and there always will be. Broadly, they may be classified as human, rather than natural. The ancient reasons for imparking land were both domestic and religious, as discussed above. Modern parks can have a variety of human-oriented themes. At present, even in the greatest cities, park space is insufficiently diversified. Most is under municipal ownership. Most is paved, gardened or managed to death. Orwell's Ministry of Peace made war. With equal perversity, municipal managers have made green deserts and grey deserts, using mown grass and concrete. It is time to set about the enjoyable task of differentiating urban space according to considerations of mood, age, ownership, history, culture, religion, ethnicity, politics, landform, habitat, climate and, yes, function. Diversification is the subject of the next essay, but Figure 15.8 (below) illustrates the argument so far.
Park Gates (Green Park in London)
