Green Space vs. History

Dallas, Texas, is not the greenest city in America. In fact, Dallas’s downtown is almost completely lacking open space. A proposal for a new, 4.7-acre park aims to change that, but there’s a catch. The plans for the park would require the destruction of a number of old buildings described as “the best block of 1950s architecture in the city.” There is no question that the ‘greening’ proposal is well-intended, says David Dillon, “yet a park proposal that requires the demolition of historic buildings and the closing of major streets, in a downtown that is already one-third vacant land, creates as many problems as it solves– not just for historic preservation but for planning and economic development.”