Evolution of the "parks as lungs" metaphor: is it still relevant? Academic Article

abstract

• 2016 World Leisure Organization. Conceptualizing urban parks as the lungs of the city is one of the parks fields most enduring metaphors. Indeed, it is often uttered unthinkingly as a clich. Its roots date back over 200 years. The reason it was so widely adopted in the nineteenth century is that it was unusually powerful and resonant in the context of the ubiquitous filth and stench in the industrial cities where it originated. This paper describes the conditions which fostered the metaphor; explains its private and public good dimensions; traces its genesis and diffusion, including its transition from England to the US and concludes with an assessment of its potency in contemporary society.

authors

• Crompton, John

published proceedings

• WORLD LEISURE JOURNAL

author list (cited authors)

• Crompton, J. L.

citation count

• 18

complete list of authors

• Crompton, John L

publication date

• April 2017

publisher

• Taylor & Francis  Publisher

published in

• World Leisure Journal  Journal

keywords

• Disease
• Industrial Cities
• Lungs
• Miasmas
• Urban Parks

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1080/16078055.2016.1211171

start page

• 105

end page

• 123

volume

• 59

issue

• 2

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2016.1211171