Future of Infrastructure: Promoting Joy: The Role of Parks and Public Spaces in City Infrastructure
with Phil GinsburgPhil Ginsburg is the General Manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. He joined the Future of Infrastructure to talk about the important role of parks as infrastructure.
Future of Infrastructure: Episode 13: Promoting Joy: The Role of Parks and Public Spaces in City Infrastructure
Public Sector Future
Episode summary
Phil Ginsburg is the General Manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. He joined the Future of Infrastructure to talk about the importance and often overlooked role of parks as infrastructure that make cities work for their residents.
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Promoting Joy: The Role of Parks and Public Spaces in City Infrastructure
Phil Ginsburg is the General Manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. He joined the Future of Infrastructure to talk about the importance and often overlooked role of parks as infrastructure that make cities work for their residents.
[Parks] are hard infrastructure because they absorb stormwater. They clean our air. They cool cities… But parks are also social infrastructure, and that’s sort of an important concept. That is a place where people can come together and form community.
– Phil Ginsburg, GM of SF Recreation and Parks
Parks are Infrastructure
Phil Ginsburg has been the General Manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department for the last 13 years.
“The benefits of being in parks are numerous. And they were really emphasized, and people began to really understand them during COVID.” Ginsburg explained.
“And parks really had a moment and I think it – it has helped our society understand that parks are truly essential. And again, getting back to what we talked about at the beginning. Jeremy, parks are not just nice-to-haves; they’re totally critical to our physical and mental health and our wellbeing.”
The India Basin Project
Ginsburg explained the ongoing India Basin Project in San Francisco: “The India Basin Project is in the city’s Bayview, which is a historically black community and a working-class community, a poor community, many inequities, big gaps in social determinants of health in the Bayview from other neighborhoods in San Francisco.
And so, this project is really unlike anything we’ve done before. It’s a – really a once in a generation opportunity involving 1.7 miles of dilapidated waterfront open space. It involves a major renovation of the shoreline, again, in a really often forgotten community that has faced, you know, decades and decades and decades of racism and – and pollution.
When it’s completed, and it’s about a $200 million effort, the park is going to deliver waterfront views, shore access, play areas for kids and community spaces. And what makes this significant is – is the park is within one mile of – of over 2,500 units of existing or planned public and affordable housing.”
Involving the Community
Ginsburg also outlined the way the city is engaging the community: “This is a project where actually sort of government has to be okay with letting go of some of the power and some of the control of the project, and really sort of empowering and investing in – in the community to really develop the project…
“We actually have our paying community residents to be part of the planning and governance team of the project. We are recognizing that their expertise is as important as mine, or as any project manager I have working on the project. And so, that’s kind of an interesting element.”
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