Oostende Park

Oostende Park is 37ha and is located on the west side of the city, south of the commercial area.  Since 2000 cars have been banned from going through the park.  Alternatively a link road was constructed which connected the west side to the east side of the city.  Within the park the old road was reduced from 9 metres to 4 metres in width to suit pedestrians instead of cars.  This meant that a further 1.5ha of green space was added to the park. 

There are three areas to the park which have the theme of recreation, formal landscape and ecology.  One of the main features in the park is a suspension bridge which crosses the lake.  It has 4 steel cables bounded in concrete cement and also has 60 columns.  This forms one linear feature leaving the rest of the focus on the park.

        

What I really liked about the park is the ongoing community project to renovate the old velodrome.  Skaters and cricketers have claimed the space and use it side by side.  The council are now working with these people with the aim of putting an entrance to the velodrome which will also have a sheltered bus stop.  The aimed completion date is 2012 which is to co-inside with Ostend’s bid to become Europe’s Cultural City.   

    

The park brings a welcome break to the urban activity of Ostend.  The materials and construction have been carried out sympathetically to the space.  The park also forms a mental connection to the natural aspects of the city such as the beach and the sand dunes on the east side. 

  

The park also had a massive climbing frame which everyone seemed to enjoy!!

 

Mile End Park

It is located in the east of London.  The park has undergone a transformation at the cost of £25 million which incorporated the many separate parks; play arena, Ecology Park, Arts Park, terrace garden, Adventure Park, Sports Park and children’s park.

The first stage of the development was the green bridge and terrace garden which opened in 2001.  The park was soon after completed and opened in 2002. 
 
Terrace Garden

It is shielded from Mile End Road by a dense row of trees.  It is centred around a water cascade and fountain.  The planting of the area aimed to create a “garden of the senses”. 

 

Sports Park 

It has plans for a new swimming pool which will also be home to other indoor sports such as, squash.  The rest of the area has football, tennis and basketball courts. 

Overall, the park felt very insecure due to the CCTV cameras situated along the footpaths.  I have never experienced this before in a public park and due to this I never fully felt relaxed and escaped from city life.  However, I did like the way the park has been designed with its different zones in an elongated shape.  As you pass through the different zones they each give you another quality with the different ranges of planting and materials.  The park seemed to be poorly maintained and many areas were over grown and had a lot of litter.