Land Development
Recreation and Open Space
From parks, plazas, and playgrounds to trails and esplanades, AKRF helps preserve and conserve open space and adapt land and facilities for public recreation.
Public parks host public interaction, chance encounters, recreation, and exercise, and have been shown to have positive mental health benefits. Our multidisciplinary approach to park design allows us to create signature spaces that provide social and physical resilience, protect ecological resources, celebrate history and culture, and serve community needs in an inclusive and equitable way.
Each public space is unique, serving a distinct and diverse constituency. This diversity of users places a great deal of importance on community engagement to ensure the success of any public planning or design exercise. Community input and buy-in broadens appeal, strengthens and hones ideas, and creates a critical sense of ownership over public space.
Recent Milestones
The award-winning Northwest Resiliency Park opened in Hoboken as well as new play spaces for Mary McLeod Bethune School in Philadelphia and new upland park facilities at Pier 42 in Manhattan. The first section of Freshkills Park in Staten Island opened to the public.
Battery Playscape, High Line Moynihan Connector, East Midtown Greenway, Marsha P. Johnson State Park, and Astoria Park in New York City all garnered industry awards.
