Passive or...
We want a ground to which people may easily go when the day’s work is done, and where they may stroll for an hour, seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets where they shall, in effect, find the city put far away from them… (Frederick Law Olmsted, Landscape Architect, 1870)
The primary intent of early park planners such as Frederick Law Olmsted, was to provide lovely public places for soothing, family-oriented activities such as walks, picnics, or birdwatching—what we would now call passive recreation.
In fact, many early park administrators had stringent rules on use—such as bans on alcohol, group picnics, and dancing—to preserve the serene and contemplative atmosphere the park planners had intended. Some historians state that these sorts of controls had the effect of discouraging park use by the working class and immigrant people for whom the idealistic planners had said the parks were intended.
But people kept coming to parks, using them in their preferred ways, and making requests for facilities to meet their needs until park planners were compelled to accommodate the growing demand for more active park uses.
