Architect Behind Tulsa's Gathering Place Believes It Could Be City's Centerpiece

TULSA, Oklahoma -

Can a park transform a city?

The man whose firm is behind the design for Tulsa's Gathering Place says it can.

Michael Van Valkenburgh has become one of the world's most acclaimed landscape architects by stressing that parks are more than just a collection of trees and swing sets. He believes they're a place for people, where strangers can mingle and interact and build a better city in the process.

To get a sense of what's coming to Tulsa, I met Van Valkenburgh in Brooklyn, New York, his home, where his firm has turned an industrial wasteland into a vibrant piece of urban life.

The sounds of a park in the middle of America's greatest city a park with a heart-stopping view of that city are the sounds that tell Van Valkenburgh he's done his job well.

This is something that people want to embrace, it's all around us, he said. People having a good time, around other people they don't know. People like being around people.

First and foremost, America's leading landscape architect considers himself in the people business.

Whether it's at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pennsylvania Avenue out front of the White House, Harvard Yard, the Gateway Arch grounds in St. Louis, the George W. Bush library, and soon, Tulsa's Gathering Place, Van Valkenburgh is at the top of his game and his profession - at a time of exciting renewal for American cities.

I feel very lucky as a landscape architect that I'm alive and doing this work at a time when people are so interested in what makes cities a good place to live, he said.

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Architect Behind Tulsa's Gathering Place Believes It Could Be City's Centerpiece