A park for every country, and a country for every park!
192 countries, nearly 192 parks in Ann Arbor…coincidence, or a perfect opportunity for a Midwestern college town to educate itself about geography? Each of Ann Arbor's 181 parks and public schools has been paired with a country somewhere in the world. The pairing process is completely random, and each park features an information sheet about its country.
Explore the city, enjoy the parks, and learn about the world!
Why we need your helpThe Park Project was started in the late summer of 2005, spearheaded by two ex-Ann Arborites, Vinh Nguyen and Dan Mullkoff. We grabbed a domain, built out a little website, did all the initial pairing, even made a bunch of the country infosheets, however, it was also my, Vinh's, last month in town. I'd like to blame it on not having time, but there were times we could have taken action instead of finding excuses; but that's in the past. It's now two years later, and we no longer live in good 'ol A2. But the project, it's a doozy. And, MarkDilley suggested I post it here in hopes that it find new life! We need you to take up this challenge! Wheat paste the parks! Teach the kids! Take a look at the Park & School to Country list! |
The old parkproject.com content
There's text missing. we no longer own the domain, and barely found the old country pairings.
A park for every country, and a country for every park!
192 countries, nearly 192 parks in Ann Arbor…coincidence, or a perfect opportunity for a Midwestern college town to educate itself about geography? Each of Ann Arbor's 181 parks and public schools has been paired with a country somewhere in the world. The pairing process is completely random, and each park features an information sheet about its country.
Explore the city, enjoy the parks, and learn about the world!
This project is being undertaken and funded completely on the basis of volunteers and donations courtesy of a loose coalition of longtime Ann Arbor residents and community groups. The primary purpose of the Country-Park Project is to bring education to the community and encourage learning on an everyday basis. For a full map of Ann Arbor including the locations of every country in the world, as well as other fascinating information and resources, please visit the Ann Arbor Country-Park Project's official website at http://www.parkproject.com Special thanks to the City of Ann Arbor Parks Dept. for graciously hosting this project.
Ann Arbor, Michigan is the first city in the world to experience the Park Project. The organizers hope that the endeavor will open the city's eyes to the importance of geography and the value of knowledge about the world. In the coming months we hope to involve the Ann Arbor Public Schools in various class projects relating to geography and the specific country after which each park and school is named.
Links / Ideas
- Map of Ann Arbor Country-Park Project
- Who is responsible for this "Park Project"?
- Start a Park Project™ in your city!
- The Park Project is an international project. Parks are essential community spaces, and their uses should be maximized by community members. We see spreading information as perfect.....
