USA Today: Push for urban parkland takes root

Despite the housing and credit crunch, there has been a boom in one sector of urban real estate - parkland.

In the April 13 edition of USA Today, Haya El Nasser documents some of the massive urban parks projects going on throughout the United States.

A growing awareness of health and environmental issues is largely at the center of the decision to create such large urban green spaces, but there have to be other reasons why it has become so popular.

That reason is money - parks have a tendency to generate real estate development around their edges, and properties with access to nearby parkland tend to hold their value much better than those without.

Is it possible that the reclamation of the 1,050-acre Fernald "Superfund" site into a new park made the $200 million, 950-home Fort Scott residential project possible?