Helping Parks Sustain Themselves - NYTimes.com Some major sustainability themes have emerged as over 850 landscape architects, government officials, city planners and park enthusiasts meet in New York City for the Greater and Greener International Urban Parks Conference. Among the issues highlighted on Monday were recycling of rainwater and reclaiming former landfills and brownfields as park spaces. Addressing the conference, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg emphasized that parks help the local economy by boosting property values and improving the quality of life. He noted that the city has spent over $3 billion on park improvements in the past decade. Ideally, a lot of that money should come back to the city through saved costs from improved park health and added infrastructure, Charles McKinney, an urban designer with the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, said at a conference panel on sustainable park design. Parks improve public health by encouraging outdoor recreation, and by collecting storm water runoff that otherwise enters the overtaxed city sewage system. During his panel presentation, Mr. McKinney highlighted a few guidelines for building sustainable parks presented by the Design Trust for Public Space, a nonprofit based in the city. He said that sustainable modern parks should try to keep the soil in which trees are planted aerated and stratified, for example, so that it supports a natural ecosystem of grubs and bacteria. Mr. McKinney also cited a new, efficient water-usage design in Printer's Park in the Bronx that directs the runoff from a park fountain, which would typically runs right into the sewers, through channels to water greenery. Sustainability guidelines have also been integrated into the design of Fort Totten in Queens, Mr. McKinney said. Because of budget shortfalls, several other park upgrades have not yet factored in sustainability, Mr. McKinney acknowledged after the discussion, although the goal is "aspirational." The conference, held at New York University, began on Saturday with tours of green spaces around the city and ends on Tuesday evening with a reception hosted by Mayor Bloomberg.