Park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside cities. National parks and Country parks are green spaces used for recreation in the countryside. State parks and Provincial parks are administered by sub-national government agencies. Parks may consist of grassy areas, rocks and trees, but may contain buildings and other artifacts such as monuments, fountains or playground structures. Many parks have fields for playing sports such as soccer and football, paved areas for games such as basketball. Many parks have trails for walking and other activities; some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses and may comprise a beach or boat dock area. Urban parks have benches for sitting and may contain picnic tables and barbecue grills; the largest parks can be vast natural areas of hundreds of thousands square kilometers, with abundant wildlife and natural features such as mountains and rivers.
In many large parks, camping in tents is allowed with a permit. Many natural parks are protected by law, users may have to follow restrictions. Large national and sub-national parks are overseen by a park ranger or a park warden. Large parks may have areas for canoeing and hiking in the warmer months and, in some northern hemisphere countries, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in colder months. There are amusement parks which have live shows, fairground rides and games of chance or skill. English deer parks were used by the aristocracy in medieval times for game hunting, they had walls or thick hedges around them to keep game animals in and people out. It was forbidden for commoners to hunt animals in these deer parks; these game preserves evolved into landscaped parks set around mansions and country houses from the sixteenth century onwards. These may have served as hunting grounds but they proclaimed the owner's wealth and status. An aesthetic of landscape design began in these stately home parks where the natural landscape was enhanced by landscape architects such as Capability Brown.
As cities became crowded, the private hunting grounds became places for the public. With the Industrial revolution parks took on a new meaning as areas set aside to preserve a sense of nature in the cities and towns. Sporting activity came to be a major use for these urban parks. Areas of outstanding natural beauty were set aside as national parks to prevent their being spoiled by uncontrolled development. Park design is influenced by the intended purpose and audience, as well as by the available land features. A park intended to provide recreation for children may include a playground. A park intended for adults may feature walking paths and decorative landscaping. Specific features, such as riding trails, may be included to support specific activities; the design of a park may determine, willing to use it. Walkers may feel unsafe on a mixed-use path, dominated by fast-moving cyclists or horses. Different landscaping and infrastructure may affect children's rates of use of parks according to sex.
Redesigns of two parks in Vienna suggested that the creation of multiple semi-enclosed play areas in a park could encourage equal use by boys and girls. Parks are part of the urban infrastructure: for physical activity, for families and communities to gather and socialize, or for a simple respite. Research reveals that people who exercise outdoors in green-space derive greater mental health benefits. Providing activities for all ages and income levels is important for the physical and mental well-being of the public. Parks can benefit pollinators, some parks have been redesigned to accommodate them better; some organisations, such as Xerces Society are promoting this idea. City parks play a role in improving cities and improving the futures for residents and visitors - for example, Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois or the Mill River Park and Green way in Stamford, CT. One group, a strong proponent of parks for cities is The American Society of Landscape Architects, they argue that parks are important to the fabric of the community on an individual scale and broader scales such as entire neighborhoods, city districts or city park systems.
Parks need to feel safe for people to use them. Research shows that perception of safety can be more significant in influencing human behavior than actual crime statistics. If citizens perceive a park as unsafe, they might not make use of it at all. A study done in four cities. There are a number of features. Elements in the physical design of a park, such as an open and welcoming entry, good visibility, appropriate lighting and signage can all make a difference. Regular park maintenance, as well as programming and community involvement can contribute to a feeling of safety. While Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design has been used in facility design, use of CPTED in parks has not been. Iqbal and Ceccato performed a study in Stockholm, Sweden to determine if it would be useful to apply to parks, their study indicated that while CPTED could be useful, due to the
Seaton Park
Seaton Park is a public park in the Old Aberdeen area of Aberdeen, Scotland. One of the city's biggest parks, it was bought by the city for use as a public park in 1947 from Major Hay; the River Don passes along the edge of the park. There is a beautiful flower bed area, maintained to a high standard with new flowers planted every year, a secluded set of walled gardens next to a small housing mews called Seaton Stables; the park is used as a cut through from the University of Aberdeen students to get from campus to Hillhead Halls of Residence. The University authorities advise students to be cautious during dark hours due to the lack of street lighting. Aberdeen Football Club train on the grass pitches in the park. Part of the park has been turned into a wetland area to manage the tendency to flooding. Seaton Park at Aberdeen City Council Friends of Seaton Park
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland. The council area was created under the Local Government etc.. Act 1994. However, a sense of Aberdeen as a city, with its own city council, can be traced back to 1900, when the county of the city of Aberdeen was created. In 1975, under the Local Government Act 1973, counties of cities were abolished; the area of the former county of a city was combined with Bucksburn, Newhills, Old Machar and the Stoneywood areas of the county of Aberdeen, the Nigg area of the county of Kincardine, to form the Aberdeen district of the Grampian region. This district became the now existing unitary council area in 1996. On 9 May 1995, by resolution under section 23 of the Local Government Act 1973, the City of Aberdeen Council changed the name of the local government area of "City of Aberdeen" to "Aberdeen City". Between 2003 and 2007, the council was under the control of a Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition, holding 23 of the 43 seats on the council.
Prior to the 2003 election, the council had been considered a Labour stronghold. Following the May 2007 election, contested for the first time using a system of proportional representation, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party formed a coalition to run the council, holding 27 of the 43 seats. Two Liberal Democrat councillors became independents during this period due to personal controversies, while the Conservative group split in August 2010, with two councillors forming the Independent Alliance Group. After the May 2012 election, the control of the council shifted back to the Labour Party, supported in a coalition by three Conservative and three Independent councillors, giving the administration 23 seats; the Labour/Conservative/Independent coalition continued after the 2017 election, but with a change in the balance of power within the coalition. Labour were reduced to nine councillors, whilst the Conservatives had eleven councillors elected; these Conservative and suspended "Aberdeen Labour" councillors were joined in coalition by three Independent councillors, one of who had left the Liberal Democrats just days after the council election.
Aberdeen City Council comprises forty-five councillors, who represent the city's wards, is headed by the Lord Provost. The Council has Co-Leaders as a result of the coalition agreement. Douglas Lumsden and Jenny Laing are the current Co-Leaders. Political composition: Scottish National Party - 19 councillors Independent - 12 councillors Conservatives - 11 councillors Liberal Democrats - 3 councillorsChief Officials: Chief Executive - Angela Scott Director of Resources - Stephen Whyte Chief Officer - Governance - Fraser Bell Before May 2007, councillors represented 43 single-member wards election on a first-past-the-post basis. On 5 May 2007, the single transferable vote system was used for the first time and multi-member wards were introduced, each ward electing three or four councillors; the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland completed its final recommendations for new wards for all the council areas of Scotland. Aberdeen is divided into 13 multi-member wards; this system was introduced as a result of the Local Governance Act 2004, is designed to produce a form of proportional representation.
As of 4 May 2017, the current wards and representative numbers are: Note: The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils. Aberdeen City Council: official website
Green spaces and walkways in Aberdeen
The Scottish city of Aberdeen has a number of green spaces and walkways. The parks and floral displays which include 2 million roses, 11 million daffodils and 3 million crocuses have led the city to win the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom Best City award many times, including a period of nine years straight, it won the 2006 Scotland in Bloom Best City award along with the International Cities in Bloom award. The suburb of Dyce won the Small Towns award. Aberdeen City Council's website states the city has six "city parks". In rank order these are: NB, little data is available for the area size Aberdeen Beach and Queens Links- this may affect the rankings. Aberdeen City Council's website states the city has seven "local parks"; some of these are a small park near Cults. Johnston Gardens is situated in the Rubislaw area, it hosts many different types of flowers and plants which have been renowned for their beauty which have led the gardens to winning categories in the'Britain in Bloom' competitions.
Rubislaw Terrace Gardens a small 1-acre park in the centre of Aberdeen, near Queens Cross. Stewart Park is situated in the Hilton area; the park was named after a former Lord Provost of Sir David Stewart. There are sections is reserved for football matches. Union Terrace Gardens is situated in the centre of the city; the gardens are a popular rendezvous in the heart of the city, enjoyed by both visitors. Surrounding the gardens are a number of important ancient protected Elm Trees, during the summer season at the north end, a formally planted and maintained City Coat of Arms; the Deeside Way is a popular walkway and track, used by cyclists and walkers. The trail runs from the Duthie Park to Peterculter along the former Deeside Railway which has had its tracks lifted; the Formartine and Buchan Way is a walkway along old railway route the Formartine and Buchan Railway which ran from Dyce to Fraserburgh. The current walkway is along the entire old route where the tracks have been lifted much like the Deeside Way.
The track runs parallel to the National Cycle Network track between Dyce and Auchnagatt, where the tracks cross over. There are various walks and trails, punctuated by sculptures, through Tyrebagger Woods, west of Aberdeen off the A96 road
Victoria Park, Aberdeen
Victoria Park is a small park in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. The park has an area of five hectares and was opened to the public in 1871, it is named after Queen Victoria. In the center of the park is a fountain made of fourteen different types of granite, presented to the citizens of the city by the Granite Polishers and Master Builders of Aberdeen. A greenhouse and conservatory used to present in the south-east corner of the park, but were demolished in early 2014 as a result of repeated vandalism
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is the world’s second largest cinema chain, with 9,538 screens across 793 sites in 10 countries: the US, the UK, Poland, Israel, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The group’s primary brands are Regal and Picturehouse, Cinema City and Yes Planet. Cineworld is the leading cinema operator in the UK by box office market share, with 99 cinemas and over 1017 screens, including Ireland’s single largest multiplex by screens and customer base. Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is the tallest cinema in the world and the busiest, by customer base, in the UK; the Cineworld site with the greatest number of screens is located at Valley Centertainment in Sheffield, which has 20. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Cineworld was established by Steve Wiener, an American, with other co founders including Ian Johnston who devised the name along with the support of private equity funds in 1995, they opened the first Cineworld in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in July 1996. After opening more sites over the next few years, Cineworld took over the UK and Ireland operations of French cinema company UGC in 2005.
In December 2012, Cineworld acquired the Picturehouse Cinema chain, adding 21 cinemas to its portfolio, including The Little Theatre in Bath, Brighton’s Duke of York’s cinema, the Cameo, the Phoenix in Oxford and the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton. The Blackstone Group, which had invested in Cineworld when it was owned, sold its entire remaining 20% shareholding in November 2010. In August 2013, The Guardian revealed that Cineworld employs 80% of its 4,300 staff on zero hour contracts. In October 2013, the Chester location was closed due to the landowner wanting to develop the land into a supermarket. In 2014 Cineworld's Picturehouse chain was subject to industrial action owing to its refusal to pay the London living wage to its staff; the workforce attracted the support of Eric Cantona. On 27 February 2014 Cineworld completed the takeover of Cinema City International N. V.. In what can be seen to be a partial reverse takeover, the Greidinger family hold a controlling bloc as the largest shareholders in the enlarged company.
In 2015, Picturehouse unveiled their new West End flagship site, ‘Picturehouse Central’, a 1,000 seat, seven-screen cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue near Piccadilly Circus in central London. In August 2016 Cineworld acquired six cinemas from Empire Cinemas, including the Empire Theatre in London's West End, 4 other locations in Basildon, Poole and Hemel Hempstead. Empire Newcastle was acquired by Cineworld the following year. In November 2017, Cineworld began merger talks with the US theater chain Regal Entertainment Group. On 5 December, it was announced that Cineworld would buy Regal for $3.6 billion dollars. This will create the world's second largest cinema group, it will allow Cineworld access to the US market, the largest in the world. According to the company's 2017 Annual Report, Cineworld aims to be ‘the best place to watch a movie’ by providing their customers with a choice of how to experience movies, with the latest audio and visual technology and a range of retail offerings, including 29 Starbucks outlets across the UK.
Across the Cineworld estate there are seven different ways in which their customers can watch a movie: 2D, 3D, 4DX, IMAX, Superscreen, VIP and ScreenX. Prices are set according to the format the customer chooses, not the movie they choose; as of April 2018, across the European estate there are 38 4DX screens, 35 IMAX screens and 12 VIP auditoriums. Out of 45 cinemas in the world that are fitted with IMAX with Laser projection systems, two are in the UK, both belonging to Cineworld, located in Leicester Square and Sheffield. In April 2018, IMAX And Cineworld Group signed an agreement to install 55 new IMAX with Laser experience in Cineworld and Regal IMAX locations. Cineworld has begun a trial of The Screening Rooms. Located next to the Cheltenham cinema, The Screening Rooms offers larger, leather seating, premium food, and'table' service. Cineworld was the only cinema chain in the United Kingdom to operate a'strict no food and drink policy' on items that have been bought elsewhere, but in November 2012 the food policy was changed and now states that "neither alcohol nor hot food may be brought onto the premises".
In early 2014, Cineworld introduced an allocated seating system, starting as a trial in selected sites including Wembley and rolling out to all their cinemas by the summer. The move was controversial and a Twitter campaign was created against this policy. Cineworld have responded to the criticism stating that it gives customers peace of mind along with other benefits. Cineworld continues to expand and enhance their estate, with an extensive ongoing build and refurbishment programme. In 2017, the company opened nine new cinema locations with a total of 109 screens. A further 75 screens are scheduled to open in 2018 in addition. Cineworld – tallest cinema in the world Cineworld Dublin – largest cinema in Ireland Cineworld Cinemas UK Cineworld Cinemas Ireland Cineworld Group PLC
Garden
A garden is a planned space outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, or enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both man-made materials; the most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were called zoological gardens. Western gardens are universally based on plants, with garden signifying a shortened form of botanical garden; some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants not at all. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including water features such as fountains, waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, arbors and more; some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some gardens produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, their purpose.
Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses. Gardening is the activity of maintaining the garden; this work is done by an professional gardener. A gardener might work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients; the etymology of the word gardening refers to enclosure: it is from Middle English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin. See Grad for more complete etymology; the words yard and Latin hortus, are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space. The term "garden" in British English refers to a small enclosed area of land adjoining a building; this would be referred to as a yard in American English. Garden design is the process of creating plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by professionals.
Professional garden designers tend to be trained in principles of design and horticulture, have a knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are landscape architects, a more formal level of training that requires an advanced degree and a state license. Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, growth habit, speed of growth, combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, bloom-time, many other characteristics. Garden design can be divided into two groups and naturalistic gardens; the most important consideration in any garden design is, how the garden will be used, followed by the desired stylistic genres, the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas.
All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget. Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden style with fewer plants and less costly hardscape materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, plants that grow quickly. Most gardens consist of a mix of natural and constructed elements, although very'natural' gardens are always an inherently artificial creation. Natural elements present in a garden principally comprise flora, soil, water and light. Constructed elements include paths, decking, drainage systems and buildings, but living constructions such as flower beds and lawns. A garden can have aesthetic and recreational uses: Cooperation with nature Plant cultivation Garden-based learning Observation of nature Bird- and insect-watching Reflection on the changing seasons Relaxation Family dinners on the terrace Children playing in the garden Reading and relaxing in the hammock Maintaining the flowerbeds Pottering in the shed Cottaging in the bushes Basking in warm sunshine Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat Growing useful produce Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking Back garden Cactus garden Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type.
