The first great metropoltan park of the 21st century: a manifestation of green urbanization

Some twenty years ago, it was hard to believe that the United States would commit to sustainability and green urbanization of any kind. Today, however, a decade into the 21st century, the country has embarked on the global sustainability agenda in its broadest sense that could have everbeen realized. There are different views on and understanding of green urbanization. From as early as Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the most recent green movements in Europe, Far East and New Zealand, the green agenda has always been a part of urbanization. The interpretation, implications and outcomes have been diverse. This paper aims to study one of the most successful-to-be schemes in the United State as an extensionality of green urbanization: Orange County Great Park (OCGP); what is officially called ‘the first great metropolitan park of 21st century'. The paper starts with a brief history of the original plan, the modifications and its implementation. Explaining the initial objectives of the park and contemplating on potentialities of the region, it will then discuss how the scheme started benefitting from new sources of finance, thereby accelerating the value creation through green businesses. Finally, it concludes with a model of ‘green metropolitan park' in how both tasks of educating people and implementing green urbanization - towards green value creation - canadvance, and suggests how this new concept can be used as a model for green urbanization to be applied to metropolitan areas for acquiring a record of success in sustainable developments.