A universal standard for health-promoting places. Example of assessment – on the basis of a case study of Rahway River Park

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to development of approaches to the evaluation of the design of public open green spaces (POS). This paper presents a universal standard for the design of health-promoting urban places. The standard is a conceptual framework which was developed after visiting over one hundred public parks and therapeutic gardens in Europe and the United States. The universal standard is a simple and effective tool that can be used by both professional designers and non-professionals to improve the health-promoting qualities of open green spaces. Rahway River Park, designed by Olmsted Brothers in 1925, serves as a case study.