Does Good Design Alone Guarantee a Project’s Success?

LA Fall Lecture Series presents Timothy Marshall



Wednesday, 12/2 at 4:00 pm

Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall

3 College Farm Road

New Brunswick, NJ


Does Good Design Alone Guarantee a Project’s Success?

We are all too familiar with well-designed projects that have not been able to withstand the test of time, due to the lack of proper maintenance the site received after it was constructed. Worn path edges, broken benches/curbs, perennial plantings that are now annual or shrub beds, or worse, mulch beds, fountains and lighting that no longer operates, other visual clutter are just some of the changes made to a site over time due a inadequate maintenance or unanticipated use patterns.

What went wrong? Is it just a case of inadequate maintenance? Is it the design? Is it unanticipated use? Is it lack of proper management? Is it all of the above?

Maintenance and operations are, in fact, important “design considerations” and should be viewed and analyzed along with other professional input during design. The recent and dramatic improvements to Central Park have shown the importance of protecting the capital investment through understanding and planning for maintenance. Of course along with good design and improved maintenance comes more use. Central Park has seen its visitor numbers increase from an estimated 6 million annual visitors in 1985 to close to 30 million today. Not all of that use has been anticipated or planned for.

This presentation will look at a number of recently completed and designed projects where ETM ASSOCIATES, has worked closely with the design team during the design process to identify maintenance and operational issues and how those design modifications and ultimately, use has contributed to successful public space projects.

Project examples will include Central Park, the High Line, Houston’s Discovery Green, the proposed Olympic Park in London, Baltimore’s Mt Vernon Square and Pack Square in Asheville, NC.



E. Timothy Marshall, ASLA, principal of ETM ASSOCIATES, LLC , has been providing
professional public space design and management solutions, strategies and developmental guidance since 1984.

ETM Associates, LLC was formed in 1997 and specialized in Public Space Design and Management. The firm is concerned with all aspects of public space and sees design, implementation and ongoing management as a continuum of related professional activities. The firm presently employees a staff of five.

Timothy Marshall, principal and owner of ETM, has been involved with public space issues for more 25 years. Mr. Marshall was formerly the Deputy Administrator and Vice President for the Central Park Conservancy. As former Deputy Administrator and Vice President for New York City’s Central Park Conservancy, he was involved in the development of The Central Park Restoration and Management Plan, and was directly responsible for its on-going implementation as well as the day-to-day management of Central Park, one of the world’s most important public spaces.

Since forming ETM ASSOCIATES, LLC, he has served as the driving force behind an impressive list of significant national and international public space projects. Successful public spaces are achieved with forethought and planning. We have experience with a wide-range of projects and project scales. In addition to being physically attractive, parks need to be designed to suit the neighborhoods they serve. Parks that thrive and provide balance to the community are those that rise above the commonplace in the quality of design, facilities, maintenance and programs.