"In 1930 the Olmosted Brothers and Bartholomew and Associates submitted a report, "Parks, Playgrounds, and Beaches in the Los Angeles Region," to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. The plan is a model of ambitious, intelligent, sensitive planning, but after a flurry of enthusiasm in the newspapers, it dropped from sight and no action was taken on its proposals. In this book Greg Hise and William Deverell examine the reasons it was called for, analyze why it failed, and open a discussion about the future of urban public space. In addition to their introduction and a facsimile reproduction of the report, Eden by Design includes a dialogue between Hise, Deverell, and widely admired landscape architect Laurie Olin that illuminates the significance of the Olmsted-Bartholomew report and places it in the history of American landscape planning. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.