3. Multiple-Objective Greenways
Multi-objective greenways go beyond recreation and aesthetic purposes and begin to
address critical concerns, many of which are accompanied by the development of
human society, such as preserving wildlife habitats, reducing urban flood damage,
enhancing water quality, environment education, outdoor recreation, and many other
urban infrastructure objectives. One of the advantages of multi-objective greenways is
that they fill in the gaps between different disciplines that were previously disconnected,
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such as civil engineering, landscape architecture, ecology, and hydrology. But it also
requires tremendous effort to collaborate between such different fields, thus greenways
can address more complicated problems posed by expanding human development. The
recreation and ecology oriented greenways also fall into this category.
The City of Knoxville’s Third Creek Greenway serves as a good example of the multipleobjective
greenways (Fig. 1.3). It was first constructed around 1970; and further
developed in 1992. This greenway carries several functions: preserving natural
wetlands and forested areas; providing recreation opportunities, such as biking and
walking; connecting various locations such as, UT campus, Northwest Middle school,
residential quarter, Tyson park; environmental values: the greenway corridor is lined
with streamside vegetation and includes flood plain (The Knoxville Greenways &
Community Trails Commission, 1992).