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National Parks Service Encourages Exploration of Downtown St. Louis

3618719206_ac29661d1c.jpgSure, the
Gateway Arch is spectacular, but there's more to St. Louis. (Photo: hz536n via
Core of Discovery Flickr pool)

Today we've got news from
member blog Dotage
St. Louis
about a sweet new initiative from the National Parks
Service (NPS) called "Core of
Discovery
." Aimed at tourists visiting the city's Gateway Arch (an
NPS property), it highlights various attractions of St. Louis's downtown
-- historic
architecture
, bike
rentals
to enjoy the path along the Mississippi, the new Citygarden
sculpture park and many others.

The Core of Discovery website is beautifully designed, and the NPS
is also using social media -- including a Flickr group
that already has some quite stunning content -- to draw visitors into an
exploration of what urban St. Louis has to offer. The effort dovetails
with a major design
competition
focused on better integrating the Gateway Arch grounds
into the city's urban fabric. Here's what Dotage St. Louis has to say:

With the ongoing City Arch River 2015 design competition, it's great to see the NPS express its dedicationtowards connecting the Arch to downtown in the meantime.… It might seemlike a small step on the part of the NPS, but clearly much thought hasgone into the design of this site and the marketing of our downtown. Iapplaud this effort and am excited that I'll be here in person towitness the more radical interventions that will be proposed this fallas a part of the Archgrounds International Design Competition.

More from around the network: Half
Mile Circles
writes about a new report about the effect of compact
development on greenhouse gas emissions. Transit
Miami
writes about the threat to some Miami Beach bike lanes. And One
Speed: Go!
has a philosophical meditation on the benefits of riding
a tandem.

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