1000 Parks and a Line in the Sky

As its next exhibit, the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures will host “1000 Parks and a Line in the Sky: Broadway, Avenue of the Future,” a design vision by Dr. Antonio Petrov, UTSA assistant professor of architecture, and the “think/do-tank” he has established in the College of Architecture, Construction and Planning. The exhibit features a 50-foot-long model of Broadway, a street that has the potential to become San Antonio’s great urban avenue.

Recent developments on Broadway, such as the Museum Reach and the Pearl, and renewed interest in the street’s future have generated much discussion about what becoming an “urban” city actually means. Petrov has conducted extensive research on Broadway and proposes a linear park system, comprised of unused interstitial spaces found along the street, and a skyride that connects the airport to Travis Park.

Many residents and visitors to San Antonio remember experiencing the city from the sky between the 1960s and 1990s on the Brackenridge Park skyride. Inspired by this local history, he explores possible future directions for urban development, public parks, and alternative transportation systems using the Broadway corridor as a model.