Elizabeth Barlow Rogers (born 1936) is an American environmentalist, landscape preservationist, author of numerous books and essays, and a former park administrator. Her most notable achievement was her role in the revitalization of New York City's Central Park in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1980, Rogers helped found the Central Park Conservancy, a not-for-profit corporation formed to organize private sector support for the restoration and renewed management of the park. She served as the Conservancy's first president from its founding until 1995.

Early life and education

Elizabeth "Betsy" Browning was born in San Antonio, Texas to Caleb Leonidas Browning (1902–1970), a general contractor and cattle rancher, and his wife, Elizabeth (Ewing) Browning (1904–1992). She grew up in Alamo Heights and prepared for college at Saint Mary's Hall. In 1952, she enrolled at Wellesley College, where she majored in art history (BA 1957), and in the summer following her graduation married Edward L. Barlow, a graduate of Lawrenceville and Yale (BA 1956). They lived in Washington DC, where he was a naval officer stationed at the Pentagon, but in 1960 returned to Yale where he studied law (LLB 1964) and she studied urban planning (MA 1964). After completion of their studies, they moved to New York City.

Career

Central Park

In 1979, Mayor Ed Koch appointed Rogers to the newly created position of Central Park Administrator. At the time, the 843 acre public space was strewn with trash and long neglected with virtually no funding allocated to improving its condition. Working with then NYC Parks commissioner Gordon J. Davis, Rogers conceived of a master plan to reinstate the Greensward Plan design by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, while also keeping in mind the public purpose of the greensward and practical considerations. Rogers' aim was "the renewal of the physical beauty of the park as originally envisioned by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, yet integrated with contemporary social and recreational uses." Rogers recruited friends and volunteers to assist her in reclaiming discrete sections of the park. One of these colleagues was Lynden Miller. In 1982, Rogers asked Miller to tackle Central Park's Conservatory Garden.

Cityscape Institute

In 1995. Rogers founded the Cityscape Institute with a mission to improve the design of the entourage of New York City's sidewalks: the benches, telephone booths, trash cans, street lights, traffic signs, and stop lights. The institute was unable to accomplish its goals, however, for unlike Central Park, where Rogers had managerial authority and widespread public support, the city's streetscape was the subject of, in Rogers's words, "general indifference to the visual blight that has grown with the progressive coarsening of the environment as it has been allowed to become dominated by highway engineers and commercial interests." According to one newspaper reporter, who interviewed Rogers in 2001, Cityscape has made only fitful progress in achieving its goal, as Ms. Rogers concedes. The institute and its founder have become mired in dozens of messy battles with city bureaucrats over designs for light poles, plans to reroute traffic and other issues. The institute formally ceased operating in 2006.

Bard Graduate Center

In 2001, Rogers founded a program in Garden History and Landscape Studies at the Bard Graduate Center, New York, which she directed until 2005.

Foundation for Landscape Studies

In 2005, Rogers established the Foundation for Landscape Studies, whose mission was, according to its website, "to foster an active understanding of the importance of place in human life." Among its activities was the publication of thirty-five issues of the biannual journal Site/Lines, edited by Rogers. The foundation ceased operating in 2021.

Books

Exhibition catalogues

Writing in journals (partial list)

Awards and honors

Personal life

In July 1957, Rogers married Edward L. Barlow, with whom she had two children, Lisa Barlow Tobin, a photographer and David Barlow, an actor. They divorced in 1979. In 1984, she married Theodore C. Rogers.