Great cities have been renewing themselves along their waterfronts for decades, and Houston’s Buffalo Bayou is no exception. This historic waterway now serves as a place where visitors bike, hike, gather as a community, and appreciate nature. The crowning jewel of the waterway’s renewal is Buffalo Bayou Park, 160 acres of greenspace just west of downtown.

Expanded, enhanced, and extraordinary—Buffalo Bayou Park is now used by a broad array of Houstonians and visitors. It is admired, indeed loved, by an appreciative and growing public. The tremendous response to the renovated park inspired Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the Houston non-profit leading the project, and catalyst funder the Kinder Foundation to produce From Rendering to Reality: The Story of Buffalo Bayou Park that showcases all the ideas and efforts that went into the realization of the renewed park.

The book reveals more than 100 years of civic vision for Buffalo Bayou. The pages also feature spectacular photographs of Buffalo Bayou Park, historical images, and maps, along with fascinating insights into the thoughtful design and engineering efforts behind the park’s success. From Rendering to Reality highlights the greenspace’s enriched native landscape and wildlife habitat, its wide range of trail improvements, the creative lunar cycle lighting scheme, the multi-faceted destinations and their architectural considerations, plus major public art installations.

Buffalo Bayou Park is truly a testament to the transformative role that greenspace can play in a twenty-first century city. Explore the park’s journey in From Rendering to Reality.