The Library of American Landscape History has announced the release of The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System. Based on the book by Francis R. Kowsky, this short documentary explores the development of the nation's first park system, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1868.

Beginning in 1868, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux created a series of parks and parkways for Buffalo, New York, that drew national and international attention. The improvements carefully augmented the city's original plan with urban design features inspired by Second Empire Paris, including the first system of “parkways” to grace an American city. Displaying the plan at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Olmsted declared Buffalo “the best planned city, as to its streets, public places, and grounds, in the United States, if not in the world.”

Founded in 1992, Library of American Landscape History is the only nonprofit organization in the world devoted to publishing in the field of American landscape history. To find out more about this and other releases visit http://lalh.org/