The Fellows of the Design Trust for Public Space partnered with NYC Department of Parks & Recreation to create the public space manual “High Performance Landscape Guidelines: 21st Century Parks for NYC”, a "comprehensive, municipal manual for the design and construction of sustainable parks and open space." Figuring other cities might want a gander, they can download it here (PDF, 7mb). Maybe Orlando can borrow some of the hundreds of best practices within the manual including:
1. Keeping rain water within parks for the use of plantings rather than sending it to sewers.
2. Increasing the resiliency of plantings by considering the soil, the effects of climate change, the plant type and future maintenance needs.
3. Designing to save labor, reduce operating expenses and decrease the frequency of capital replacement.