Sustaining the legacy of Baltimore's great urban parks--Druid Hill, Patterson, Carroll and Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park--gets harder each year as the city's Bureau of Parks faces ever-dwindling public funds. Galen Cranz, a professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, will examine the livelihood of urban parks in the Garrett Lecture on Urban Issues, to be held at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, at the Evergreen House Museum, 4545 N. Charles St.

In her talk, "A New Model for Urban Parks: The Importance of Ecological, Social and Cultural Opportunities," Cranz will explore the opportunities to cultivate urban parks that she believes today's policy-makers are missing, review the changing roles of urban parks in the 20th century and offer a new model for the parks of the 21st century. She will include her ideas about public art and its importance in the park environment in the future.

Cranz is the author of the influential book The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America. In 1985, she led the design team that won first place in the National Endowment for the Arts' Cityscape Design Competition for St. Paul, Minn. Cranz's current work focuses on environmental design, parks, open space and public art.

The annual Garrett Lecture on Urban Issues commemorates the interest of the Garrett family, the original owners of the historic Evergreen House, in recreation and urban planning issues. Admission is $8 for Evergreen House members and $10 for nonmembers. A reception will follow the lecture. To make reservations or for more information, call 410-516-0341.

The Garrett Lecture Series on Urban Issues is made possible in part through the support of The Abell Foundation.