Does Your City Have Enough Parks?

[@JoshuaFagan]

As someone who went to Oslo last summer, it does not feel like a city with parks in it, but a lush forest that happens to contain some idyllic roads and buildings. Seriously, it feels like a city out of some eco futurist utopia.

[@juliusnepos6013]

Wow you are here

[@EricReno20]

Yup, Oslo is easily the most futuristic place I've ever been to

[@Crocophant572]

The reason that Oslo has so large green areas is because of city plans that stretch back more than a century. They planned for unbroken green areas going in towards the city centre as the spokes of a wheel, so everyone would have a park close to where they lived. In addition to that, the large forests north and east of the city was protected and no one was allowed to build there. Today, unfortunately development has eaten into the "spokes", but what's left of them can still be seen on a map if you know what you're looking for. The protection of the forests has been absolute, despite developers aching to build there. This also means that the city only can grow to the west and south into the neighboring municipalities, so the percentage of green areas won't be reduced much in the future. I lived for many years at the edge of the northern forest and it was great that there was a footpath straight into the forest just across the street. Two minutes and there was only the forest, the occasional moose and roe deer, no houses. I have moved away now, but I have heard that all those green areas were a huge plus during the pandemic.

[@robotinmyspace7656]

Overexaggeration. -Oslo resident

[@user-yy4ux9zf4r]

Keep in mind, its not a large city by any stretch of the imagination. They are an extremely oil rich nation thats largest city only has 600,000 people. Beautiful place though, you are right, you can hardly call it a city apart from a few areas.

[@salihakturk5348]

I live in Istanbul and can confirm that I hate how we have nearly no parks. The city itself isn't well-planned, well, it's not planned at all, as well. Slums everywhere and I'm sure they are major problems for park guys. We have some bigger parks like the Belgrade Forest, is it a park? Idk.

[@eysanpwri2740]

I dunno I think Belgrade is too far from the centre to be considered a park... Izmir seems to have plenty of parks in comparison to Istanbul, and Ankara too. What's the difference between these two cities and Istanbul??

[@salihakturk5348]

@@eysanpwri2740 Ankara'da climate doesn't allow many parks but the city is far less crowded and 'relatively' well planned. It being the capital city and Ataturk personally supervising some of the early projects also helped the city. Izmir even more European than Istanbul and it has more young people. But the city itself is as bad as Istanbul when it comes to planning. The peninsulas and basically shorelines of the city is better built with most of the parks being there. The main thing all three suffer from is that back then the cities weren't planned. The design of Constantinople is still visible on maps but again, slums. Ankara mainly suffers from harsh climate but it's the better of three. Izmir has better places than most, nearly all, Turkish cities but the city center where it truly matters, it lacks both the parks and the planning

[@ishaqmo7200]

Yeah Istanbul is frustrating not green

[@randombystander5324]

Feel you. Was in Istanbul for a few days last year and went on to explore the city by foot. Have never been to so many cafés just to rest my legs for a few minutes. Normally I would have done that on park benches. In addition, the parks I found were either too small, too far out, close to major streets or feeding grounds for feral dogs and cats. I might overemphasize the negatives a little, but you could really notice that nobody had an eye out for good parks. (I liked a lot of other things btw. not hating your city.)

[@deniz_dee]

@@eysanpwri2740 I guess you could call Belgrade Forest a regional park. There are some residential areas close by, but for the rest of the city, it's a minimum of 2 hours to get to, at least +1 more if coming from Anatolian side. Alternatively and if you have the money, you could just go to a neighboring town with a bit more time investment. I'd say the best park-parks in İstanbul are Gezi, Göztepe, Anatolian Marmara seaside and Emirgan. Which are probably all at least a bus ride for almost anyone. And the first two have had massive phases of being concrete-ified. I haven't lived in İstanbul for years, so I hope the situation is at least a little better now. Nobody needed that many stupid mini amphitheaters. I'm pretty sure the park guys have most issues with land allocation and plain ol' corruption. A friend of mine used to participate in some environmental planning projects and witnessed that local governments bought new benches without ever bothering to (re)place the old ones with their already rotting stock in the basement.

[@AaronSmith-sx4ez]

There are a lot of hidden benefits of parks: - Less concrete means less runoff pollution/flooding - Neighborhoods with nice local parks don't need huge yards/offsets for their kids to play in...instead they can share a neighborhood park which is more space efficient. - The larger parks have long areas without driveways or road crossings. This can make them fantastic for biking. It's so nice when biking not have to watch out for cross traffic. - Parks unlike buildings can be flooded without serious property damage, so area ideal for waterfronts. Public shoreline also is great for kayak access, swimming, tanning and other water activities - Some northern cities do a good job of using parks to promote winter activities (skiing/skating/)

[@jasonreed7522]

And a slightly less hidden benefit is as a location to host local festivals and similar events that really build a sense of community. Ideally this park is right on Mainstreet near other amenities like the library and restaurants. (And the mandatory icecream stand so you can get an ice cream and eat it in the park) Although the exact benefits of a park depend on its exact type. A series of public tennis courts will provide less runoff reduction than a manicured grass lawn style park for instance. A bike path may be great for recreation but its also likely to be long and narrow which isn't good for hosting events but can be a fantastic backbone to cycling infrastructure in the area. (Everyone would rather bike in a park than in a gutter)

[@petervarley3078]

" Neighborhoods with nice local parks don't need huge yards/offsets for their kids to play in...instead they can share a neighborhood park which is more space efficient." Additionally, children have the opportunity to socialize with other children in the neighborhood, rather than be isolated in their own back yard.

[@noob.168]

I remember a lot of students at my former university would use the botanical gardens to smoke weed. Very recreational.

[@hayden6700]

The largest park in my city is pretty much a massive bowl containing a lake which collects at the bottom of a long river. Whenever it snows a lot, the areas around the park drain off into the park and people use it to sled. Designed incredibly well in my opinion

[@loftyjones675]

@@hayden6700 what city & park is that?

[@rowaystarco]

Oslo does have quite a few green spaces within the city, but Oslomarka (the outskirt forests) make up the biggest parts of the city. Building in "marka" is banned. The cool thing is several subway lines take you directly to these great areas.

[@pattobyo]

Tokyo actually seems to have a lot more green than you would expect. Community gardens or random farming plots pop up all over the place, in addition to parks of various shapes and sizes. And although technically not parks, Temples and Shrines can serve as somewhat "natural spaces"

[@zakwanarif]

Tokyo Japan is interesting. While the city itself has low percent of garden, the entire country has one of highest forest or green coverage percentage in the developed world, placing it right behind Finland and Sweden. Japan is heavily mountainous area and being the 11th most populous country in the world, they sort of trade less green in the city with so much greenery everywhere else.

[@pattobyo]

@@zakwanarif totally agree!

[@MrTheWaterbear]

No, it really does not. Public “gardens” are very unpublic. Can’t be used for playing or for leisure. Pretty poor city planning.

[@melody5296]

@@MrTheWaterbear That same problem happens to Taipei, the city I live in; all the "public space" is not even public at all.

[@longiusaescius2537]

Huh

[@humanecities]

We compared my sister’s town of 10k to the neighbourhood of 17k we grew up in. Her town has 3 playgrounds. The neighbourhood we grew up in had 22. We also had many more parks and access to provincial parks. These public, recreational, gathering areas are a must in any city.

[@Swampzoid]

My hometown Savannah is a city famous for it's many small parks (we call them squares) but they are mostly for strolling through. We do have a few large recreational parks in the city.

[@thisisnotausernameXD]

Savannah is lovely ❤️

[@vijay-c]

I'm British, we still have a historic common"l in my city too with ancient rights (traced back to at least the 13th Century, but possibly to 500AD) to graze livestock. It's obviously used for all sorts of recreation these days from informal sports to music festivals and it's amazing. We also have a seperate sports centre away from the common for more organised sports with courts, fields etc. And lots of more modern parks in the city centre & around the city - having so much greenspace (one of the highest percentages in England), often in walkable distance, makes the city really distinct.

[@xander1052]

Same here, though that common is in the outskirts of London.

[@2untrue]

Newcastle?

[@Rachel59435]

Can't relate at all to this and I live in the UK too. You must live in a town or small city.

[@LawrenceSteps]

I live in SE London, Zone 3, and I have 5 sizeable parks within a 15m walk - it's one of the best things about the city and can't be found in many others in the country.

[@swausgebouwen143]

@@2untrue definitely Newcastle

[@alexdaland]

A big reason Oslo has so much open space is that Oslo city is quite big compared to how many people live there. So there is plenty of space. Also the political system makes the idea of removing a park extremely difficult to actually get done.

[@danielmcallahan]

So is Vienna. Just look at Kahlenberg and Lainzer Tiergarten

[@Codraroll]

There's also The Forest that surrounds the city. Protected forest areas comprise more than half of Oslo municipality, which is why it gets such a sky-high park rate. The geometric middle of the city boundaries is deep in the woods.

[@GormHornbori]

Well, it was no problem for the US embassy in Oslo to build their compound in a park...

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

Oslo city is 700k and Oslo greater metro is 1m. That's a rather small city when compared to those on the list. Seville has the same population as Oslo (in greater urban) but with only 1/4 of the area. Oslo is indeed very low population density.

[@peterp4037]

Your comment should be at the top. But you know people idealize nordic countries.

[@onaraisedbeach]

Edinburgh (Scotland) resident here, formerly a denizen of the suburban wastelands of the Greater Toronto Area. Edinburgh has about 49% of its space dedicated to parks: family play areas, meadows, forested paths, undeveloped hills, etc, many of which are easily accessible from rich and poor neighbourhoods alike. As someone who escaped suburbia, I can't emphasise enough how completely this transforms quality of life. Everything from fresh air and meeting other locals to exercise and just places to slow down and be mindful. Plus, Scotland has the 'right to roam', basically meaning so long as you leave no trace and don't cause damage, you can go (more or less) wherever you like - even off paths! It's incredible, but had to be fought hard for - now that it's a thing, I can't imagine living anywhere that doesn't have a) significant green spaces, and b) universal access rights. Going to visit family back in Canada now feels like being put in car prison. If you feature Edinburgh in this series, I'm a long-time local and historian who would love to show you why this city is amazing!

[@douglasgraham9549]

As someone who grew up in Edinburgh, I never fully appreciated the parks and meadows here until I found this photo album full of memories here of me climbing up Arthur’s seat, playing frisbee in leith links, outdoors fringe shows in the meadows, getting ice cream at Cramond beach, Christmas at the botanics… I didn’t realise how important the city’s green space has been for me.

[@matthewmosley960]

you should try Glasgow, I lived in Edinburgh for 5 years then moved over to the west. The thing that struck me was the quality of parks in Glasgow, especially the southside. Never expected it, would never go back. Queens park, Pollock and Linn especially

[@alifloydtv]

@@matthewmosley960 Ah, as an Edinbugger who lived 13 years in Glasgow, 6 of them Southside (d'ya know the big Chris T Died For Our Sins sign on VIcky Road? Outside my old flat) I always loved Queen's Park very dearly. What I adore about Edinburgh is the old railway lines now as paths - I can run for literally miles in the city and not see traffic, as they connect up lots of parks. Both such great cities - I could never choose a favourite.

[@matthewmosley960]

@@alifloydtv agreed about the old train lines, they make the North a joy to ride on a bike. Have mates that live down in Granton and love taking the paths to their flat

[@ALIHQG]

I actually noticed this clearly last time I went to Istanbul, after going everyday to the mall or street markets, or indoor activities, I wanted to have some fresh air in a park, just walking around or riding a bike, but I literally couldn't, there wasn't any, so I went to a tiny park nearby and called it a day.

[@furkan_1s]

Nerede bulamadın parkı ?

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

some aspects to take into account: some cities might cover a great area which reaches out far beyond the built up areas. Cities like Oslo or Bergen in Norway are perfect examples, as the municipalities reach so much further out of what you see from the city and where you'd draw a line of the city limits; Of course all that area will be rated positively in those statistics, even if people don't live in those areas where you have those forests. the other way around some cities might have lots of green around them, but it wouldn't count as it's outside the city limits - but it's there and people go there for recreation; Munich in Germany would be a good example

[@soundscape26]

That was my first thought as well... how city limits are defined heavily influence those percentages.

[@D2theJ26]

You being a Wisconsin native I was hoping you were gonna mention Milwaukee's park system. Eighty-nine percent of Milwaukee residents live within a 10-minute walk to a park (well above the national average of 70%) and its park system is often ranked in the top 20 park systems in the country.

[@sebastianjoseph2828]

I'm so glad you highlighted DC because I love the parks there. I'll take the train in from central Maryland sometimes just to bike through Rock Creek Park. A lot of parks like Rock Creek, Archibald Glover, Fort Circle, and Kenilworth are great because they're just preserved forest with trails through. But there are also the Aquatic Gardens, Arboretum, and Canalpath for sightseeing whilst in nature. And there are many local city parks. And of course, the Mall is great for sports and picnics.

[@Felix-nz7lq]

Oslo’s approach is more to do away with parks and just let the forest seap into the city. If you’ve ever seen it from above in Summer it looks more like a forest with buildings dotted about than a city with trees. It also just has huge stretches of wilderness you can just take the metro or tram to.

[@RicoBanani]

my hometown Osijek Croatia is known as the greenest city in Croatia and has been known as the greenest city in Yugoslavia as well. The city developers decades ago decided to develop parks and currently we have 17 with a total area of 394 000m2 in a city with less than 100 000 people. In addition its known as a cyclists city and has been so even before all the bike lanes were built in the last 25 years

[@trainsandmore2319]

When I was in Osaka Castle Park, its large size meant that I didn’t feel like I was in Osaka anymore, unless you look at the surrounding skyline. I’ve entered a haven of parkland, of historical ruins and buildings.

[@driss3946]

I live in Bogotá and you said it yourself. The amount of green space depends a lot on the city's delimitation. While I do think that the city still needs a lot more of green spaces (specially in poor neighborhoods, southwest and northwest of the city), we literally developed the city around a mountain chain, so you're always looking at these vibrant green mountains, and they're pretty near from you if you ever want to hike. We also have a incredibly big park in the geographical center of the city paired with the campus of the state university. When you're there it feels like if you were in the far suburbs almost in the countryside, while being literally in the center of the city.

[@juanpablocorreiaecheverria2857]

Yes. Brasília is basically a giant park with small residential buildings sprawled around it.

[@ChasmChaos]

Are you referring to the superquadra? How green are the suburbs around Brasilia where almost everyone actually live?

[@arwon2227]

Canberra is essentially the same, unsurprisingly

[@atrevolutionwiththomaspain68]

I live in Taguatinga, and there's a fair bit of green, but nothing like Plano Piloto

[@MorganHJackson]

The discussion about city definitions is interesting, especially as you mentioned Sydney and Melbourne. You can see on the map that those places both have pretty similar park coverage, and big inner city parks. Sydney is surrounded by national parks, but Melbourne isn't.

[@hogfather22]

It seems that anything that could have been a public park in Melbourne has been turned into a golf course instead, with a few other sports fields thrown in there for variety.

[@stephaniec8575]

I was confused when he compres Los Angeles and San Francisco, yes there’s Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County which LA is in, but SF is also a city and county. So when he said they only count the city limits, well they are also counting the county limits. It’s a city and county!

[@shaunmckenzie5509]

Yes. It's the way they're counting it and the different definitions of what counts as part of the metro area. Melbourne has MORE parks than Sydney in the areas where people actually live. I've lived in both. No way in hell does Sydney have 4x as much.

[@Takodate]

@@shaunmckenzie5509 Victoria called itself the Garden State!

[@FrostyButter]

Parks aren't just for recreation. Green space cools surrounding neighborhoods, helps with stormwater management, and provides wildlife habitat.

[@Aiden-V2.0]

Very true and all of these were mentioned in the video :)

[@christophehorguelin7044]

Parks are important, but so is canopy. Montreal is near the bottom of your list (12%) but in central neighbourhoods life is quite pleasant due to the abundance of mature trees.

[@utkuylmaz6593]

The problem with İstanbul is the fact that it is a 2000 year old city that was basically never properly planned. And when you have that old and big city you just cant go back and plan some parks. But yeah there definitely needs to be more effort spent to making more parks in the city.

[@ligametis]

2000 year old argument is not very useful. Till 1900s city was small enough that it didn't matter much. Everything was ruined in the last century.

[@jurjenvanderlaan8690]

For many centuries Istanbul was a group of small villages around the Bosphorus surrounded by forests. So the problem is not its age, but a lack of planning in the last century that could have prevented the disappearance of the forests.

[@FilmingFish]

A bit late, but 95+% of Istanbul today was built in modern times. Very little infrastructure survives from the Byzantine era. Also many other European cities are as old yet do not have the same problem. It’s entirely due to planning starting in the 20th century.

[@johnnguyen6159]

My city has too much vacant land and too many parks. It seems like every time we have a proposal for the waterfront it comes in a form a park which is good but would like to see either some more density to increase walkability, aquarium, retail, or other open to the public development. Plus it is something that can be used during the winters when it can be too cold to be outside.

[@grahamrothphotography]

Edmonton Alberta has a massive 18,000 acre river valley, north americas largest urban park, it’s amazing, feels like you’re out of the city when in it.

[@ChasmChaos]

Can you get to it from the city without a car?

[@hussam1981]

@@ChasmChaos its right in the middle of the city so its fairly accessible. Pretty much every bus connecting the south side of the city to downtown stops along it, a bus goes there every 10 mins from my house.

[@grahamrothphotography]

@@ChasmChaos downtown and the university is a short walk from it also some light rail stops too near it

[@ChasmChaos]

@@grahamrothphotography awesome!

[@ChasmChaos]

@@hussam1981 very cool

[@amvin234]

As an Angeleno, LA definitely needs to improve on park density. LA has some great large parks, (e.g. Griffiths Park as well as various county and state parks in local mountains), but they aren't as accessible or tend to be on the fringes of the city. They serve their purpose, and Griffiths is still a great urban park with lots of amenities and is near to a lot of urban sites, but it's a bit mountainous which makes public transit access difficult. Meanwhile LA is generally not great at serving residents with your small-to-medium sized neighborhood park down the street.

[@fatviscount6562]

Too bad most Angelenos just *think* the public transit is impossible without checking. Griffiths Park has bus services that are free or extremely cheap, but on weekends people rather wait 2 hours in hot cars for parking next to the observatory. One can even ride buses to trail heads that lead to the top of the Hollywood Sign. Griffiths should just ban weekend parking, and run frequent shuttles from multiple subway stops. Culver City has a state park served by several bus lines, but again, Angelenos don't think of buses as transit. LA County does an abysmal job of selling transit to residents who rarely use it.

[@amvin234]

@FAT Viscount投成人 I didn't say no transit exists to Griffiths, I said it was difficult, and it is. I'm very aware of what public transit exists in LA and have used busses regularly for commuting within the city.

[@carbrained]

@@amvin234 what's so difficult about a 15-minute bus ride from the subway station? Seriously, most locals don't realize how accessible that park already is. But I agree, generally transit in LA is poorly designed and maintained, even the new stuff

[@LouAllenWheeler]

People don't realize how much parks matter to good urbanism. Also, thanks for mentioning disc golf, we love our disc golf courses in city parks!

[@anubizz3]

Urbanist only care for its protected bike lane. Of course this includes protected bike lane inside the park...

[@thegrantkennedy]

I live in Tokyo and there are a ton of small neighborhood parks where kids play and the elderly socialize. There aren't a lot in the downtown business areas but you still get Yoyogi, Shinjukugyoen, Ueno, and many others that are frequented daily. Many shinto shrines also provide quiet areas for respite from the city. Tokyo becomes even more green as you move outside of the 23 wards into the bed towns and surrounding suburbs. Chofu, Machida, Tama, and more all have lots of parks and green space. Trying to compare green space between Tokyo and Oslo is pretty amusing tho. That's comparing apples to oranges. Yeah they are capitol cities but the Tokyo Metropolitan area has more people than Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark combined.

[@Quietloud]

I'm surprised Montréal is so low on the list, with Mount Royal, Lafontaine, Laurier and Maisonneuve parks being sizeable, along with all the tiny, charming "parkettes" we have.

[@shaunmckenzie5509]

The same with Melbourne They're not comparing like for like.

[@Limemill]

Also Jarry, Cap-St-Jacques, les Iles-de-la-Visitation... They're all huge

[@abdullahrizwan592]

I also expected Toronto to be higher on the list.

[@Canleaf08]

Jardin Boutanique near the Parc Olympique in HoMa.

[@Limemill]

@@Canleaf08 For Christ's sake, every time someone says "HoMa", it makes me think of SoDoSoPa from South Park. :) Given that it still has plenty of little corners packed with hookers, crackheads and whatnot, the similarity between the two is uncanny

[@robin_gamr6479]

Love the video! Whenever I go on vacation in a big city I always spend half my time in parks, Vienna was beautiful! However I also believe it’s important to consider how the park looks, when I was in Berlin, some “parks” were monoculture grass fields, which leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the positives of having parks in a city

[@LarryNgetich]

I live in Nairobi, Kenya, and we have too much park. Some of it you can't walk in because of lions and buffalos (I live in Ongata Rongai, right next to the Nairobi National Park) and nighttime is when they come out to play at our doorsteps. We do have a bunch of nice ones, like Uhuru Park, Michuki Park, and some trails in Karura Forest and Oloolua Forest.

[@Omer1996E.C]

We have low population density in Africa, that's one of the reasons we have a lot of parks. We don't need a lot of parks, but quality ones.

[@Cyrus992]

Parks can be good buffer/transition zone away from industry, freeway interchanges, and other less attractive areas. The issue is that they cannot be as common in dry areas like here in Las Vegas. The harsh truth is that many parks here are actually common HOA area since city and counties (we hardly have compact cities) do not want to pay for them.

[@jeremycurle6880]

parks can be best as plentiful in cities as dry as las vegas as in wetter places, the key is making them work with the environment. where a place like seattle might have a grassy park with lots of trees, a place like vegas can have a desert park with junipers or other desert plants.

[@skysthelimitvideos]

Planet desert plants instead of grass. Less maintenance and better as habitat

[@Cyrus992]

@@skysthelimitvideos I agree but will the masses want that?

[@jeremycurle6880]

@@Cyrus992 a park full of desert plants is better than no park at all, i think anyone would agree

[@MustraOrdo]

@@Cyrus992 The masses will comply with the right execution of education and awareness.

[@SincerelyFromStephen]

Pittsburgh has some pretty decent parks. Frick and Schenley Parks are in the middle of the city but make you feel like you’re out in the woods when you’re on the trails. Allegheny Cemetery doubles as a really nice large park with shaded paths to walk through on hot summer days.

[@heymikey1981]

I would think London, not New York, set the precedent for large parks in the cities. Hyde Park, Hampstead Heath, Greenwich park, Richmond Park, etc were already in existence before NYC existed. In addition to this, there are so many garden squares throughout the city.

[@ashyclaret]

I think London set the standard for parks.

[@MellonVegan]

I live in Münster (would be the safest city in Germany if bicycle theft didn't exist and is considered, sometimes, the most liveable city in Germany) and unless the numbers I found were wrong, we have 75% of our land area be forests, parks, playgrounds, the lake and other such recreational areas. Another site had it listed at no. 12 in Germany with 81% green areas. Ngl, I absolutely love it here and wouldn't leave again for anything in the world.

[@tickrob991]

Münster is beautiful and is almost as big (area) as Munich and has 300,000 inhabitants while Munich has 1,600,000. But even though Munich is known for its huge parks and green areas like the English Garden, the Olympiapark, the Maximiliansanlagen, the Hofgarten, Westpark, Ostpark, etc. And we also have good cycle paths all around the city (with a rising trend) but still not as good as Münster. As far as I know Munich is also one of the most liveable and safe cities in Germany and Europe. And the population is very good distributed throughout the whole city area (with lots of green spaces between) which is a bit different than Vienna that has more or less the same city area of Cologne but is very central. So the outskirts of Vienna are mostly green while the central area is insane densely inhabited, that's also why Munich feels a lot more like a smaller city like Ulm or Hannover while Vienna is more like Barcelona. At the same time you see that Munich is the most densely city in Germany and also more than Vienna. But the thing is also that the city is situated in Upper Bavaria close to the Alps and to beautiful lakes and its surroundings are very green (unlike in Cologne or Düsseldorf for instance).

[@luluandmeow]

In London it's wonderful to go to some parks (e.g. Waterlow Park in Highgate) and read the plaque that says that this land was donated by some philanthropist for the benefit of the community; The very wealthy people in the world should do this, leave a wonderful legacy that everyone can enjoy instead of spending millions on trip into space, etc.

[@nordriket]

I live in Oslo and the city doesnt have that many parks. But they count the surrounding forest as a part of Oslo. The forest is wild taiga and doesnt look like parks at all.

[@arthurmezacasa1021]

I live in Porto Alegre, a 1.4 million inhabitants city in southern Brazil. It was once the state capital in Brazil with me most green space per inhabitant, but has since lost that title. I dare to say we used to have one of the best - if not THE best - park system among brazilian cities. There aren't many public spaces called parks, but there are many small public squares full of greenery distributed along the older neighborhoods, offering spaces for exercising, having an ice-cream or just sitting and watching the birds. There are also many streets and avenues lined with trees, like true green tunnels. Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho was once considered to be "the most beautiful street in the world" by a portuguese biologist. However, as with most brazilian cities, the plans weren't able to cope with the rapid growth of the population, and areas developed more recently (especially slums, which are developed with no planning at all) ended up having almost no green spaces. And the situation gets worse because some newer developments being made in the city waterfront and parks are not very "democratic": some portions of their greenery are being taken down to house fancy outdoor food courts or concert venues which offer expensive services for a mainly white population that has the means to afford them.

[@Limemill]

I'd say that Curitiba is at least as good when it comes to parks, no?

[@tomj.l7988]

Melbourne and Sydney actually have similar amounts of park, it's just Melbourne's are immediately outside of the city boundary.

[@shindousan]

0:38 Walking around, Tokyo seems to be much greener than Rome, and Buenos Aires much greener than New York City. There is something odd about this metric. It probably does not take into account the average distance to a park or a garden, so having a distant large park or reserve on the outskirts of the city bumps up the value.

[@jaxvoice718]

The city of Oslo is itself pretty green, but most of the "park" of Oslo is a large protected forest around the city, How large? So large that the geographical centre of Oslo is inside that forest. And so large that a scout troop once took a trip into it, and got lost for two days. Now, that's a proper park.

[@chrisseidl8294]

In Chicago- open space is different than parks. There is a good amount of forest preserve that is considered open space, but not considered part of the parks.

[@ramochai]

Wouldn't Lincoln Park be the crown jewel of parks if it hadn't been ruined by Lake Shore Drive??

[@jakecasey4860]

I’m from Fairfax County, Virginia in the metropolitan area of Washington D.C. As you mentioned, D.C. contains many good parks. I used to work at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, which started as the private lily garden of a civil war veteran from Maine Walter B. Shaw. It grew naturally, and his daughter Helen took control eventually. At one point, because of excess silt, the Anacostia (the river that fed the lily gardens) was in danger of being dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers, but Helen lobbied Congress to save the garden, which is exactly what occurred. Eventually the government purchased the gardens from Helen and converted them into the park as which we know it nowadays.

[@freeman10000]

I am fortunate to live in Perth, Western Australia. Our city is full of different types of parks and green spaces. Perth is also home to one of the world's largest inner city parks, Kings park.

[@vedhanthrathod6576]

Bro I want to live in Perth

[@anubizz3]

​@@vedhanthrathod6576 Well wait until you go there bhahhahaha

[@debuthunter5389]

Perth is very good for parks. Growing up there I was used to having so many local parks in every suburb, plus public access footy fields, soccer fields etc. The places I have lived after have fallen a little short in that department.

[@MotherDanu]

Glasgow (Scotland) has over 90 parks and green space at the moment and is planning to make the city centre more green and pedestrian friendly.

[@uvbe]

8:50 Never have I seen a real scenario look so much like a greenscreen before

[@Zestrayswede]

Holy shit you're right. The fact that those trees are *perfectly* still really makes it look like he's standing in front of a photo

[@megalonoobiacinc4863]

noway that's real, something is really off with that background

[@jasonreed7522]

@@megalonoobiacinc4863 except if you look at his feet its super obvious that he is standing on that ground/slope and some grass is infront of him. Somehow this manages to be both more and less fake feeling than a green screen.

[@ThorRuneHansen]

That number for Oslo includes the forests alrund the city that are within the municipality of Oslo. That's probably not fair. I found a post from Oslo municipality that puts park at 27% of built up area, and 47% of built up area is covered by trees. Still good numbers but very different from 68%

[@DominikPlaylists]

I live in Singapore. The 50% marked as parks Is a joke. This 50% is mostly government and military land which is not legally accessible to the public. Then if you take away all the "parks" which are just nature preserves without any trails or easy access, we are left with at most 5-10%. The 68% from Oslo is also a vast overestimate. There are nice parks but they like to count a house with a tree in front a part of a park. Check google maps.

[@luluandmeow]

In London you're never too far from a park so I was surprised it didn't rate higher on your list. I am lucky to have 2 fairly large parks on my doorstep, one is a shortcut to the underground station and the shops so I use it every day and no longer take the bus into the centre of my area. Unfortunately more and more frequently Councils (i.e. London local government) hire out parks as music/event/fairground sites which then close the park to residents for one or more days. This results in a lot of noise from usually rubbish music, upsets the wildlife and leaves a trail of rubbish and destruction (damaged grass, etc.). But I grew up in Italy in large towns without a single park, where we had to go to the cemetery to see some greenery and it wasn't always near or safe, so London is fantastic by comparison. I live in NE London and there is also Epping Forest within a mile of where I live, wetlands, marshes, etc. We are very lucky.

[@liamhodgson]

Not a major city but have to give a shout out to Pittsburgh for having tons of green space. A lot of it is very steep so we get great views, but sometimes so steep that it’s not really usable without being very careful

[@ivanehreshi9568]

Remeber when I was visiting Istanbul for the first time, I opened Google Maps to find some park to get some rest from the crowd. To my surprise there were very little of them. I thought to myself there can't be no parks. Then it turned out that even the small green areas are not proper parks. Istanbul is an authentic city , but it really lacka those green spaces

[@CaravelClerihew]

I wonder how a city is defined in the percentages from 0:45. I got curious and looked up Melbourne's greenspace percentage before looking at the video, which apparently is about 19%, but the chart says it's closer to 9%? That's a big difference.

[@thedemongodvlogs7671]

I was shocked at how low it was. Anyone who has lived in Melbourne can attest that there are so many parks/greenspaces. Perhaps they only counted the CBD??

[@peepeetrain8755]

Melbourne's city limits can change. Some stats include suburbs like Frankston and Dandenong or even the mornington peninsular while some data regards certain suburbs as separate.

[@bunnycollins9509]

Central Park is nice, but Forest Park is where it's at. Biggest park inside of a city in the U.S., and lots of free stuff to do, like one of the best zoos in the U.S.! It's amazing we have this in St. Louis~

[@DutchLabrat]

About Amsterdam's 13%: This is one of those examples where many cities in Holland(...) should not be considered separately but as a part of Randstad. And since Randstad is mostly a curved urban region around an agricultural region (Groene Hart = Green Heart) open green space is actually never that far away. Since it is a dense conurbation when in the Randstad parks and green space in other municipalities are often nearby. Amsterdam may not have that many parks by some reckoning it is also small and circular, you can ride your bike (....) leisurely to surrounding rural areas.

[@lesliengo8347]

There are different kinds of parks worth mentioning like street parks, waterfronts, forest only parks, etc. Stanley Park in Vancouver is a major and famous urban park containing a variety of amenities. This includes the seawall for pedestrians and cyclists, restaurants, lakes, walking trails, beaches, flower garden, viewpoints, playgrounds, aquarium, and more. It is also right next to downtown Vancouver, making it very accessible

[@xnoideawhatimdoinx]

Since i'm from Vienna, i would say yes, plenty of parks here.

[@lizcademy4809]

My normal commute walk (2 miles) runs through three parks: a sculpture garden, an Olmstead-style large city park, and pedestrian greenway park. It hardly feels like a commute at all.

[@andypierce6593]

DC- you showed Rock Creek, which is awesome. I would also point out Anacostia Park is also a gem. It’s one of my favorite bike rides ride now and also extremely accessible to low income residents.

[@k.umquat8604]

City planning is almost non existent here in Turkey. Most roads are patchy and many buildings are either empty or unfinished.

[@pappaslivery]

I bought my house because it's adjacent to a huge wooded park. I use it mostly for dog walks and mountain bike riding, but there's a popular disc golf course, a playground, a bird sanctuary, and a small rental facility for functions.

[@Ozvideo1959]

The Melbourne statistic of less than 10% parks doesn't seem right to me. I live in Melbourne and we have the Royal Botanic Gardens, Treasury Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens, Carlton Gardens, Alexandra Gardens, Birrarung Marr, Docklands Park and many others. Seems to me any green space that is free to enter should be included, not just areas that are called "park"

[@Ozvideo1959]

And further to that point, here is a link to a Wikipedia page about Melbourne's parks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parks_and_gardens_of_Melbourne So I didn't even bother to watch this video because it's inaccurate right off the bat.

[@Zveebo]

I live in Edinburgh and we’re very fortunate to have massive amounts of parks and other green space in the city, including the huge spectacular wilderness landscape of Holyrood Park right beside our city centre and the green axis of Princes Street Gardens between our two most important streets. I think variety and distribution of parks is often just as important as overall size though - it’s not much good having one huge park if other parts of the city are left without east access to green stuff spaces, and a monoculture of park types inevitably means only certain parts of population benefit. Some of the best parks are relatively small and hidden ones which serve a local need.

[@davidandresicu96]

Knowing other cities, I think that there is a Trap in the Bogota's data, we have 5.134 parks in the city, I don't know if it is because Simon Bolivar Park ( the biggest) and others like El tunal Park are closed every nights for security reasons, but it is more than 10% of the urban area.

[@mutiny4155]

I'm reading The Death And Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and I'm on the chapter where she talks about why some city parks go underutilized and become areas for vice and crime. It's very interesting stuff

[@AnymMusic]

I'm surprised Amsterdam has 13% parks. Although with the amount of trees everywhere, I do think that makes the number less rough

[@ligametis]

Amsterdam is just streets and buildings. Wouldn't surprise if most of those parks are in 1970s areas in suburbs.

[@ten_tego_teges]

That table is misleading. I live in Warsaw and very recently visited Vienna. I assure you that Warsaw is far greener than Vienna, there are plenty of trees along streets and you usually live at most 400m away from a sizeable square or park. If you don't believe check out satellite photos and street view from Google maps. Compare where you have more trees.

[@AnymMusic]

@@ligametis well yeah it's obviously not a super ultra green paradise, but I mean more like I feel like in cities like Amsterdam dedicated parks are less needed overall because there's more greenery throughout the entire city compared to a city like New York where it's 99% concrete outside of Central Park

[@jurjenvanderlaan8690]

I think how a city feels also depends on street width and building heighth

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Interesting, despite having a ton of more typical parks near by, when I hear the word park I tend to think of something like forest park here in Portland. I have never seen a pickle ball court in a park. I also live inner city and never have lived in a suburb so that checks out.

[@TheElectricGhost]

Living in NYC, it's so weird when I leave the city and go to a park in another state and don't see some type of basketball or handball court. It's so common here that I thought it was common everywhere

[@ChasmChaos]

Which borough? I've only been to Manhattan and I've not seen a park with a baseball pitch.

[@TheElectricGhost]

@@ChasmChaos Every borough has lots of parks with baseball fields including Manhattan. For Manhattan it's dotted throughout Lower Manhattan, several are in Central Park, and multiple can be found in several parks north of Central Park as well.

[@luizalvesRJ]

Brazilian main cities: - In Rio de Janeiro, the Aterro do Flamengo has two serious unsolved problems since the 90's: urban violence and drug abuse. - In Brasília, the City Park actually is not that far from the building blocks, however the surroundings areas are not pedestrian/cyclist friendly, which means that you will likely arrive by car and park it in one of the 12 parking lots. - In São Paulo, the Ibirapuera Park is a 1/3 version of NY Central Park, but has two issues: as São Paulo is a giant urban tissue with few leisure options, the Ibirapuera Park remains one of the main green areas of the city, which means that it is quietly crowded; another problem is the access, a similar issue of Brasília City Park, however with a far metro station and less parking lots.

[@AlRoderick]

It's shocking to me that Tokyo, the true holotype of a megacity, has such a good amount of open space but at the same time I can hardly imagine how it could possibly be workable otherwise. Without a lot of green space and a lot of electrified trains for transportation it'd be too polluted to function with that many people in it.

[@ligametis]

Did you watch the video? Tokyo is at the bottom of the list with green, open spaces.

[@crebeccastewart3910]

I lived in Portland, Oregon, for 10 years, and I used both them and recreational facilities regularly. ❤

[@averyshaw2142]

Pretty simple solution, transform exclusive golf courses for the wealthy into public spaces

[@pedrogarcezpilati4362]

Just have a look at Curitiba, in Brazil. It's really a good example of land use in term of parks and green areas. Has a massive green area per capita, I could say that one of the biggest rates around. And the parks, beside the use for citizens, has other functions, like prevent flooding. A few of them build in sequential way, working like a line of dams. Also look for the transport system and city planning. A good example to show in one of yours next videos.

[@al_caponeh6185]

I'm from Lima one of the cities with least greenspaces and public parks(and those that are present are not open... I'm looking at you parque de la exposición).Despite this, I was lucky enough to live next to a park(is less than a block away), actually three parks in my neighbourhood in eastern Lima, which is unheard of. On top of that the mountain next to me acts also as a conservation park and I visit it when I can on winter. Now contrast that with the sprawling slums and you see massive inequality problem when it comes to public spaces.

[@juanandrestorres3702]

Here in La Plata, Argentina we've got a park/square every 350m approximately. We also have a forest. It's a planned city by the way, founded in 1881.

[@gadaboutwalks]

London may not have the highest proportion of open space but a great deal of it is located centrally, in Green Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park, and St James's Park. These are all former royal hunting grounds and each has their own personality which adds a richness to the urban environment. BTW - you can still find cows grazing on the common lands in central Cambridge (UK).

[@Dani2kGaming_GEIR]

the term-,,park'' was created by iranian people and is used by many other countries,we have many of them too and its cool relaxing place

[@hhbased]

I feel like Hamburg, as the biggest non capital city of europe, has by far the most and biggest parks. Its safe to say that Hamburg has the biggest cemetery park of the world ("ohlsdorfer friedhof")

[@curiousoli]

I live in Montreal and I love our parks, whether it be our big parks (Mont-Royal, Lafontaine, Jarry, etc.) or our network of smaller local parks

[@TrickiVicBB71]

I wonder how much green space percentage Edmonton has now. We ha e the river valley and every suburb has a pond and walk paths. They are trying to turn an underused parking lot on 106/105st &102ave into a park (warehouse park) But people are pissed and say it will be a homeless camp, that it is a waste of taxpayer money and should be used to fix potholes and build more homeless centers.

[@Henrik46]

The Oslo figure is highly misleading. Yes, parks and forests make up 68 % of the _municipality_. But the vast majority of this is simply green areas to the north and east of the actual built up areas. You would need to travel about 30 minutes by public transit from downtown to get to a popular lake area in the north.

[@luord2940]

I live in Lima. The city is placed in a desert, wich means parks are a luxury that only people with money can have sadly. Slums in Lima are often placed in sand hills with no trees in kilometers cuz of that reason. The city has around 1/3 of the population and 1/2 of the gdp.

[@ohtuulijes]

Great video and thanks for also using the metric system, I appreciate the extra effort! I am currently living in Vienna and while I do enjoy the amount of parks they have here, I miss trees on the streets. I see that the city is actively planting more trees along the streets, but there are still so many streets that lack trees and especially in the summer months the streets get burning hot from lack of shadow provided by the trees. So, in my opinion, even though the high percentage of parks is important, it is also very necessary to have trees outside of parks and on the streets where people have to walk to get to work. I guess the ultimate goal for a great city is to have trees everywhere!

[@ArchOfWinter]

I think cities in East Asia seems to be more okay with less park is because there are a lot more communal public spaces. While large green spaces is lacking, there are still a lot street side greenery and private space greenery. There are also lots of rooftop amenities for outdoor activities. While not parks, Japan tends to have urban temples and shrines that are a lot more green. I grew up in Hong Kong, while it is a concrete jungle with heat island effects, there are many public parks and private own public parks and public spaces. While the number isn't high and most parks are very much a 'museum' where you can't touch anything, there are still much more easily accessible park space in walking distance than many major cities in the US. Sure US cities have are larger area of parks, but they are larger and harder to get to. Many places in Hong Kong while not considered parks, serves as park with tiny greenspace such as public plaza-like sitting area between residential buildings, roof top amenities, and private gardens on top of shopping mall blocks under residential condos. There are enough space even in poorer area with old people for them to get their morning calisthenics workout compared to what's available for similar age and income demographic in the US with more park area.

[@ronaldlee2139]

Hongkong actually has quite a lot of park, it has more than 40% open space.

[@ArchOfWinter]

@@ronaldlee2139 It does, but most of that percentage are in the countryside and require a bus ride to get to. Still, excluding those large natural parks, there are many small public spaces with manicured flower beds in walking distance for most people.

[@ardasari7692]

For the case of Istanbul a good solution can be moving the cemeteries to outskirts and turning current cemeteries into parks as there are many including central areas and some are pretty large. But also you definitely need many more smaller green areas, which can be sort of difficult as city is very packed.

[@yossarian6743]

Great video. Another thing that is difficult to do, but can be really beneficial, is connecting as much of the parks/green space as possible. The Chicago boulevard system is a decent example, but when parks are connected though walking/biking trails they can be really special.

[@stevelopez372]

So True in SoCal. The Inland Empire which consisted of a number of cities 50 miles east of LA. A defunct rail line was improved and turned into a walking and biking path with lights and green belt. It’s called Rails to Trails. My wife and I can ride through 5 to 6 cities with beautiful stops on the way. Parks and eateries. A great day or half day of enjoying the out doors.

[@tyffen123]

As a Norwegian, I always find it weird when people praise Oslo. We aren't such huge fans of it Guess you guys haven't heard of Trondheim

[@Jay-ho9io]

As a Norwegian it's hard for you to praise s lot of things about your country everyone else loves. (I'll take Tromsø,pls)

[@killernat1234]

I’m some British parks we have plenty of parks but a lot of them go underfunded, fountains become unused with pants growing in them, trees don’t get the care they need and get cut down, cleaning is to be desired etc

[@jamesallardyce2204]

As to where to put a park or green space, a video I watched said a great spot to put a park or green space is in a location where it takes more than a 15 walk to a major transit station. This way the majority of people have less than a 15 minute walk to transit AND a park from their home.

[@gabrielmassicotte-rochon6920]

I live now in a city that has more than 60% of Parks but to access them you need a car. (Huge parks with hiking trails and all) and in the neighborhoods there are very few parks that are far apart. When I lived in Montreal which has 13% of Parks, I was always in one or near one. The big ones were accessible with public transport. So this metric is not perfect... The city I live now is very car centric so it feels that even if there is nature, It's not an accessible nature, only for cross country skiers with a Subaru. The main metric should be accessibility, because even if the park is small and not amazing, if it's accessible, you'll go.

[@simonpusateri3527]

I live near downtown Columbus OH, and while it’s certainly not an urbanist paradise things are improving. One of the big things has to be the parks, including greenways along the rivers downtown that until just over a decade ago was an expressway

[@ngeteengetee7589]

i live in regina saskatchewan, and i have access to a major bike path that has a decent amount of park space along it, two elementary school playgrounds, and a handful of lil playgrounds, all within about a 10 min walk, add on another like two or three school playgrounds, within a 15 min walk, we also have a large main city park that is connected to the bike path that goes by my house that has a large park that goes around a man made lake in the middle of the city, quite literally a few km from downtown where your able to kayak and whatnot too! i love the parks lol

[@hasan6ok]

never in a million I would've thought of gezi protests to be covered in this channel :') great video

[@felixanderson3226]

Istanbul has recently shared a vision for 2050 and it talks greatly on how they will aim to overcome this very issue! You should look into it!

[@bearcubdaycare]

Some cities require developers to set aside parkland. Park area can be important for pleasant walkability and biking, by allowing pathways away from busy roads.

[@marsgal42]

As a former Vancouver resident I know Stanley Park well. A delightful piece of nature in the city, though sometimes a little too popular for its own good. Most of the other parks in the city are green spaces with playing fields, not much in the way of trees and critters.

[@danielortiz2375]

Large parks and large open spaces can serve as barriers to human activity curtailing city vitality. Some large parks almost act like large parking lots with low use or limited to certain hours of the day.

[@OnilMarteNavarroza]

Philippine cities especially Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are on top of the list of cities with very few parks.

[@trainsandmore2319]

Thankfully Metro Manila has more proper parks than Cebu City. Cebu City is pretty lackluster in terms of proper parks and green space. There's only one proper park as of now, Plaza Independencia in Downtown next to Fort San Pedro (tourist zone) but it is too small. They are currently rebuilding Freedom Park (a part of the Carbon public market). You will also be disappointed by the Fuente Osmeña Circle, it is too noisy because of its small size and the fact that it also sits smack down in the middle of a busy roundabout. There's also a small park next to the provincial capitol, but it sits next to the main road and a parking lot. The D'Family Park in Talamban can only be accessed by car, a bummer. So many parks are so hard to access because we are also car-centric like Manila. Most of the green space is dedicated to empty lots, the Cebu Country Club golf course in Kasambagan, cemeteries, SRP, etc. Park culture here is basically nonexistent because everyone just flocks to the shopping malls, where the green space on the outside always feels fake.

[@krissdev6301]

My city Moscow has around 50% park zones, as i know it’s on of the greenest cities and the top city in the world by the parks in walking time from each person(it’s means all people have at least one park in 10-15min walking from their home)☺️ personally me can confirm that as in any district I lived - I had at least one park in walking area😊

[@MrEricSir]

One thing about small parks/public spaces that rarely seems to be mentioned is how they can make an area more walkable. Even a small one block park can provide a diagonal path that cuts down on walking time, but can also make it a more pleasant walk overall.

[@josephcarland]

Another thing with parks is drainage. A lot of Park in Dublin have rivers runnig through them and double up as flood plans. Cities such as Mexico & Jakata, which don't have much in terms as parks but have problem with flooding and ground water level.