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I agree. Philly and Boston should be on a top 10. Actually both could probably make the top 5. What about Griffith Park in LA. Do you think they make the top 10?
Los Angeles is tough because while it has some really great urban parks like Griffith Park, Elysian Park, Runyon Canyon Park, Franklin Canyon Park, Baldwin Hills, Temescal Canyon Park, Topanga State Park - they are sort of "rural" in nature and don't have the same feel as a "city park" ala Central Park / Golden Gate Park / Boston Common.
However Los Angeles does have some good city parks such as Grand Park in DTLA, Los Angeles State Historic Park in Chinatown, MacArthur Park in Westlake, Barnsdall Park in East Hollywood, Pan Pacific Park and Hancock Park in the Miracle Mile, South Park in Historic South Central, Exposition Park in South LA... It's not a great park city, but I think may be top 10.
If you are doing a list of top 10 cities for urban squares, I don't think Los Angeles would be in that list.
Houston has the highest total acreage of parks among large cities at 60,000 acres (not including wetlands).
It also had the second highest parks per 1000 residents at over 27 acres per 1000 residents.
Philadelphia's the epitome of a city with good urban squares. Rittenhouse, Fitler, Logan, Washington, Franklin, Marconi (south Philly), and not to mention Schuylkill River trail and Fairmount Park--the best park in the country.
Philly's several notches above the next best city whatever it may be.
Total acreage:
1. Houston +50,000
2. San Diego +47,000
3. Phoenix +43,000
4. NY +38,000
5. Albuquerque +35,000
6. Virginia Beach 33,000
7. New Orleans 29,000
8. Dallas 29,000
9. El Paso 29,000
10. San Antonio 27,000
Parks % land area:
1. SD
2. NY
3. DC
4. SF
5. Austin
6. BOSTON
7. Phoenix
8. HOUSTON
9. SJ
10. CINCY
PARKS PER CAPITA:
1. SD
2. HOUSTON
3. Austin
4. Portland
5. PHOENIX
6. Raleigh
7. Dallas
8. Omaha
9. San Antonio
10. CINCI
Philadelphia's the epitome of a city with good urban squares. Rittenhouse, Fitler, Logan, Washington, Franklin, Marconi (south Philly), and not to mention Schuylkill River trail and Fairmount Park--the best park in the country.
Philly's several notches above the next best city whatever it may be.
Lifeshadower, what about your location of LA? How are the parks in LA beyond Griffith?
Seattle has one of the most visited parks in the nation. Seattle Center home of the Space Needle, The E.M.P , The Childrens Museum, The Pacific Science Center, The Chihuly Garden And Glass Museum, The Seattle Repertory Theater, The Bagley Wright Theater, The Leo Kreielsheimer Theater, The Inteman Play House, The McHaw Hall home to the Seattle Opera andPacific Northwest Ballet, And the Monorail Connecting it to Westlake Center. They have Several festivals with attendance over 500,000 . The Center see's over 10 million people a year with its large open green areas and the International Fountain its realy like Seattle's Living Room. Its a 74 acre park right across the street from downtown.
In terms of urban squares, I love Rittenhouse Square (in Philly) every season:
(my pic)
Two other favorites are Boston Garden and Bryant Park (NYC).
The way Rittenhouse Square Park was talked up I thought it would be a large park. Wow its small only one and a half blocks wide and two blocks long. Seattle Center is over 50 square blocks of park and plaza The International Fountain area alone is larger than Rittenhouse Square. But as an urban park I woulg go with Chicago and NewYork they have far much larger urban parks than anyone else.
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