Battle of the Urban Parks between Den/Phi/Bos/SF/DC/Clev/Cinci/ATL/Seattle/Twin Cit/Pitt/KC/STL? (state, Boston)
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Out of any city that I've ever been to, NYC definitely has the best urban parks. But, from the outside looking in I would say that the first place goes to Washington, D.C. It has 19% of it's land area devoted to green space. That is impressive to me. And how iconic and amazing is the National Mall? You also have the vast Rock Creek Park.
Was just in Balboa Park, San Diego-very lovely with some cool attractions but IMO doesn't quite compare to the heavy hitters-NYC, SF, Chicago, Philly, etc. The tour guide made note that it is larger than Central Park-but he didn't mention that Central Park is actually not the largest park in NYC.
In Philly, The Wissahickon is a true gem and I am lucky to live within walking distance. Also, Savannah truly is amazing with so many of the park squares.
so Central Park, GGP and Lincoln Park don't count?
I tried to include city propers that are fairly close in land area size other than KC which is really the same size as the others in developed land. That's why I didn't include Dallas, Houston, L.A., NYC, or Chicago.
Fairmont park in Philadelphia includes Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, The Rodin, The Zoo, The Please touch museum, boat house row, an outdoor ampitheater that host host summer concerts including the orchestra etc.
its a total of about 10,000 acres
It also hosted the Worlds Fair
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Originally Posted by STLgasm
True. Fairmount Park is silly awesome in every way. I stand corrected.
The actual Fairmount Park is one of the nation's first class parks. The actual Fairmount is over 4,000 acres. Fairmount was so popular and successful that Philadelphia calls its entire parks system Fairmount Park, thus figures of over 9,000 acres. Its kind of odd, I do not know if any other cities do that.
What Philadelphia does successfully is that many of its parks, not just Fairmount proper but also Pennypack, Wissahickon Valley, Tacony Creek and others, are deeply wooded parks along river and stream valleys running through Philadelphia. This not only protects the waters and serves as flood control areas, but also lets rural nature into the urban city. Exactly what Frederick Law Olmstead planned with his parks.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus
Strong words. I haven't yet been to Savannah and don't doubt its beautiful parks, but my guess is you haven't been to all of the parks in this country either, and there are so many that are so beautiful in their own unique way that it's hard to define a "best".
Yes, they are strong words indeed. While you are correct that I have not been every park (why should I have to?) in every city in this country, I think Savannah best exemplifies what the OP was referring to. For the record, I am not basing this subjectively over topics such as "beauty" or "ammenities" (neither of which Savannah's parks lack). Mostly, I don't want to turn this in to a pissing contest.
The Squares and Forsyth Park were not an after thought or conversion/conservation like you see in pretty much every city except Washington DC. Rather, the entire city was designed around them and it is the very fabric of the urban design of Savannah.
Out of any city that I've ever been to, NYC definitely has the best urban parks. But, from the outside looking in I would say that the first place goes to Washington, D.C. It has 19% of it's land area devoted to green space. That is impressive to me. And how iconic and amazing is the National Mall? You also have the vast Rock Creek Park.
I remember going to the National Zoo when I was kid, which I believe is near or in Rock Creek Park. Very nice area with lots of greenery.
Washington DC is similar to Philadelphia in that a lot of its parks follow the river and streams. In fact they continue way into the Maryland suburbs, where long riverside greenbelts seem to be common. Even the Baltimore suburbs have a long greenbelt along the Gunpowder River.
But its the National Mall and other nearby areas that make Washington DC really stand out.
It's pretty tough to beat the lineup that Boston provides - The Common, Public Gardens, Franklin Park, Fens, The Esplanade along the Charles, Arnold Arboretum, etc.
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