Southern cities with the best Urban Parks? (place, cons, moving)
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Plus Forsyth Park feels like an actual urban park, and there's also Daffin Park, which while adorning more suburban-style architecture surrounding it, still lies within the urban grid. Many of the cities listed in this thread don't truly have urban parks.
Nashville for instance is about the "country" lifestyle in more ways than just music. Although Centennial feels like the most traditional, urban-feeling park, many of the others just seem to line up along swaths of rivers of creeks, have a few scattered facilities, but a lack of amenities like bike trails, footpaths, recreational facilities, or picnic grounds. Shelby Bottoms park is a good example: its pretty centrally located within the metro, but is flanked by many roads without sidewalks dead ending into it, and the park itself looks like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1688...!7i5376!8i2688
Similarly, parks on most cities with a lack of old money like a Frederick Olmstead would do results in similar sunbelt cities having a lot of "parks" that just feel more like wildlife preserves. Charlotte's best park is Freedom Park, but it's nearly completely surrounded by SFH neighborhoods, even if the housing stock is relatively old for the sunbelt.
Shelby Bottoms is more of a natural wildlife area than a traditional city park. However it is connected to Shelby Park which should fit the criteria of urban park.
Umstead Park in Raleigh is huge and beautiful. It is within city limits and surrounded by development (all be it mostly commercial or "suburban" development).
Smaller potentially more "Urban" Pullen Park is more in line with what has been discussed in other cities here so far and is also quite nice.
It doesn't look like any of the other parks mentioned in any of the other cities thus far are on the same size and scale as Umstead though.
Umstead is a city park (well state park actually, but within city limits), and is great. But not urban.
Dix Park is the future centerpiece of Raleigh’s urban park system.
I think I should have elaborated that by urban parks I mean parks surrounded by urbanized development. While parks like Percy Warner and Radnor Lake are really nice they weren’t exactly what I had in mind when creating this thread. I was thinking of stuff like Central Park in NY, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Forest Park in St Louis, etc.
You've probably got to be a bit more specific than even that. For example, Vulcan Park in Birmingham would technically meet that surrounded by urban development aspect, but for topological reasons, probably isn't as easily accessible via walking as you'd want for the general urban park. Ruffner and Red Mountain are also pretty close to gridded areas (but more suburban grid) for a more extreme departure. (In Bham, I'd assume Railroad Park, and to lesser extent Avondale, Linn or Kelly Ingram are closer to what you're looking for). So not a preserve, with tailored grounds, but not quite to the degree of a botanical garden where people wouldn't goof off as much, I'm assuming.
Edit: adding links. Also, would Sloss count as one? Despite being primarily a furnace grounds, it functions a bit as a historical park, and is a venue for music, festivals, etc. It's out in the elements and has sculptures and the like as well.
You've probably got to be a bit more specific than even that. For example, Vulcan Park in Birmingham would technically meet that surrounded by urban development aspect, but for topological reasons, probably isn't as easily accessible via walking as you'd want for the general urban park. Ruffner and Red Mountain are also pretty close to gridded areas (but more suburban grid) for a more extreme departure. (In Bham, I'd assume Railroad Park, and to lesser extent Avondale, Linn or Kelly Ingram are closer to what you're looking for). So not a preserve, with tailored grounds, but not quite to the degree of a botanical garden where people wouldn't goof off as much, I'm assuming.
Edit: adding links. Also, would Sloss count as one? Despite being primarily a furnace grounds, it functions a bit as a historical park, and is a venue for music, festivals, etc. It's out in the elements and has sculptures and the like as well.
Hmm, that Vulcan link I gave was a bit slow to pop up. So, here's a google link.
The only truly urban (as in surrounded by urban development) “signature” parks I can think of is the Turtle Creek Corridor and Klyde Warren Park.
The series of parks along Turtle Creek is about 90 acres and Klyde Warren Park is about 5.2 acres. A good portion of the Katy Trail runs along the Turtle Creek Corridor as well with many entrances to the pedestrian trail.
Klyde Warren Park - Also featuring recent upgrades completed in 2022
The only truly urban (as in surrounded by urban development) “signature” parks I can think of is the Turtle Creek Corridor and Klyde Warren Park.
The series of parks along Turtle Creek is about 90 acres and Klyde Warren Park is about 5.2 acres. A good portion of the Katy Trail runs along the Turtle Creek Corridor as well with many entrances to the pedestrian trail.
Klyde Warren Park - Also featuring recent upgrades completed in 2022
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