While we often talk about the places that are park poor, Builder Online has done the data crunching to find out which cities are park rich.
When we talk about great communities, we often think about places that have an abundance of outdoor space available nearby. Builder’s Dian Zhang has compiled data from The Trust for Public Land and the 2014 American Community Survey to identify "America’s top 10 cities with the most public park acreage per 1,000 households."
In order to get an accurate read on the park situation, the rankings exclude low-density cities and look at individual cities, not metro areas. Further, the parks, whether city, county, metro or federal, must be within the boundaries of the city. Given these restrictions, the rankings found that the majority of park rich communities are in the southwest, led by El Paso, Albuquerque, and Phoenix. Surprisingly, the only city east of the Mississippi to make the list is New Orleans, Louisiana.
The full list is available on Builder's web site.
FULL STORY: Cities Offering the Most Public Parkland Per Household
Santa Monica Mountains Acquires More Land For Conservation
The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority has acquired the final 150 acres of the 325-acre Triangle Ranch open space in the Santa Monica Mountains.
2019 ParkScore Rankings Now Available
The trust for Public Land today announced the 2019 ParkScore rankings.
Seattle Zealously Protects Its Parkland
Based on a history of park-friendly ordinances, Seattle parks and urban forests are largely off-limits to developers. Landowners who flout these regulations must provide the city with an adjacent and equivalent parcel.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
How Urban Form Impacts Housing Affordability
The way we design cities affects housing costs differently than you might think.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
