Even the most avid townies among us need a little breather from city life every now and then, but that doesn’t always mean you have to leave its concrete perimeter.
Some cities have been built in and around brilliant natural spaces, be them beaches, nature reserves or mountainous landscapes, and others have been taking impressive steps to retrospectively add some green to their streets.
Green spaces are pretty darn good for us, after all – spending time in nature has been widely proven to reduce stress and improve our mental health, and they encourage us to be active for our physical health, too. In fact, research has found that spending time in green space actually prolongs your life.
Then there’s all the good it does for our general environment. Having open green spaces improves air quality and helps keep stuffy urban temperatures a little cooler, as well as eases the risk of flooding. But which city offers its locals the best green spaces?
To find that out, quizzed 18,500 people from cities across the planet, and the 20 that made the list below had the highest share of ‘good’ or ‘amazing’ ratings for their green space and access to nature.
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The best of the best was Medellín, Colombia’s second city, where a whopping 92 percent of locals positively rated the green space and access to nature. It’s known as the ‘city of eternal spring’, with consistently high daytime temperatures thanks to a trade-wind tropical climate – however, greenery is how the city stays cool. Back in 2016, a scheme to add ‘green corridors’ to Medellín’s sprawling (and scorching hot) concrete streets began, and in the first three years of the project, the city’s overall temperature fell by 2C.
Medellín also has a river running through its centre, where a network of riverside parks offers 280 trees and 38,052 square metres of green space. There are also loads of natural spaces just outside the city, such as Río Claro Valley, a stunning reserve where you can swim or get involved in some water sports.
In second place? That would be Boston, which also came second for walkability in our survey. Eighty-eight percent of Bostonians that we spoke to described the city’s green space and access to nature as ‘good’ or ‘amazing’. We’ve got a list of Boston’s best parks here, the most iconic being Boston Common, the most visited green space in the city and the oldest park in the US.
Third place went to Sydney, which doesn’t just brag excellent green spaces, but is also a great base for properly getting out and exploring. On the city’s northwest perimeter, you’ll find the Blue Mountains National Park, and there are also more than 100 beaches in Sydney popular for everything from sunbathing to snorkelling, surfing to kayaking.
These are the 20 best cities in the world for green space and access to nature
1. Medellín, Colombia, 92 percent
2. Boston, US, 88 percent
3. Sydney, Australia, 87 percent
= London, UK, 87 percent
5. Austin, US, 86 percent
= Edinburgh, UK, 86 percent
= Melbourne, Australia, 86 percent
8. Denver, US, 84 percent
9. Abu Dhabi, UAE, 83 percent
= Cape Town, South Africa, 83 percent
= Chicago, US, 83 percent
12. San Francisco, US, 82 percent
= Stockholm, Sweden, 82 percent
14. Montreal, Canada, 81 percent
= Munich, Germany, 81 percent
16. Mumbai, India, 79 percent
17. Beijing, China, 78 percent
18. Zurich, Switzerland, 77 percent
= Ottawa, Canada, 77 percent
20. Brisbane, Australia, 76 percent
Alongside green space, we also used insight from locals to rank the best cities in the world for walkability and public transport – and here’s our latest annual list of the world’s best cities overall.
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