Comments on: Best Cities for the Outdoors http://cityparksblog.org/2009/05/13/best-cities-for-the-outdoors/ A Chronicle of the Urban Parks Movement Sun, 27 May 2012 01:41:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Ben http://cityparksblog.org/2009/05/13/best-cities-for-the-outdoors/#comment-406 Thu, 14 May 2009 13:54:23 +0000 http://cityparksblog.org/?p=774#comment-406 Great thoughts, Kaid. I totally agree, and am tempted to place your comment directly in the post. The parks that are integrated into daily life are the best ones in my book. In a walk to work or a recreational run (as I find), for instance, one can walk through a park, maybe a neighborhood street, maybe a retail cluster and some other urban element — and they all form a diverse and interesting urban experience.

]]> By: Kaid Benfield http://cityparksblog.org/2009/05/13/best-cities-for-the-outdoors/#comment-404 Thu, 14 May 2009 04:05:39 +0000 http://cityparksblog.org/?p=774#comment-404 I’m glad to see any story that highlights urban parks. But, personally, I would not rank San Francisco so highly: it has terrific major parks, but I find it somewhat lacking at the neighborhood scale. The best parks aren’t “destinations,” in my opinion, or the ones with killer recreational facilities, but the ones that are simply part of the fabric of everyday life, the ones you walk through on the way to the bus stop or convenience store. I love San Francisco for its urban vitality and creative culture, but for parks I’ll take DC any day. And “balmy” weather?

Notoriously park-deprived LA as #11 also boggles the mind. Vast stretches of the city have no park access for miles, as even TPL’s own data show. Despite my easterner’s bias, I kinda like LA, but not for the parks. The beaches, yes.

]]>