Virtually any municipality on Earth can get involved with the National Park City Foundation, though only cities can receive the formal designation. That London was the first city to receive the status certainly confused some people, as it’s often seen as the concrete sort of urban jungle. The city is remarkably green, however, as roughly half of it is made up of green spaces like parks, gardens, and forests, and ponds and rivers. The city claims it has over 3,000 parks within its limits.
So where could the next National Park City be? As of this writing, four cities have been nominated: Glasgow, Rotterdam and Breda Stad, Netherlands, and Southampton, England. It could be anywhere—even in your own city. Cardiff, Wales, and Galway, Ireland, have been recognized as ‘emerging’ cities.
But any city that’s willing to put in the work can apply for designation. It all starts with a series of ‘what if,’ questions, which form part of a ‘Journey Book’—a guide created by the organization to help people lead their cities on the path toward becoming greener, more nature-focused homes for their residents. Other cities that have asked “What if?” include Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Manila, Newcastle, Washington, D.C., Bogotá, Nairobi, and Marrakech, among others on every continent.
Could your city be next? Start asking your ‘What if?’ questions here.
As for Chattanooga, becoming a National Park City won’t mean a “new direction” as much as it will highlight good work that’s already happening, the city says. And hopefully, if all goes to plan, they’ll inspire other cities to start doing the work to be greener, more livable places, too.