A new study from the Trust for Public Land ranks the park systems in the 100 biggest cities in the country. Most Texas cities were in the middle or at the bottom of the list, but there was one that ranked in the national top 20. Plano was number 15 in the TPL's ParkScore Index.
"We've been doing ParkScore for over ten years now, and Plano consistently ranks in the top 20 of cities that we looked at," said Robert Kent with the Trust for Public Land. "A full 77 percent of the City of Plano has a park within a ten-minute walk from home."
That easy accessibility to parks for residents is one of the factors that the Trust for Public Land looks at for its report. Other factors include total park acreage, park amenities, a city's investment in parks, and the equitable distribution of parks.
"Parks are a bedrock component of any thriving city," Kent said. "They help improve public health. Parks can help build community. Parks can help solve environmental challenges like climate change, stormwater and flooding."
Austin ranked 39th. Dallas ranked 53rd and Fort Worth ranked 86th. Kent noted that while those cities have large "signature" parks, a lack of neighborhood parks and per-capita spending on parks lowered their rankings.
"The Trust for Public Land really believes it's important to have lots of neighborhood parks around, because those are the real workhorses...the real backbone of any strong, functioning park system for any city," he said.
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