When you think of a national park, you generally picture fresh air and wild animals, right? Well, now you're going to have to add tea shops and something called "the Tube" to your definition, because London, England has signed up to be the first "National Park City. "
London was established by the Romans around 2,000 years ago and has been continually inhabited(居住于)since then. In all that time, however, nobody had the idea to replace all the parks with big box stores or high buildings, which means London already has a much lower urban density(密度)than most of the world's cities. Nowadays about a third of the city is green space.
In July 2019, London announced its willingness to become the world's first National Park City. Now the city is moving toward the goal of achieving 50% green space by the year 2050 by connecting and expanding public parks, greening up unused parking lots and the private yards of existing and new houses, fixing some green roofs on existing buildings and even cutting holes in fences for wildlife to pass through.
"Inspired by the aims and values of our precious rural national parks, the London National Park City is basically about making life better in the capital through both small everyday things and long-term strategic thinking," Daniel Raven-Ellison, who began the campaign to make London a National Park City six years ago, said in a press release. "We've been doing that in London for centuries, which is why London is so green and diverse."
London will have a much easier job achieving this type of green transformation than more densely- urbanized cities like Paris and New York, which have 10% and 27% green space, respectively. But that doesn't mean it's not possible--the National Park City Foundation hopes to employ 25 more cities in addition to London by the year.
In 2025，Glasgow, Scotland and Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England are both currently considering becoming National Park Cities.
