Cleveland’s parks have moved up a spot to 23rd in this year’s annual ParkScore Index from the Trust for Public Land.
The survey evaluates park systems in the 100 most populated U.S. cities and considers five criteria: access, acreage, investment, amenities, and equity.
The Ohio director of the Trust for Public Land, Sean Terry, says Cleveland’s move up this year was driven by access as Cleveland Metroparks continues to obtain new spaces.
“Particularly with signature parks along our coast, like Lake Erie and Central Rockefeller Park, those create such a wide bandwidth to park access," Terry said.
Of the five criteria, Cleveland scored lowest in acreage, which is based on both the city’s median park size and the percentage of land dedicated to parks.
Cleveland ranked 24th last year and 38th in 2019.
Cincinnati scored 4th on this year’s survey, Toledo was 49th, and Columbus was 55th.
Read more about how investments in parks can help to combat climate change in the report below:
