Benefits
Why join the National Park City movement?
National Park Cities are long-term grassroots movements. They rely on broad-based support from all sectors of the community, local government, charities, institutions, businesses and individual citizens – a shared story, and a collective endeavour that takes into account the whole place.
There are a growing number of benefits to being part of the National Park City Family. The most important is that you are introducing a common story that brings together community groups, citizens, city government, faith groups, arts, culture, and sporting institutions, along with businesses, and other organisations of all shapes and sizes. Practically these benefits include:
- Sharing learning, practices, ideas and resources with people in other urban areas
- Joining collaborative campaigns and projects
- Growing your personal and professional network of friends and colleagues
- Influencing the National ParkCity movement.
Global Recognition
Becoming an internationally recognised National Park City will help your city to:
- Create a shared identity, purpose and way of organising
- Inspire people with a vision influenced by our National ParkCity aims and values – a new layer of possibility, ambition and ideas
- Disrupt harmful structures, systems and activities
- Nurture a way of thinking that is local, large scale, long term and holistic
- Use shared National Park City vocabulary that helps to create common understanding between people with different interests and backgrounds.
Environmental Benefits
As a National Park City you’ll bring new people into nature and environmental activities:
- Celebrate great examples of how communities are already taking the lead on local nature recovery
- Healthier ecosystems with increased protection and expansion of green spaces, rivers, trees, and wildlife corridors
- Climate resilience with more trees and vegetation help cool cities, reduce flooding, and improve air quality
- Biodiversity recovery as urban areas become safer habitats for pollinators, birds, and native species.
Health & Wellbeing
Everyone can benefit every day from a healthier move liveable city environment:
- Better physical health with more access to walkable green spaces encourages activity and reduces chronic illness
- Improved mental health as nature-rich cities are linked to lower stress, anxiety, and depression
- Equitable access for everyone with a National Park City framework prioritises nature access for all communities, not just affluent areas.
Social & Cultural
Whilst nature runs through everything we do, it’s about all the activities that take place across all communities in the whole city:
- Stronger community connections as green projects often involve volunteering, co-design, and local stewardship
- Civic pride & identity as the designation helps citizens see their city as something special, shared, and worth protecting
- Education & youth engagement with nature-based learning opportunities increase across schools and neighborhoods.
Economic
Celebrating what’s already going well and helping more people with the skills and experience to lead in their own communities helps to:
- Attracts talent & investment as greener, healthier cities are more appealing to businesses, visitors, and skilled workers
- Boosts local economies as parks, green infrastructure, and eco-tourism create jobs and support local enterprises
- Lower long-term costs as nature-based solutions reduce spending on healthcare, flood defenses, and pollution mitigation.
Governance
Involving the whole city helps elected officials and decision makers to better understand and support community led initiatives:
- Participatory decision-making as nature becomes a core consideration in transport, housing, and development
- Partnership-driven encourages collaboration between government, NGOs, businesses, and citizens
- Global leadership as cities join a growing international movement demonstrating innovation in urban sustainability.
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