What if we transformed more cities into National Park Cities?

Organised by the National Park City Foundation with World Urban Parks and Salzburg Global Seminar

Everyone was welcome to join this panel discussion critically and creatively exploring the National Park City idea. What if your city was a National Park City? What difference could that make?

This session was introduced by Paul De Zylva, Chair of the National Park City Foundation.

Session 1: Weds 21 July - 1700 Sydney, 0800 London, 0300 New York

• Rt Hon Lord Benyon, UK Minister for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity with responsibility for National Parks
• David Spiers MP, Minister for Environment and Water, South Australia
• Alison Barnes (London), National Park City Foundation Trustee and CEO of the New Forest National Park
• Neil McCarthy (Melbourne) is CEO of World Urban Parks
• Paula Kahumbu (Nairobi) is a wildlife conservationist and Chief Executive Officer of Wildlife Direct
• Nella Lomotan (Manila) is Founder of Eco Explorations, Managing Director of Philippine Parks & Biodiversity and developing a Manila National Park City campaign

Session 2: Weds 21 July - 1600 London, 1100 New York, 0100 Sydney (next day)

• Rt Hon Lord Benyon, UK Minister for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity with responsibility for National Parks (video contribution)
• Scott Martin (Louisville), Chair of World Urban Parks North America
• Kathryn Tierney (Galway), European Champion for Galway National Park City and Directorate General Environment of the European Commission
• Luis Romahn (Merida), President and founder of Parks of Mexico and the National Association of Parks and Recreation of Mexico
• More to be announced

How to make your city a National Park City - A technical briefing

Organised by the National Park City Foundation with World Urban Parks and Salzburg Global Seminar

Interested in discovering how a city can become a National Park City? Join this technical briefing by Dan Raven-Ellison (Founder of the London National Park City) to learn about the 10 steps and 23 criteria for becoming a National Park City outlined in the new National Park City Journey Book launched today.

This session will continue straight after “What if we transformed more cities into National Park Cities?”, above.

Adelaide’s Green Movement: Actions Creating a National Park City Candidate

Across South Australia’s capital city of Adelaide, people are taking action every day to make the city greener, their lives more sustainable, and promote connection with nature. Hear from a range of leaders, from individuals to community groups, businesses to NGOs and government, to find out what’s happening that makes Adelaide an ideal National Park City candidate.

How to build the dream National Park City volunteer team

Organised by Salzburg Global Seminar

A strong team is key to the success of any project. This interactive workshop will explore how to build the dream team for your National Park City journey. You will hear from experienced practitioners in volunteer management and discuss the challenges and opportunities team building presents.

Speakers included Floree Zama-Neagra (Volunteer National Park City Ranger Coordinator for London National Park City) and Kate Ramil. This session is hosted by Jennifer Dunn.

Urban Greening for Resilience

• Weds 21 July - 18.00 London, 13.00 New York, 03.00 Sydney

Organised by London National Park City

This event brought together London National Park City Rangers with external experts to discuss rewilding, food growing, nature education, urban forests and community building, with real examples from across London. The aim is to bring people together around the shared goal of urban greening, to inspire and share knowledge, and to catalyse further action towards resilience.

Five Reasons Glasgow Should be a National Park City

• Weds 21 July - 20.00 Glasgow, 15.00 New York, 05.00 Sydney (next day)

Organised by the Glasgow National Park City campaign

This online event shared micro-talks, videos and discussions answering the question, what is a National Park City. We’ll be sharing information about projects happening across Glasgow demonstrating the fantastic things already underway, and the potential to work together to deliver a greener, healthier, wilder Glasgow.

National Park City Launchpad

• Weds 21 July - 2100 Glasgow, 1600 Louisville, 1400 Calgary, 1300 Sacramento, 06.00 Sydney (next day)

Organised by the Louisville, Sacramento and Calgary National Park City campaigns

National Park Cities are creating new visions of how the places we live-in can be greener, healthier, wilder, and more interesting. Join the family and share your ideas in this open workshop to spread and grow the National Park City idea. The workshop hosts are in North America (home of the original National Park idea) but join us and contribute from anywhere!

Contributors included Steve Schweigerdt (Sacramento, USA), Anita O’Driscoll (Calgary, Canada) and Scott Martin (Louisville, USA) with more to be announced.

What if Metro Manila was a National Park City?

• Thurs 22 July - 1800 Manila, 2000 Sydney, 11:00 London, 0600 New York

Nature Art Making in Seoul Forest Park and the Green Map Project

• Thurs 22 July -2000 Seoul, 2100 Sydney, 1200 London, 0700 New York

Partnerships for Impact

• Thurs 22 July - 1400 London, 0900 New York, 2200 Seoul, 2300 Sydney

Organised by Salzburg Global Seminar.

Finding the right partners and establishing positive relationships to create change is not easy. Hear from a cross-sectoral, international group of speakers on the key lessons they have learned while building partnerships for impact.

Speakers included Brendan Smith (Galway), Leticia Lozano (Mexico), Shamsa Birik (Nairobi) and Stefania Romano. The moderator is Jennifer Dunn.

Habitats Mapping workshop

• Thurs 22 July -1600 Galway, 1100 New York, 0100 Sydney (next day)

Organised by the Galway National Park City campaign

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and satellite photography, a mapping tool being developed by Agustín García Pereira of NUI Galway will allow users to map and distinguish between different types of habitats. The mapping will also provide an historical analysis allowing one to see how these different habitats have changed over the decades.

25 Voices from London National Park City

• Thurs 22 July -18.00 London, 13.00 New York, 03.00 Sydney

Organised by the National Park City Foundation

A series of quick fire talks from inspirational people taking positive action to inspire us all to re-imagine London as a greener, healthier, wilder city.

London is full of people with ideas and projects to make life better in our city. What if we shared those ideas more and inspired other people to do them too?

To celebrate the 2nd anniversary of London becoming the world’s first National Park City, we are going to hold a special online event to showcase 25 people who are doing things to make our National Park City greener, healthier or wilder.

We showcased 25 diverse voices, speaking on a wide range of topics and from every corner of our beautiful city. The stories will cover gardening, nature connection, walking, cycling, trees, climate change, parks and green spaces, local volunteering, storytelling, arts and crafts, fitness, campaigning, orchards, community action…and many other creative ideas.

Join us for this online celebration filled with positivity to re-imagine what London can be. The event will be hosted by the National Park City Foundation and will include stories, videos, songs and plenty of time to connect virtually to continue the conversation.