Among its many revelations, the pandemic highlighted the importance of public green space in cities.
New research from real estate site Calgary.com has revealed Canada’s greenest cities, with Prince Albert, Saskatchewan coming out on top. Here, 20% of the city is being used as parkland. Edmonton and Gatineau take second and third place, respectively.
Researchers analyzed parkland data for Canadian cities and scored them based on how much parkland, green area, and gardens they have.
Prince Albert boasts 28.1 hectares of park per 1,000 people, and 20% of the city is made up of parkland, which gives it a ‘Green Score’ of 100 out of 100. It’s built on a transition zone between the aspen parkland and a boreal forest, so the city is clearly embedded in nature.
An early morning sunrise in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada
Coming in second place is the Albertan city of Edmonton. It scored 80.26 out of 100 on the Green Score. While it may only have 6.2 hectares of park per 1,000 people and 8% of parkland, the city houses a whopping 104 community gardens, the most out of any city in the study.
The Quebec city of Gatineau takes third place on the list, with a green score of 76.98 out of 100. The city has 17.2 hectares of park per 1,000 people, and 15% of the city’s land is made up of parkland. Additionally, there are 20 community gardens in the city.
Toronto comes in fourth place, receiving a green score of 74.57 out of 100. 13% of the city land is made up of parkland, as well as there are 79 community gardens. Due to the city’s larger population, however, there are only 2.7 hectares of park per 1,000 people -- something that became glaringly apparent during the thick of the pandemic, when cooped-up Toronto residents flooded into packed parks.
Rounding out Canada's top five greenest cities is Calgary, coming in with a green score of 67.67 out of 100. This is due to there being 7 hectares of park per 1,000 people in the city, 11% of the city being parkland, and 59 community gardens.
