Green cities?

[paul m]

We tend to think of wildlife as being the wide open spaces - the further from humans the better! However, many towns retain old green spaces, have wildlife corridors, river banks &c.. Which cities are good?
By cities I mean large built-up areas with populations of half million or more ...
For UK I have to say Sheffield: not personal bias - we have lots of ancient woodland, large tree-filled parks, several sizeable river valleys and green spaces right next to the city centre. London has a remarkable amount of semi-natural habitats as well.
My favourite city is Paris but I wouldn't recommend it for greenspace. I have limited experience of Berlin but there seem to be very good green areas, lakes, woods there. Any other suggestions?

[Imaginos]

There's always Clifton gorge in Bristol-a fantastic place for many kinds of wildlife from peregrines to endemic plants.

It's a bit smaller than your limit but Bath is also full of green space with canal & river alongside the many parks.

[paul m]

Yes. And while we're in UK, shouldn't be anglocentric. Edinburgh is known for its green spaces but many of them are too well-tended ... Glasgow has perhaps less greenery but is more rugged!

Originally Posted by Imaginos

There's always Clifton gorge in Bristol-a fantastic place for many kinds of wildlife from peregrines to endemic plants.

It's a bit smaller than your limit but Bath is also full of green space with canal & river alongside the many parks.

[frostfire]

Thinking back to when I was in Rome 2 years ago, I can remember lots of green spaces and parks, lots of trees, but what really sticks out in the mind is that there was a lot of green actually hanging from buildings and bridges. Even around the famous areas as the Forum, there was lots of wild green just left in between all the ruins. I also believe that the Tiber had some interesting wildlife such as Nutria.

Green Buildings





Forum Romanum



The Tiber

[Pudding4brains]

I seem to remember Hamburg won an award for being "the greenest" city in Germany? Europe? Something? about a decade or so ago. Lots of green space, parks, etc ... of course it's a city 'created' by assimilating more and more of the surrounding little town, but at least while doing so it seems they've been able to leave some of the original 'green patches in between' in place.