{"id":285321,"date":"2026-05-26T22:35:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T22:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/285321\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T22:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T22:35:25","slug":"national-group-gives-miami-high-marks-for-park-access-despite-limited-park-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/285321\/","title":{"rendered":"National group gives Miami high marks for park access, despite limited park space"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami may not be known for major parks \u2014 like other major cities \u2014 but, according to a recent nonprofit report, the city is climbing the ranks of U.S. metro areas when it comes to access to green space.<\/p>\n

In its annual Parks Score report, Trust For Public Land ranks the nation’s 100 most populous cities in terms of access to parks in the following five categories: equity, access, investment, amenities and acreage. The organization is a nonprofit that works to connect people with the outdoors and works with local governments to promote parks. <\/p>\n

In its most recent report<\/a> published this month, Miami ranked 34th in Park Score among major cities. Washington, D.C., for comparison, was the number one city for parks access, equity and investment.<\/p>\n

“\u200a[Parks] make a higher quality of life more affordable for people right now. They improve people’s health, they increase property value, and they’re a winning strategy for city leaders across the country,” said Will Klein, director of parks research at Trust for Public land.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Residents say North Miami\u2019s Enchanted Forest Park isn\u2019t living up to to its name<\/a><\/p>\n

The city of Miami actually climbed from the 35th spot on the list last year thanks to investment in more parks around the city, according to Klein.<\/p>\n

“\u200aWhere Miami really excels is almost everybody in the city has a close-to-home park. Almost everybody can walk to at least one park, and often at those parks there’s a wide range of amenities,” Klein said. “There’s lots of stuff for people to do, and they’re relatively well-distributed across the city.”<\/p>\n

Part of that progress is thanks to city investment from the Miami Forever Bond<\/a>, a $400 million municipal loan program passed in 2017 to pay for parks and infrastructure improvements. Approved projects with Miami Forever funding include a wide array of parks, community centers, and dog parks. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Inter Miami CF<\/p>\n

A rendering of Miami Freedom Park, a 73-acre public passive and recreational space under construction at the former Melreese Golf Course near Miami International Airport. <\/p>\n

According to Trust for Public Lands’ data analysis, Black communities and low-income neighborhoods in Miami have more park space than the city’s average for other groups.<\/p>\n

Where the city lacks is in the size of parks and the amount of land used for green space.<\/p>\n

“\u200aOnly 6% of the city’s total land area is dedicated to parks and green space. That’s well below the national average of 9 or 10%, among the bottom 20 large cities in the country,” Klein explained.<\/p>\n

For comparison, whereas only 39% of Jacksonville<\/a> residents live within a 10-minute walk from a park compared to Miami’s 89%, the city of Jacksonville devotes 19% of its land to parks and recreation \u2014 far above the national average.<\/p>\n

Much of the city of Miami’s area is already developed, and property is at a premium. The biggest park project on the horizon is the proposed 58-acre Jorge Mas Canosa<\/a> Park adjacent to Miami Freedom Park, home of the Nu Stadium and Inter Miami soccer. The park is expected to open in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami may not be known for major parks \u2014 like other major cities \u2014 but, according to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-285321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}