Did you know that London is becoming the world’s first National Park City next year? This is a great opportunity to celebrate everything that is done to enrich London’s outdoor culture and to inspire people to get outdoors and more involved in it.
The grassroots campaign to make London a National Park City began nearly five years ago. It’s now grown into a large movement of people and organisations that want to enjoy London’s great outdoors more and to make the city greener, healthier and wilder.
The idea is to take inspiration from the aims and principles of Britain’s rural national parks and apply them to London’s urban landscape. While the capital is well known for its buildings, there are also over 3,000 parks in the city, 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 600 km of waterways. In all, 49.5% of the capital is physically green and blue. Much of it is highly accessible too.
It’s a mixture of our diverse culture and accessible landscape that make London one of the best places in the world to try different physical activities and sports – may it be ultimate frisbee, kayaking, football or walking. Being a National Park City is a unique opportunity to inspire more people to be active more of the time and crucially, to try new things.
You do not have to wait until next year to get involved with the National Park City
It’s not too late to contribute an event for London National Park City week. Simply organise something, invite some people and share what you do on social media using the hashtag #NationalParkCity.
A great way to find out more about the London National Park City is to attend the National Park City Fair in central London on July 21
Organised by the National Park City Foundation (the grassroots charity that has been set up to make the National Park City a success), there will be 26 talks and over 26 stalls.
I would love to see more clubs and teams putting events on this year… and even more for next year. Can we collectively put on over 1,000 events across the capital next year? Why not?
Find out more about the London National Park City at http://nationalparkcity.london/
