Aurora, Denver, and Colorado Springs received top park honors out of 100 of America's largest cities.
Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit, created a ParkScore 2017 list and ranked 100 of the largest cities in the United States to determine the top park. Three cities in Colorado were among the top parks: Aurora, Denver, and Colorado Springs. The three main determining factors are the acreage, the amount of facilities (as well as the quality of those facilities), and the percentage of the population that lives within walking distance of those parks (10-minute walk). To get a ParkScore for a city, Trust for Public Land analyzed the 100 largest cities in the country, before using mapping technology to determine how well each city is meeting its parks' needs. Then, they scored the parks based off the three determining factors.
[gallery size="large" ids="16385,16384,16383"]
Aurora ranked at 15 with a ParkScore of 68.5 (out of 100 points), while Denver sat at number 20 (64 points), and Colorado Springs came in at 42 (55 points). The top park in the United States is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a ParkScore of 87.5, while Fort Wayne, Indiana, came in last with a ParkScore of 28.5.
Aurora's most-visited municipal park is the Aurora Reservoir. City Park is Denver's, while Garden of the Gods Park is Colorado Springs.'
[gallery size="large" ids="16395,16393,16394"]
View the full rankings.
What do you think of the rankings? Were you surprised by how these cities ranked in comparison to others? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Featured image courtesy of Denver Parks and Recreation (Facebook).
