Talk:Urban park

Largest urban parks in North America

I'm starting this discussion here, in response to a question Dharmabum420 had on Talk:Stanley Park. Research is likely to result in a list of the largest urban parks, which probably belongs in this article. I started to research this and quickly found that definitions of "urban park" vary and so do claims of "largest", "second largest", etc.

Here are contenders and claims I've found so far::)))))

• Stanley Park, Vancouver, 1,000 acres ([1], 3rd largest according to its WP article)
• South Mountain Park, Phoenix, 16,283 acres (apparently is within Phoenix city limits: [2])
• Rouge Park, Markham, 11,400 acres ([3])
• Forest Park, Portland, 5,000 acres ([4])

If the definition of urban park is to be within city limits, I'm having difficulty determining the status of Rouge Park. I've started a table of the other entries in the article. All this information should be confirmed by other soures, but hopefully this is a start. --Ds13 17:23, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Another, larger park just came to my attention: Franklin Mountains State Park at 24,247.56 acres. Though it is named "State Park", it apparently lies entirely within the city limits of El Paso, Texas. El Paso is definitely urban (it has a larger population that Vancouver, for example), so I'm listing this as the new largest urban park, unless someone can demonstrate otherwise. --Ds13 20:07, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I went ahead and added City Park (New Orleans) to the list, since it's within city limits. It's owned/operated by the state, though, instead of the city.[5] If the definition changes to, say, owned/operated by a municipality, then it should be deleted. — Muffuletta 16:23, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Rather than doing our own research, perhaps this list would be more helpful, and avoid the WP:OR stigma: http://www.tpl.org/content_documents/TPL_100LargestParks.pdf HTML version -- nae'blis 02:33, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Just like to make note, that Rouge Park is actually in Toronto and not Markham. The park however spills a bit into the Town of Markham starting from the Scarborough Bluffs if I remember correctly. Although most people would consider it a part of Toronto. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.112.93.67 (talk) 07:14, 18 April 2007 (UTC).

Nae'blis, I agree with you that the Trust for Public Land's list is a suitable primary resource for us. The link you provided is dead; this seems to be their latest version: http://www.tpl.org/content_documents/citypark_facts/ccpe_150_LargestParks_11_09.pdf. In some cases our list conflicts with the TPL list. Anyone object to reconciling our list with the TPL list? Benccc (talk) 04:34, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Hearing no objections, I have reconciled our list with the TPL list. I have learned that the TPL issues its "150 Largest City Parks" report several times a year, and I recommended to TPL staff that they update this article themselves. Benccc (talk) 04:19, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the debate was no consensus. —Nightstallion (?) 09:00, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

municipal park

Should this page in fact be at municipal park as it's more commenly known as such? Zhatt 22:34, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

• Weak oppose There are more online mentions of "urban park" than for "municipal park", and I'm unsure a move would clarify this term – i.e., urban connotes population distribution (vis a vis rural), whereas municipal implies local governance. I agree that the two articles should be merged, though. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 11:08, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Speculative paragraph

A paragraph was added by Willow4 that has some interesting content, but I'm not sure it's encyclopedic. I think it's quite POV, if nothing else. A couple of examples:

• "The name 'urban park' suggests a park with an 'urban' character..." (what the phrase suggests is POV)
• "This raises the question of whether deliberately 'urban' spaces, like the plazas celebrated by William H. Whyte, should be included..." (whether a question is raised or not is speculation and/or presumptuous)

Suggestions for salvaging the encyclopedic/non-POV content from this paragraph? Alternatively, maybe Willow4 can attribute these claims to a primary source? --Ds13 06:41, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree. There has been no further discussion. I say it should be taken out. --Kmsiever 22:24, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Removed. If someone objets and can salvage that content in a better tone, please do. --Ds13 23:41, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

List of North American parks

Removed the list of large North American parks as it isn't relevant on this page; apart from the Canadian ones, they should be moved to List of municipal parks in the United States, and the Canadian ones to a new page of their own. Content is below, in <!--hide--> tags. - MPF 09:19, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Oldest Urban Park in the World

Deleted the reference to Manchester Philips Park as it was built in 1846 (http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200073&documentID=1812&pageNumber=4) whilst the Derby Arboreum was built in 1840 (http://www.derbyarboretum.co.uk/Intropage.htm) and claims to be Englands first public park. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rjm (talk • contribs) 19:09, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Balboa Park?

Balboa park in San Deigo (mentioned earlier in the article)is larger than many of the parks on this list, but is not included. What gives? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.6.184.134 (talk) 00:19, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Biggest Park in Europe?

According to the article, the largest urban park is in Portugal, but the data from the table is inconsistent with this information. According to the table, it should be in Madrid, Spain. 85.48.152.38 (talk) 20:38, 26 September 2010 (UTC)