Philips nominates Copenhagen's pocket park as a sustainable concept that works!

Copenhagen's pocket park strategy has been listed as 1 of 9 initiatives for the Philips Liveable Cities Award. The award honors simple solutions in cities around the world that already improve city life sustainably. Pocket parks aim to improve the lives and ameliorate stress of the residents of a city. Less than 5,000 square meters in size, pocket parks are intended to utilize unused elements of land within (the) city between physical structures, buildings and historic sites. 

A pocket park is a small park accessible to the general public. It is only a few house lots in size and typically created on vacant building lots or small irregular pieces of land. Functions include spaces for relaxation, meeting friends, taking lunch breaks, reading a book, play areas for children etc. Often pocket parks are placed around a monument, on a corner, in relation to a historic node or another urban signifier. 

Copenhagen has a vision of becoming the capital city in the world with the best urban environment by 2015. The enhancement of urban green is one of the tools for reaching this vision. Copenhagen is planning the creation of no less than 14 pocket parks in the inner city area within the next couple of years. Besides that the city is also going to plant approximately 3,000 additional trees in parks and sideways. The overall goal is to have 90 percent of all citizens within a 15 minute walking distance to open spaces recreational such as parks or bathing facility by 2015. 

Click here for more information on pocket parks in Copenhagen and other places in the world.