Report: Phoenix, Scottsdale Have Biggest Parks Of Nation's 100 Largest Cities

Published: Friday, August 24, 2018 - 3:20pm
Updated: Friday, August 24, 2018 - 3:32pm
Mariana Dale/KJZZ
McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale.

A new report finds Scottsdale and Phoenix have the biggest parks among the nation’s largest cities.

Out of the nation’s 100 largest cities, the Trust for Public Land lists the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale and the South Mountain Preserve in Phoenix as the biggest.

“Those are going to be places that people visiting the area want to go to hike, to run, to mountain bike, things like that and often can become real destinations and real draws,” said Ali Hiple, program coordinator for the trust’s Center for City Park Excellence. “And we’ve seen that around the country as many cities are thinking about developing parks that are really attractions.”

She said both Scottsdale and Phoenix spend more than the national median of $83 per resident on capital and operating costs for parks.

For nearly 20 years, the nonprofit has been gathering data on parks systems. In this year’s report, Hiple said they found two trends.

“Splash pads for one which makes sense given that summers are getting hotter. Splash pads are also little bit easier to add in than swimming pools and thinks like that,” she said. “And also pickleball is on the rise, very popular. So we’re seeing a lot of those courts added in as well or transferred over from tennis courts, things like that.”

No Valley city ranks in the top 10 for pickleball courts or splash pads.

The group’s goal is for people to live within a 10-minute walk of parks. In Phoenix, 45 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk. In Scottsdale, it’s 38 percent. In Gilbert, it’s 26 percent, and in Mesa, it’s 64 percent. Glendale ranks highest with 72 percent of residents who live within a 10-minute walk from a park.

Glendale also ranks highest in the nation for volleyball nets per resident. Chandler and Scottsdale also make the top 10.