The Biggest City Parks Conference

by Charlie McCabe

Make that one of the few city park conferences[1].  For the 24th year, Park Pride, a citywide park nonprofit in Atlanta, hosted its parks and greenspace conference. Over 500 people attended, representing public park agencies, park nonprofits, friends of parks groups, watershed protection, landscape architecture, and more in the greater Atlanta area. Plus a few outsiders like me.

The conference is held on the last Monday in March at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, located next to Piedmont Park and a newly opened section of the Atlanta Beltline. The historic country club, Piedmont Driving Club, which sold this swath of land to the city for the park and gardens, remains nestled just to the south on Piedmont Avenue.

Courtyard at Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Park Pride is one of a few dozen citywide park nonprofits operating in the U.S. As I report in my Partners for Parks report series, the 35-year-old organization works to advocate for public park funding and assists friends of parks groups with fundraising, community engagement, design and programming, and collaboration with public park agencies.

At the conference, Park Pride announced that they had given out $3 million in park improvement grants to friends of parks groups this year alone, with 60 percent funding projects in parks located in historically underserved communities. The Coca-Cola Foundation announced a $1 million grant to help Park Pride expand its efforts in working with such neighborhoods.

Attendees at a keynote session.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens spoke of the 600 acres of additional parkland that the city has acquired in his first three years in office (why yes, he’s running for re-election). Mayor and city council also recently increased spending on operations and maintenance as well as capital projects as part of the annual budget. The Parks Commissioner, Jason Culter, attended both the kickoff reception and much of the day-long conference, fielding questions, participating in a breakout session, and chatting with volunteers and public sector employees.

Atlanta is on the move park-wise, ranking 25th (up from 50th place in 2017) in the Trust for Public Land’s annual ParkScore Index of park systems in the 100 largest U.S. cities.

Game in progress, Piedmont Park

No one thinks that the work is done.  It never is. Through the conference theme—creating common ground—speakers spoke to climate, sustainability, and equity goals. One local greenspace expert spoke of the need for Atlantans to learn how to swim, to know where their creeks and streams are, and to have equal access to restrooms in public spaces. Another spoke of the importance of guerilla and government improvements in public spaces, describing his experience in Chattanooga creating benches, pop-up parks, and traffic-calmed streets. Breakout sessions covered parks operation and maintenance, urban forestry, building and sustaining trail networks, non-native plant and tree management, and much more. It was a mind-filling but fulfilling day.

Atlanta Beltline / Piedmont Park

At the end, I crossed over into Piedmont Park to walk a short section of the Beltline, now paved and in use by runners, walkers, and bikers. As I passed the Piedmont Park off-leash dog area, I saw dozens of large, transplanted trees placed along the newly constructed trail awaiting planting, one of literally thousands in this newly completed 1.2-mile segment on the northwest side of Atlanta. I was reminded of the quote that Mayor Dickens often says: “Atlanta is a group project”

Trees awaiting planting, Atlanta Beltline at Piedmont Park

So true of cities. Especially true of parks and public spaces. No one entity can say that they alone can solve the challenges of our cities through parks and greenspaces or even ensure equal access to parks within walking distance. It takes many of us, working together, figuring out what we have in common versus what divides us.

Spring in bloom at the Parks and Greenspace Conference at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Atlanta, through the Park Pride Parks and Greenspace conference shows the way. I’ll attend again next year, but for sure, I’m also thinking how I can help make this happen back at home in the Boston area.

[1] - A number of cities, through a citywide park nonprofit, have annual conferences or training sessions (Park Pride also has regular meetings and training events for friends of parks groups), but nothing on this sort of scale.

Copyright 2025, Charlie McCabe Consulting LLC. Thanks to Park Pride for selected photos.