A metropolis as soon as dubbed “the dirtiest within the US” has been designated North America’s first nationwide park metropolis.
Half a century in the past, Chattanooga in Tennessee was notorious for its acrid air and poisonous water, which had been polluted by heavy trade. However a citizen-led clean-up helped to revitalise riverfronts and rework former industrial websites into parks and trails.
Such efforts have been rewarded this week when Chattanooga (primary image) was declared the world’s third nationwide park metropolis, after London and Adelaide. The excellence is granted by the UK-based Nationwide Park Metropolis Basis, a grassroots motion to make cities “greener, more healthy, and wilder”. Its consultants evaluate proof of a metropolis’s ecological credentials earlier than providing the designation, which isn’t formally recognised by nationwide governments.
“Nationwide parks are sometimes known as America’s finest thought – one which has impressed folks throughout the globe,” Dan Raven-Ellison, founding father of the Nationwide Park Metropolis Basis, advised Optimistic Information. “That very same spirit has led London to develop into the world’s first nationwide park metropolis, and now, in a robust cultural trade, Chattanooga is following go well with as America’s first.
“At a time when the world wants extra concord and hope, Chattanooga’s story is one in all inspiration – proof that cities can reconnect with nature, and with one another.”
Picture: iStock