Cracow among the greenest cities in the world, and residents want even more greenery

The capital of Lesser Poland has ranked in the top 20 of the Best Cities for Green Spaces ranking, prepared by the Time Out portal. With its extensive green areas, Cracow received as much as 82 percent positive reviews, outperforming, among others, Tallinn and Oslo. However, city authorities and residents are not resting on their laurels.

Access to green spaces and nature through the eyes of residents

The annual Time Out ranking focuses on the subjective perceptions of residents of the world’s largest cities regarding the ease of access to green areas. In this year’s edition, 24,000 people from 150 global metropolises were surveyed. Positive ratings were converted into a percentage of all respondents, and the greenest city in each surveyed country was selected.

In Poland, Cracow came out on top with 82 percent positive opinions, taking 14th place in the overall ranking. The first place was taken by the British city of Bath (94 percent), followed by Chicago, Montreal, Riga, and Melbourne. The top ten also included Stockholm, which won the European Green Capital title in 2010, and Hamburg with its network of parks, gardens, avenues, and canals.

How Cracow is becoming greener

We have written more than once in Wodne Sprawy about how Polish cities are changing for the better. In March, Warsaw ranked highly in the Breathe Cities ranking, having managed to significantly reduce the level of PM2.5 particulate matter in the air. Cracow, thanks to radical changes in spatial planning, is no longer associated solely with history, culture, and art, but also with outdoor recreation.

In the second week of April, a project to redevelop the square in front of the city hall began in the Lesser Poland metropolis – 200 m2 of concrete is to be replaced with a green zone featuring shrubs and trees. Among earlier investments, so-called pocket parks also deserve attention, meaning small gardens for Cracow residents that make everyday life in the city more pleasant. In October last year, public consultations were also held regarding the removal of concrete from spaces along transport routes. According to representatives of the Municipal Greenery Authority (ZZM), green streets are intended to strengthen the city’s resilience to climate change, improve comfort for pedestrians and cyclists, and support local water retention.

Residents want more

The importance of green spaces in cities is demonstrated by the results of public consultations conducted in November last year in connection with the preparation of a new planning document, Blue-Green Policy of Cracow. A concept for greening the city until 2050. Cracow residents who took part in workshops and meetings organized by city authorities confirmed the great popularity of places such as Park Lotników Polskich, Zakrzówek, and Henryk Jordan Park.

When asked about their vision of the future, Cracow residents strongly supported the concept of creating parks of a natural, ecological-landscape character, with minimal human interference. This is an important voice in the discussion about urban green spaces, which – as it turns out – can, and perhaps even should, move away from minimalistically arranged areas toward controlled wildness. The idea of creating green corridors was also considered very attractive, as they would connect existing parks, squares, and gardens, enabling movement between them in the shade and surrounded by greenery.

Cracow also has the opportunity to move away from energy- and water-intensive lawns – consultation participants expressed interest in transforming them into flower meadows and creating wild enclaves that support biodiversity. Securing land for greenery, especially in new housing developments, was considered a key action. During the discussions, there were also voices supporting the improvement of rainwater retention and the protection of rivers and watercourses in the capital of Lesser Poland.