City park leadership today requires a rare skillset: the ability to manage people, steward nature, and respond to unpredictable, rapidly changing circumstances. To help communities thrive in turbulent times, park leaders have moved far beyond traditional roles. The most successful are finding innovative ways to deploy park and recreation resources that deliver significant city-wide results. […]
Kenneth Allen, director of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, remembers riding his bike to MacGregor Park near his childhood home in Houston, full of anticipation. As a kid, he loved swimming in the pool and playing on the ball fields. Decades later, Allen is partnering on a major overhaul of the park that has […]
At City Parks Alliance, we believe excellent urban park systems are critical infrastructure for equitable, resilient, and thriving cities. We focus on the design, funding, building, programming, operations, and stewardship of parks and how they support related urban systems and public policy goals. Parks today are not just a collection of disparate assets in a […]
Greater & Greener is a conference unlike any other. With nearly as many sessions outside as in, it offers an immersive, energizing, and innovative learning experience focused on the issues that you face daily in your work. It’s a conference for doers from government, nonprofits, and communities who are using the power of parks to […]
Welcome to the new member portal! Here are a few actions to take to maximize your user experience. After logging in, we recommend you update your profile and account settings. Update Your Profile In the member portal, from the top right icon, click “Profile” to edit your contact information, title, and organization. Don’t forget to […]
We’re excited for you to explore the new City Parks Alliance Member Portal. Below you will find instructions for how to log in, locate the membership management tool, and update the members on your account, and more. If you need additional help, please contact [email protected]. Log In to your account You have two options to […]
On a sunny early-summer day in 2024, a crowd of park leaders and enthusiasts from across North America descended on T. T. Minor Playground in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Seattle. In a flurry of activity, they joined Seattle parks employees to give a makeover to the playground that had become underused and underappreciated, as […]
After dozens of kids cut ribbons June 29, 2023, to inaugurate major additions to Comiskey Park in Dubuque, Iowa’s North End neighborhood, “chaos” ensued, according to Mayor Brad Cavanagh and other attendees. But it wasn’t bad chaos, it was just a sign of how excited kids were to race to the new splash pad and […]
This was my first trip to Houston, and I arrived eager to explore both its parks and its arts. I already knew about Houston’s vibrant, nationally respected arts scene, but I was far less familiar with the reputation of its parks. That quickly changed. I first learned about City Parks Alliance several years ago through […]
Members of the Moncus Park team had the privilege of participating in the 2025 Houston Park Study Tour organized by City Parks Alliance. The trip was an energizing, idea-packed experience that offered a closer look at some of the city’s most innovative and transformative park projects. Over the course of the tour, we had the […]
At an October 2025 luncheon honoring the retirement of Houston Parks Board President and CEO Beth White, Beth sat down with City Parks Alliance Executive Director Catherine Nagel for a wide-ranging conversation about parks, partnerships, and the future of urban public space. Below is an edited Q&A from their parkside chat at Discovery Green, a […]
Atlanta, Georgia (October 22, 2025) – City Parks Alliance is excited to announce that Greater & Greener 2028, the premier event exploring the transformational power of urban parks, will be hosted in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference is expected to bring together more than 1,200 urban park leaders, city planners, design professionals, and advocates from around the […]