According to the latest publication of the HUGSI index, which maps urban vegetation, Prague ranks in the top 10 of greenest cities in Europe. On a world scale, the Czech capital occupies the 13th spot. Prague’s excellent score is the result of years of intelligent urban planning. Prague inherited some important green areas from the past. The city has been renovating existing significant green areas and has also been systematically working on establishing new green areas both on former agricultural land and unmaintained areas.
Over the last 20 years, the area of public greenery has increased by more than 300 hectares, which Prague officials describe as a unique increase among European cities. But it doesn’t stop there. Currently, another 35 hectares of new green space is being developed.
Prague’s largest parks and forests include the forests Kunratický les at 300 hectares, and Klánovický les at 287.4 hectares, as well as the valleys Prokopské údolí at 205.6 hectares and Bohnické údolí at 90.8 hectares. The city’s most popular wooded parks are a bit smaller with Stromovka at 91.03 hectares, Petřín at 53.79 hectares, and Divoká Šárka at 25.17 hectares.
Future city projects include the creation of a new 18-hectare forest in Satalice in 2019 and a 13.5-hectare forest in Na Musile. At the end of 2020, the city began to address agricultural land by planting alleys of fruit trees to combat erosion. The city has also switched to non-chemical means to maintain its green spaces, and uses herds of sheep and goats to maintain the grass in some urban nature parks.
Europe’s greenest city is Vilnius, Lithuania, while Germany had five cities in Europe’s top 10. The global leader is Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
Source: Expats.cz
