City Parks with Christopher Beanland

24/04/2023 7:00 pm | Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds

Celebrating the publication, in April 2023, of Chris’s latest book, City Parks: A stroll around the world’s most beautiful public places.

Every city dweller knows that parks are an essential part of modern life. These much-needed sanctuaries from urban bustle are places for playing, thinking, exercising, dating and just being. In this illustrated talk, inspired by his latest book City Parks, travel and architecture journalist Chris Beanland takes you on a tour around the world’s best parks in a true celebration of parklife.

Here are the storied greats such as Central Park in New York and Phoenix Park in Dublin. But Chris will also tell you about parks in the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Spain and beyond to showcase the most interesting, the newest and the most cutting-edge that mix the best of nature and architecture. The talk will explore what you can find in parks, who goes there, why they are important, and how parks respond to their environments, including ones in a dried-up riverbed, on old rail lines and in Berlin’s former airport.

Chris Beanland’s diverse body of work covers architecture, leisure, satire and the media. He is also the author of Lido and Unbuilt, as well as two novels. His journalistic writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Long + Short. He is also the host of Park Date, a comedy podcast. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram

General Admission: £5.50

Copies of the book will be on sale at the event.

City Parks

A visually stunning and beautifully written celebration of park life around the world.

The pandemic brought into sharp relief what city dwellers already realised: parks are an absolutely essential part of modern life. From the author who brought you Lido, here are 50 of the world’s greatest parks – but not just a list of the examples we already know. Yes, we’ll tell you about those storied greats such as Central Park in New York and Phoenix Park in Dublin, but we’ll also take you to the Philippines, to Australia, to provincial Britain and around the world to show you the most historic and the most interesting, the newest and most cutting-edge that mix the best of nature and architecture. We’ll explore what you can find there, who goes there, why they are important, and how parks respond to their environments, including ones over a road, on old rail lines or in Berlin’s former airport. Examples include:

• Freeway Park, Seattle, USA: a bizarre and brilliant brutalist park over a motorway.

• Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil: this one contains amazing galleries and theatres.

• Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, UK: mountains within a city.

• Adelaide’s parks, Australia: unique in that the entire city centre is enclosed by parks.

and many, many more. Illustrated with glorious photographs throughout, this book is a fascinating record of the world’s most interesting and innovative parks, and the people who use them – you’ll want to visit them all.

Banner image:

Victoria Park, London, UK

Nathaniel Noir / Alamy