Nashville’s city parks rebound in national ranking — after increased spending

For the first time in years, Nashville is moving to a better position in a national ranking of city parks systems. Metro Parks jumped up 15 spots, to number 78 out of the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. measured in the ParkScore from the Trust for Public Land.

An increase in city spending — measured as spending per resident per year, or “per capita” — made a difference. Years of declines had pushed the city toward the bottom of the nation. The figure is back up to $81 per capita, though still below the national average of $124.

Other metrics also factor in. Nashville scores high for the large acreage of its parks (16.7 acres), but low for walkability to them.

The city parks department has tended to distance itself from the ParkScore, noting the sheer size of Davidson County makes it hard to improve its walkability score — and suggesting that a different metric that accounts for density would change understanding of the system.

“Our score is not reflective of the impact our Park’s system has on our city or the fact that Metro Parks is considered a leader and innovator in this field,” Metro Parks wrote to WPLN News. “The ‘one size fits all’ methodology is not an accurate measurement.”

The department notes that public-private partnerships — such as friends groups for particular parks — also contribute substantially to the funding of the parks.