Chattanooga is a place of rejuvenation and restoration, making it all the more special that the municipality has become North America’s first National Park City, the founder of the movement said.
Earlier this month, Chattanooga became the third National Park City in the world, joining London and Adelaide, Australia. The concept is inspired by “the long-term and large-scale vision of national parks,” with the goal of making cities “greener, healthier and wilder,” according to the website of the London-based National Park City Foundation, which issues the designation.
Daniel Raven-Ellison, a British geographer and National Geographic explorer, founded the National Park City movement and campaigned to make London the first National Park City in the world. Growing up in a military family, Raven-Ellison lived in the U.S. for some years as a child and visited the country’s national parks, a formative experience that helped inspire the National Park City concept.
The historical, cultural and conservational significance of Chattanooga becoming a National Park City should not be underestimated, Raven-Ellison said. People can take inspiration from Chattanooga’s history of once being known for its pollution and transforming into “one of the best outdoor cities in the world,” he said.
“If the first National Park City in North America had been Portland (Oregon) or Seattle or San Francisco, people would just think, ‘Oh, it’s those guys doing their wacky thing over there,'” Raven-Ellison said. “For it to be a city like this one, with its story of restoration and its strong community, a city of 200,000 people, I mean, that’s really, really inspiring not just for North America but for cities around the world.”