A Walk in the Park with Gil

A Walk in the Park with Gil—Video Series

2022 has been declared The Year of the Garden in Canada (Proclamation, Preview) and the City of Ottawa (Proclamation). In light of that, the video series A Walk in the Park with Gil is a perfect way to get started exploring parks and gardens.

This free, bi-weekly series features knowledgeable guests, who offer fascinating stories and successful cases of urban parks, followed by a provocative and inspiring talk and Q&A session. Each video begins with a presentation on a park or a park system in one of the great cities of the world, looking at the design of great parks, how people use parks, how they can anchor neighbourhoods, how parks support community and local identity, and what each city is doing to improve and promote their parks. Each presentation is followed by a discussion that provides further insights into the roles parks and nature can play in urban settings and how they contribute to the health and wellbeing of communities.

This Webinar Series is a partnership of 8 80 Cities and World Urban Parks, both renowned organizations for work related to urban parks and their uses. It provides compelling and useful information about park design, management, and programming, park systems, and strategies to create more accessible and equitable urban parks.

The series is free on YouTube. Links are provided below to the trailer explalining the videos and a playlist of the series, but you can select any of the videos from the playlist to zoom in on your favourite city or park. New videos are added every two weeks.

Links for A Walk in the Park with Gil:

Trailer (Intro) Trailer (Fall)

Full Playlist (will include videos added in future)

New York City with Mitchell Silver

Mexico City—Bosque Chapultepec Park (which was designated the World's Best Urban Park in 2021).

Bogota with Enrique Peñalosa

Melbourne with City Architect Rob Adams

London--Q.E. Olympic Park

Sydney--Royal Botanic Gardens

Toronto--The New Don River Park

Minneapolis--America's Best Park System with Jayne Miller

Tirana, Albania with Mayor Erion Veliaj