Join park pride for their annual Parks and Greenspace Conference. The largest parks conference in the southeast!

In 2024, Atlanta broke into the top 25 in the Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore, up from 52nd in 2016. This annual index compares the top 100 most populous cities and ranks their park systems based on equity, access, investment amenities and acreage. This also coincided with the City of Atlanta crossing the 500,000 population barrier for the first time ever.

These milestones force us to consider what it means to be a big city and what we should expect from amenities like our parks, trails and greenspaces. Atlanta is not only growing in numbers but also in diversity. Parks are places of (literal) common ground that give us a shared sense of community. They are places where people from diverse backgrounds, ages and incomes can play, interact or enjoy solitude in nature. Parks remind us that our differences aren’t as big as we sometimes imagine. This year’s Parks & Greenspace Conference will highlight the theme of “Connections” in various forms, and the notion that parks provide the common ground that makes our cities places to live and thrive.

Our focus areas are Cultural and Historical Connections, Nature Connections, Infrastructure Connections and Uncommon Connections.

The conference program—consisting of keynotes, panels, workshops/demonstrations, and outdoor presentations—is led by both local and national experts.

With over 500 attendees, the Parks & Greenspace Conference is a wonderful environment for networking with elected officials, community leaders, and park advocates who are driven to improve parks and strengthen communities.