The main reason for the recognition is the streets of Madrid that are adorned with trees, green areas, squares and parks.
It is estimated that there are around 300,000 aligned trees in Madrid. That’s the second highest number in the world, first being Tokio with 480,000 trees.
What’s interesting with the famous Spanish city is that its green areas keep growing and expanding. Where many other big cities of the world will cut down on green squares to make space for corporate skyscrapers, Madrid will find new spots to be turned into parks.
It was estimated that during the last 12 years, green areas have increased by as much as 16%. Today, 8.2% of the total area of the city is green. If we play with the numbers we can find that there are 16 sq. metres of green area per each Madrileño. Now the World Health Organization recommends that cities allocate at least 10 sq. metres per inhabitant. Maintaining the same gardening rate, Madrid will have doubled the WHO guidelines by 2030.
Well done Madrileños!!!
pic creds: Park Buen Retiro by Stephanie Yoder
All those trees and green areas help with so many issues. Probably the biggest one would be the heat island issue in the summer. Concrete and asphalt retain and reflect a lot of heat in the summer, making the outside warmer longer. Plus it makes the city gorgeous!
We could learn a lot from Madrid here in Melbourne. You would not believe how energy inefficient some of the buildings are in Melbourne. Our casino even has huge explosions of fire every 30 minutes or so, over and over burning gas in massive quantities to entertain tourists for a few seconds. It’s like a scene from the end of the world, has to be seen to be believed, and the noise makes children cry sometimes. Madness 🙂
Cities like Madrid and Tokyo should be followed for growing trees in the city. I love the fact that instead of cutting down trees to give space for buildings and highways, Madrid is looking for another spots to be turned into parks. It is crucial for us to save the nature before it is too late. If all cities in the world will be like that then we don’t have to worry about climate change and pollution.
Like your blog and you hit the point Cheese! Trying to view the greenest cities of Madrid when I read your blog.It is lovely when we humans save our planet and act early as possible.This may help lessen global warming that cause natural phenomena in every countries.Thanks for reminding us, surely 99% of us readers are acting to save our mother earth.
It’s not golden all that shines- says a spanish proverb.
The new Madrid Park “Madrid Rio” is over a buried 10-lane superhighway. In this park you can see huge exhaust pipes that let out concentrated pollution at more than 6 times the maximum allowed by the EU: The EU allows 40 micrograms of Nitrogen Dioxid, while any day the measures are well over … 240!!!! If you understand spanish, take a look at this:
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1186370/0/cierre/by-pass-sur/m30/
The neighbours are terrified and already demanding even the complete tunnel shutdown until the pollution levels decrease.
It’s true the park look gorgeous on a photograph, but I’d think twice to go there to ride a bike or make some jogging.