I am from Hamburg and I live about 6 minutes from the Stadtpark by foot. I walk my dog there pretty much every day and I am very grateful to live so close by. I spent two years living in Tokyo and although Tokyo also has its fair share of parks I feel the Stadtpark kind of outshines all of them. I like the authors focus on usability of the park. It really has so much to offer and it’s well maintained without looking sterile. They just repaved some of the sections with compacted gravel which feels very pleasant to walk on for me. I will say that on sunny weekends in summer there are sufficiently many careless people that litter and just throw their barbecue consumables wherever or place them next to the already overflowing trash bins instead of taking their trash with them, which is a little sad to see. But credits to the Müllabfuhr and park care takers for doing a really good job at cleaning it up afterwards. If you visit Hamburg I absolutely recommend going for an extended stroll there!

This was such a nice read about a park I had never heard of. Thank you for writing it (and for actually writing it yourself instead of vibing it).

It's in the name: stadtpark, city park.

In defense of Berlin's Tiergarten, it was originally a hunting preserve for deer (and Hasenheide was for rabbits), so it's big and intimidating. But there are still facilities in it that serve the neighboring residents. And throughout Berlin there are multiple volksparks, people's parks, which have everything the author mentions.

In most cities, parks evolve to serve the residents.

Looks like a nice park! Was a bit odd of a read to me because the vast majority of the parks in my part the US are like this (sports fields, playgrounds, lakes, open green space, bike paths, grills, pavilions, etc), didn't realize I had taken that for granted.

Moving from Manchester to Hamburg the difference in greenery is already pretty astounding, but Stadtpark is really the jewel. Wonderfully maintained, easy transport access and close enough to the centre that you can walk it without the dog getting exhausted, a few spots to get a beer or a schorle when needed. One of the highlights of the city.

One of my favorite parks and much lesser knows is Westpark in Munich. Similarly built around usage and still unique since it was originally built for a national garden exhibition it features a rich set of small little areas from around the world, a Japanese party, a Chinese part, French areas, English areas. It has outdoor theaters, playgrounds, a lake, a communial area and much more . It’s worth a visit when you are in Munich

Refreshing read, handcrafted

I got the same sense at Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna. Not so much the practical amenities but that it's still obvious that it was made for royalty going for strolls or looking for secluded shade areas. It's just a genuinely nice space & was more than a little jealous of the joggers that clearly use it for their daily run

> What stayed with me was not the swimming. It was that none of it looked planned. She was not spending her afternoon at the lake, she was just going through her day, and the lake happened to be part of it.

Fascinating phenomenon, but this sentence caused me to stop reading and close the tab.

"Slop", I thought.

Now I think about it, I'm not even sure I can put my finger on what about that sentence came across as AI slop.

Socialists claim rare victory not in France.