If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it’s that people love parks
On his past travels, Tom Chesshyre has always sought out parks as a haven to take some time out after the chaos of a city. As the Covid-19 pandemic hit and our horizons shrank, Tom found himself investigating his local parks and came to understand that we need greenery – in fact we crave it.
Whether we’re in Colombia or Korea, America or Australia, urban parks are places where we can find calm amid the chaos. They can also (more often than we may realise) conceal intriguing hidden histories, and can tell us something about modern life in our frenzied world, too.
In Park Life, Tom Chesshyre recalls with fondness and humour, 50 of his favourite urban parks from across the world, in a love letter to the green escapes that keep us grounded and bring us joy in our cities.
Available at: https://summersdale.com/sd-book/park-life/
Praise for Park Life
Ever enterprising, Tom Chesshyre has made a virtue of necessity in this celebration of 50 worldwide parks he has explored over the years. As all our physical horizons shrank, his mental horizons expanded, prompted by memories, old notebooks and photographs and background reading. With an engagingly light touch, his recollections and descriptions are by turns wry and reflective. A truly imaginative “Look Back in Lockdown”.
Stephen McClarence, travel writer
A delightfully personable and impressively global gazetteer to parks and green spaces.
Travis Elborough, author of A Walk in the Park: The Life and Times of a People’s Institution
Everyone has their favourite park. Whatever influences your own preference, Chesshyre’s inspired selection from around the world amplifies how parks are so much more than green spaces. It is also a timely reminder that green is the colour of the outdoors; we ignore it at our peril.
Richard Hammond, Green Traveller
Park Life is a journey into memory, and the pleasures of those places that we once took for granted. Parks are the increasingly contested common ground where people – meant to stay apart – come together to share more than just space. However, because they are public they are often under threat, and Chesshyre shows how these urban refuges are essential parts of our cities. This is a book to dream in.
Leo Hollis, author of Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis