Chattanooga: America’s First National Park City

For TPL, the opportunity to support Chattanooga’s pursuit of National Park City (NPC) status felt like the natural extension of a long collaboration, the culmination of decades of persistence and partnership.

Trust for Public Land served on the steering committee for the NPC bid, joining a constellation of community partners. They focused on showcasing a city renaissance rooted in outdoor access, including transformed community schoolyards that double as neighborhood green spaces, sites of historical importance preserved for generations, and ecological areas that define the city’s geography.

“Quite simply, the Chattanooga we all know and love today would not exist without TPL,” says Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. “The organization has been an essential partner in building and protecting our park assets. From securing Stringer’s Ridge, developing the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway, and spearheading new green space projects, TPL has provided vital contributions to our community.”

“Quite simply, the Chattanooga we all know and love today would not exist without TPL.”

– Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly

The global context mattered, too. Only three other international cities—London, England; Adelaide, Australia; and Breda, Netherlands—have received the NPC designation. But Chattanooga’s significance to the American South, along with its reinvention and work towards becoming more connected to the outdoors, helped the city compete against places like Glasgow in Scotland.

Locals enjoy water sports along the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway. Photo: Brooke Bragger

At the same time, TPL focused on showing where access to nature was lacking and where the benefits of natural assets were still unevenly distributed. “We said: ‘Yes, we have 75 trailheads within city limits, incredible natural assets, and connected greenways, but six in 10 residents still can’t walk to a park,’” notes TPL Tennessee State Director Noel Durant. “We laid that out honestly and said, ‘Here’s how far we’ve come, and here’s where we need to go.’”

The dual framing became a tangible demonstration of what a truly connected outdoor city could look like and allowed Chattanooga to tell an authentic story. Taken together, the collaboration helped make history, laying the groundwork for Chattanooga’s designation in early 2025 as the third National Park City in the world and the first in North America, defining what it means to be “a city within a park.”

Natalie Olsen is a writer living in the West. A former editor for the Associated Press, she has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, and other publications. Her feature on TPL’s work in Chattanooga appears in the spring/summer 2026 issue of TPL’s member magazine, Land&People.