National Park City

Belfast as a National Park City

At Wild Belfast, we have always believed that every person in this city should feel empowered to enjoy, protect and shape the urban environment around them. We first came together as a small group of people who cared deeply about Belfast’s green spaces and about giving a voice to the wildlife that too often goes unnoticed. Since then, our work has grown into a citywide mission to create a greener, healthier and more nature-rich Belfast for everyone.

It was during our participation in Belfast City Council’s Belfast 2024 creative programme that we first began exploring a movement that has captured imaginations across many cities around the world, and it was with the School of Planning at Queen’s University that we found the perfect partner to help us take our first formative steps to realise it. We asked, what if Belfast became a National Park City? What would it look like if nature was celebrated and supported in every corner of our city? What if it became as easy to connect with green spaces, wildlife, clean rivers and outdoor play as it is to connect with shops, transport and everyday conveniences?

What Is a National Park City and Our Vision for Belfast

The National Park City Foundation is a global movement, providing a framework and shared network where grassroots movements strive to make cities greener, healthier and wilder for everyone. Through each participating city’s bespoke and co-created charter, which reflects the universal charter’s seven core principles, this movement offers a hopeful and practical way to think about the future of urban living.

It is not a National Park in the traditional sense. It is a civic commitment made by the city as a whole. It brings together residents, community groups, organisations, schools, councils and local businesses to work collectively toward shared ambitions for people, place and nature. It focuses on everyday places, everyday people and everyday actions. Gardens, streets, rooftops, school grounds, river corridors and neighbourhood parks all become sites of connection, community regeneration and creativity. When people take thousands of small actions, these efforts add up to a meaningful shift in how we live with and value nature.

At Wild Belfast, we believe that Belfast becoming a National Park City is ultimately about partnership. It is about people of all ages and backgrounds seeing nature as part of their everyday life and recognising that their choices and ideas can help shape the city we all share. However, it is not something Wild Belfast can achieve alone. To make this vision a reality, we need our city to come together and share in the commitment and responsibility required to ensure that Belfast’s pledge comes to life. This will depend on our communities, local authority, NGOs, schools, businesses and individuals working collectively toward a greener, healthier and more resilient Belfast where wildlife can thrive and where people feel inspired to spend more time outdoors.

Even before this campaign began, Belfast was already home to an incredible range of people and organisations championing biodiversity, outdoor learning, food growing, river restoration and community green space projects. The National Park City idea gives us an opportunity to join these efforts under a unifying vision that is co-designed with residents and partners. It allows us to create a shared charter that reflects our hopes for healthier communities, richer biodiversity and a city where nature is accessible to all.

Our Journey So Far

2024

As participants in the Belfast 24 arts programme we engaged with a range of local activists involved in a range of activities. Protecting the night sky, greening alleys, community gardens in vacant lots. The programme helped us imagine what if together, what if Belfast was a National Park City?

As we embarked on this journey we also asked, would the concept of a National Park City be one that is shared across the city? On that basis we also began to collect signatures to establish if the appetite existed in the city and with a view to registering our campaign with the National Park City Foundation.

June 2025
To celebrate the collection of our 200 signatures and start on our journey to make Belfast a National Park City, we organized a citywide conference exploring what this idea could mean for Belfast. Working with the School of Planning at Queen’s University Belfast, we welcomed inspiring speakers including Cecil Konijnendijk, known for the 3-30-300 rule for greener cities, and Mark Cridge from the National Park City Foundation. Their insights helped set the tone for an ambitious and shared vision of a Belfast where people and nature thrive together.

July – September  2025
Soon after the conference we began to hold workshops at the Climate Café and with civil servants at Native Coffee (even getting publicity in the Guardian), Belfast City Council and at dedicated events at Queens to discuss how decision making with the principles of a National Park City could look for different organisations, where opportunities lay and what obstacles existed. Event in these first formative conversations substantial land holdings were identified that could be better used and small tweaks (such as using Building with Nature in new projects) were identified that could add additional benefits to public expenditure.  

October 2025
We brought the National Park City idea into each corner of Belfast through a series of workshops held in the City Centre, North, South, East and West. These sessions introduced the concept and invited residents to imagine what they would like to see in their local areas. They were also a celebration of the brilliant work already happening in Belfast, from community gardens to urban habitat restoration to creative cultural projects that weave nature into everyday life. The workshops allowed us to listen, gather ideas and understand the priorities of communities across the city. The insights gathered will guide the development of Belfast’s National Park City charter, a shared statement of intent shaped by the voices of people who live, work and volunteer across Belfast.

Check out this video created by Laura McCamley and Noah Shively-Blinn that captures some of the discussions, ideas, and perspectives brought to light in these recent workshops! 

What Happens Next

The next stage of our journey is to bring everything we have learned together into a clear and collaborative plan. We will be sharing the findings from the workshops and reflecting them back to participants and partners. This will help shape Belfast’s National Park City charter, a document that outlines our shared ambitions and the actions we want to take together. Creating this charter is a collective process and we want as many voices as possible to be part of it.

Join the Journey

This is only the beginning. Over the months ahead we will continue building momentum, strengthening partnerships and inviting more people to get involved. Together we can reimagine what Belfast can be. Together we can help it become a National Park City.

 Whether as an individual or representative of an organization/corporation, you can be part of making Belfast a National Park City.

• Are you in a position to donate materials to create new green space?
• Are you passionate about gardening for wildlife and want to set up local networks?
• Are you an educator that wants to engage your street in the wildlife of their parks?
• Are you in a corporate green team and want to find out more about how you can help?

If you would like to follow this journey, support the campaign or get involved, keep an eye on our website and social channels. There will be many opportunities to contribute as we continue shaping this vision for Belfast. Alternatively, you can register your intention to contribute to our movement by submitting this form, and we will get in touch!