The City and County of Denver’s Game Plan for a Healthy City is a citywide parks and recreation plan for the next 20 years that proclaims that easy access to parks and open space is a basic right for all Denver residents. Built from input from more than 6,000 residents, stakeholders, and staff members, the Game Plan provides a roadmap for parks, recreation programs, and urban forest to serve the needs of all Denverites in the face of population growth and climate change. The Game Plan was led by Brie Hensold and Gina Ford while principals at Sasaki, and they continued to serve as the project’s planning and design leadership while at Agency, working with the project manager and support team at Sasaki.
Denver’s system is incredibly diverse, spanning urban plazas to large natural areas in the outlying mountains. However, today the system is facing unprecedented challenges environmentally and economically, and it is not fully and equitably meeting the needs of all of Denver’s growing and changing neighborhoods. The plan seeks to flip the mindset of recent parks investment, calling for a new vision that rallies around parks as essential public health and outlines five key strategies to:
- Adapt to the Changing Climate & Limited Resources,
- Diversify Parks & Recreation Services,
- Grow the Park System & Recreation Access,
- Reinvest in Denver’s Parks & Recreation Resources & People, and
- Connect to Denver’s Nature & Culture.
These strategies are informed by actionable policies, projects and programs and tied to recommended metrics and responsible parties for implementation.
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