Save to List: Fil Lykoudis’ Breathing Cities
A world’s worth of recommended spots from our global community
words – fil lykoudis
location – athens, greece
In cities shaped by speed, concrete, steel and systems, green space arrives as a gentle contradiction – and as a reminder. It softens the built world, slows time, invites the eye to wander and gives a better quality of life which benefits our overall health and wellbeing. Some are perched on rooftops, others hidden beneath reclaimed infrastructure. Some are carved from memory, while others rewild what had been forgotten. At Paly Architects, founded in 1984, we’re known for our thoughtful, context-sensitive designs which combine modern design with timeless principles – always prioritising sustainability and a strong connection to the environment. Having joined the firm in 2019, it;’s my pleasure to curate the following spaces from around the world to reimagine the concept of public green space.
01_Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center Park — Athens, Greece
Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Deborah Nevins & Associates
At the edge of Athens, where the city meets the sea, a green roof unfolds like a lifted landscape. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center houses libraries and performance halls and, on top, a planted park that rises gradually toward the sky. Cypress, lavender and olive trees root the space in Mediterranean ecology, while wide promenades and shaded pergolas offer civic ritual under the sun. From its summit, the Parthenon and the Saronic Gulf are visible in one sweeping arc – a quiet dialogue between ancient and contemporary horizons.
02_The High Line — New York City, USA
James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Piet Oudolf
Above the streets of Manhattan, the High Line is a reuse project of industrial construction reimagined as ecology. From an old rusted freight line – an image of the past – to a linear park – a glimpse of the near future…? – that moves like a green river through the city’s west side, it merges horticulture and steel, choreography and chance. Wild grasses and curated plantings thrive between rail ties, while overlooking framed fragments of skyline. Here, the city is paused, reframed and made walkable in a reconnection with nature. Maybe not nature untouched, but nature insisted upon, in layers, in motion, in bloom.
03_Xiaohe Park — Guiyang, China
TURENSCAPE
Xiaohe Park does not dominate its landscape – it listens to it. Built within a natural floodplain, the park allows water to rise and retreat across porous paths, wetlands and terraced fields. Native reeds and aquatic plants act as filters and borders, creating a gentle choreography between human activity and seasonal rhythms. What was once a degraded site is now a resilient interface: between ecology and habitation, between river and city. It is not a fixed garden, but a living threshold.
04_Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum — Queens, New York, USA
Isamu Noguchi
Tucked quietly, like a secret, into an industrial corner of Queens, Noguchi’s garden is not an ordinary public green space. Here, trees cast shadows across carved basalt; granite boulders lie around you and it is shaped, probably, more from silence than any material used. The garden provokes an ongoing discussion between art and earth, object and absence. It welcomes stillness, yet pulses with presence. In a loud, constantly running city, it offers a rare thought: that a single stone, placed with care, can realign the world.
05_Cheonggyecheon Stream — Seoul, South Korea
Seoul Metropolitan Government, Mikyoung Kim Design
From the river to a congested highway and back to a river, flowing again.The story of Cheonggyecheon is an ecological restoration; the importance of water can be seen in the public life that sprang up with the reappearing river. Spanning nearly 11 kilometers, its shaded walkways, stepping stones and wild edges reintroduce Seoul to its own geography. The stream invites everyone: small ecosystems, animals, people of all ages. Everyone is welcomed in this “slow living” part of the city with the water sounds giving the rhythm.
06_Park am Gleisdreieck — Berlin, Germany
Atelier Loidl
In the place of memories, where trains once traveled across a divided Berlin, the Park am Gleisdreick has become a “green break” for Berliners. Retaining the scars and sleepers of the railway, allowing nature to conquer again the space with meadows. Wildflowers grow between rusted rails; cyclists ride beneath steel gantries. It is a park shaped by contrasts – industrial and soft, historical and immediate, “grown” nature and artificially built elements. Here, memory is not preserved in stone, but allowed to bloom in fragments and grasses.
07_Parc de Diagonal Mar — Barcelona, Spain
Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT)
In everyday city life, people and spaces lose their ability to be spontaneous. Parc de Diagonal Mar works not only as a green space, but reminds us of the importance of sudden wanders. It unfolds like a painting comes to life. Water channels, fountains and greenery coexist with metal walkways, and abstract steel structures give a sense of motion and play on a post-industrial coastal site. Native Mediterranean plants and bold sculptural forms reflect the ideas of Enric Miralles: gesture, asymmetry and joy. Constructed with sustainable development principles and ecological design, it is a green space where form echoes nature without imitating it.
08_Parque Biblioteca España — Medellín, Colombia
Giancarlo Mazzanti
High in the hills of Medellín, three angular black volumes rise like pieces of the mountain and around them, paths, gardens and public spaces blossom. These are the libraries of Parque Biblioteca España, a project with equal architectural and landscape importance: a transformation of social and spatial access. Trees have been planted, green terraces created, steps have been carved and culture now grows in a space that used to be feared. This park builds a future upon a difficult history.
These green spaces are not just about greenery; they are our reconnection with nature, inside the city. They bring together water, as a foundation of quality life and sustainable development; greenery and small ecosystems as everyday escape; and memories, both preserved and with the initiations of making new ones. Designed with care, they can be seen as gestures of trust between cities and their citizens: reminding us that cities are not fixed, they breathe where we let them. These parks remind us that nature was here before us. They show us that the wild and the manmade can coexist, and that nature and cities are not enemies. It is time to welcome back nature into our cities and everyday lives, for the benefit of us all.
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