Wild York is the collective identity of green spaces in York, beginning from a collaboration at York Design Week in 2021. Our aim is to enhance green space on a city wide scale, proactively including previously unrepresented people in improving natural infrastructure, connected habitats, cycling and walking routes, food provision and flood alleviation. We want to help exciting visions of the future take hold, making a city which works really well for the people and wildlife who live here, and naturally resilient to a changing climate.
This interactive map of existing projects is here to show what there is to enjoy, and if you have the capacity, get involved with. There is a lot already out there to celebrate! Wild spaces you won’t have come across, community gardens and orchards, scenic routes and well connected habitats. Many of these are thanks to the enthusiasm and effort of committed volunteers over decades. We felt it was time to give them a proper platform so they can be found and appreciated as they deserve. Mapping out the green space means we can also see what’s missing, and shows the foundation to add to as we design our city together.
Wild York is a key tool for the Green Corridors York project. Since 2022, St Nicks, York Cares and City of York Council Environment and Communities Team have worked together in partnership with
36 ‘Friends of’ and community groups
Taking place across 104 sites
with over 6000 volunteers from the local area
Wild York is a key tool for the Green Corridors York project. WildYork can help bring land managers and communities together to further increase collaborative working, building more resource and capacity across corridors, the city and region, to have an even bigger impact on nature recovery.
Beyond this map, Wild York is a growing network to help make this a greener and fairer city by facilitating distributed and bottom-up action. The idea is not only to share information, but to connect ideas and resources between the right people to make more ambitious projects happen better and faster across public, third sector and community groups. Like the mycelial network of a forest, helping the trees act as one. If you’re curious to know more, have suggestions, or want to be involved, do get in touch!
Our funders
Wild York development has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Green Corridors York – Rivers and Floodplains project.
Wild York development has been funded by the National Lottery Community Fund as part of the Green Corridors York – Urban Climate Action project.
Our partners
Wild York is an independently run map of green spaces, run in collaboration with local conservation organisations and creatives including:
York Cares – York Cares is an independent employee-volunteering charity which brings businesses, employees and communities together. York Cares engage local businesses to take action to support the Green Corridors York project, including leading on the annual Big Community Challenge event which over 4 weeks brings together hundreds of employee-volunteers to give their time to change landscapes and connect communities for across York.
City of York Council – City of York Council are a statutory organisation and the main landowner within the corridors. Green Corridors York works closely with councillors and council departments including the Environment and Community team and Public Realm to progress nature recovery across the city.
St Nicks Wild Streets United by Design Dogeatcog