The world's best urban gardens

Built in 1821 behind a church, this lovely oasis of flora and fauna is located in a surprisingly quiet corner of NYC’s bustling West Village. Over the years, the gardens have expanded to include six distinct areas on two city acres. A stroll from the Hudson Street entrance leads visitors through a kaleidoscope of flowers, paths and lush, green lawns. Trees of all stripes are found throughout; maples, cherry and a rare Kentucky yellowwood have all been carefully selected to attract the 100’s of migrating birds and butterflies that complete this slice of paradise.

Created for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, this minimalist green space sits regally – but largely forgotten – beneath a sea of mammoth residential skyscrapers. This secret bucolic scene is a welcome sight for the curious interloper; at any given time, at least 25 creative sculptures, ranging in style from ornamental to bizarre, are strewn throughout. Over the years, statues representing cows at rest, wooden fish, zaftig ladies in polka-dot swimwear as well as animated inanimate artwork like giant stacked apples and buckets of suspended silver water have graced this location.

During the1850’s, La Petite Ceinture (The Little Belt) in Paris was used primarily to transport local steam engines and occasionally, passengers. But when the metro was constructed in 1900, the railway suffered a steady decline until it was finally abandoned in 1934. Sixty years on, a local conservationist association planted vegetation and flowers in the area closest to the 18^th district, forever changing the decaying railway into a peaceful haven for discreet promenades and small wildlife. And although the future of the railway is uncertain, a landscaped forest in the middle of an urban metropolis remains a man-made wonder to behold.