The city of Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, recently ranked 7th among 12 megacities in the country in terms of its excellent distribution of parks.

That's according to the China Academy of Urban Planning & Design, which released the 2022 Evaluation Report on China's Major Urban Parks.

The report selected 35 major cities as research subjects, including 12 megacities, in a survey that involved a total of 46,748 park green spaces.

Through evaluation indicators, the report found a general problem of uneven layout and an insufficient supply of urban parks, in its overall drive to promote the systematic development of parks and green spaces.

An urban park like this one in Xi'an is a great place for the leisure of locals. [Photo/Xi'an municipal government's WeChat account]

Xi'an has a comprehensive park service coverage rate of 65.99 percent, a community park service coverage rate of 58.62 percent, and a coverage rate of amusement park services of 24.8 percent, according to the report.

In recent years, Xi'an has promoted the establishment of energy-saving, ecological and functional urban landscaping, developed parks, squares and green spaces, and has created 15-minute convenient leisure circles.

In 2022, the city built eight urban parks and 381 kilometers of greenways, and established or upgraded 154 green squares or pocket parks, with a total of 7.05 million square meters of urban green space added.

This year, Xi'an will promote a green and low-carbon development model, to strike a balance between high-quality economic development and the protection of the ecosystem and the environment.