168. More Than Parks: How San Antonio Is Building Trails, Gardens, and Green Space Into a Growing City
This week on bigcitysmalltown, Cory Ames moderates a live panel from Creative Futures, a two-day summit in San Antonio bringing together creators, builders, entrepreneurs, and civic thinkers. This conversation focuses on green spaces in San Antonio — how we grow them, how we protect them, and how we creatively integrate nature into a city that is expanding fast.
Joining Cory are Brandon Ross, capital programs manager for San Antonio Parks and Recreation, where he has spent two decades overseeing the Howard Peak Greenway Trail System, now over 100 miles of connected trail and growing; Bob Webster, co-owner of Shades of Green Nursery, a San Antonio institution he and his business partner Roberta Church built over 45 years, now being transformed into a public legacy garden; Stephen Lucke, founder and CEO of Gardopia Gardens, a nonprofit stewarding more than 20 acres across 75 schools and 10 school districts, reaching over 25,000 people annually; and Adriana Quiñones, President and CEO of Arboretum San Antonio, a 230-plus-acre former golf course on the southeast side being converted into one of the city's most significant public green spaces.
They discuss:
- How the Howard Peak Greenway Trail System grew to over 100 miles — and why connecting green spaces multiplies their ecological value
- The physical barriers — rail lines, major roadways, lack of safe crossings — that limit access to parks and trails across the city
- Why Bob Webster turned down $3.5 million for Shades of Green, and what he's building in its place
- The difference between a park and a garden, and why San Antonio needs both
- How Gardopia Gardens uses school yards, churches, and public land to integrate food growing into everyday life
- Why native and edible trees — pecans, Mexican plums, mulberries — should replace the default landscaping choices across the city
- How Arboretum San Antonio is using community input from over 18,000 San Antonians to shape a 20-year development plan
- What green equity means in practice, and why access to green space shouldn't require traveling far
RECOMMENDED NEXT LISTEN:
▶ 160. How a Polluted Lake Became a Wildlife Haven in San Antonio — A closer look at how one of San Antonio's most degraded natural spaces was reclaimed — and what it says about the city's relationship with its environment.
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