How Green is London?

The Mayor of London has released an interactive map which visualizes London's green infrastructure. The map shows where Londoner's have good or poor access to open green spaces, such as parks, gardens, trees and rivers. The tool is designed to highlight where there is more and less need for investment in London's green infrastructure.

The Green Infrastructure Focus interactive map can be used to view a number of environmental layers. These include layers such as access to green public spaces, air quality, road & rail noise and cycling flow. The map also includes a 'composite score' which allows you to see a combined score for all the different variables. This layer gives an overall score which gives you a rough idea of how 'green' every area of London is.

The Green Infrastructure Focus map also includes a number of demographic layers which allow you to view such things as population density and income deprivation. You can also view areas identified with worrying air quality levels and a layer which shows London's green canopy coverage.


Nitrogen dioxide emitted by motor vehicles has been above the legal limit in London for longer than most people care to remember. This means that pedestrians & cyclists can't really avoid pollution in the capital. However it is possible to cut your exposure to air pollution in half by avoiding the city's busiest roads.

The Cross River Partnership can help you find a healthier route for your walking and cycling journeys with their interactive map, the Clean Air Route Finder. This map allows you to enter a starting point and a destination for your walk and then suggests routes that avoid the busiest roads.

The Clean Air Route Finder in fact suggests three different routes for each query. The red route shows the most polluted walk or ride. The green suggestion shows you the route with the lowest pollution. The amber route is somewhere in the middle. The map also tells you the distance and the estimated walking or biking time for each route.