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When I first met Mitchell Silver, then New York City’s Planning Commissioner, it wasn’t in New York or Richmond. It was in Bilbao, Spain, at the first German Marshall Fund BUILD conference in 2014. We sat side by side, and he told me a story I’ve carried with me ever since.

Working with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Silver had a goal: Every New Yorker should live within 15 minutes of a park. Geographically, they succeeded. But then came the criticism: A small “pocket park” with one bench is not the same as walking to Central Park or Prospect Park. The real challenge wasn’t just proximity, it was quality. That meant more than grass. It meant trees, bike lanes, safe sidewalks, playgrounds and connections.

And when the city began to invest in parks and green

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