Everyone keeps talking about Shanghai having the most coffee shops in the world. Fine. Who cares?

Meanwhile, the city quietly crossed another number that's arguably more interesting: 1,000 parks.

There's apparently no clean global ranking for this kind of thing, but it's safe to say this is probably one of the biggest urban park networks out there.

Twenty years ago, the city was already talking a lot about getting greener,while new malls and towers kept popping up every month. But now the numbers are starting to look real. Shanghai's park system now works out to roughly 9.5 square meters of park space per person, getting close to what urban planners often reference as a decent livability range for major cities.

Yep. Edging into "actually pretty livable" territory (minus the summer heat).

Even better, they finally let us sit on the grass in most parks. Someone heard us.

If you need evidence, head down to the new-ish Qiantan Leisure Park, which extends the Pudong Riverside green area further south (start at the Kimpton or the newly opened Waldorf Astoria and walk south). The result is a waterfront stretch that just keeps going. And if you've walked or biked down there recently, you know it's starting to feel kinda impressive. It's getting hard to think of another city that's built this much continuous waterfront, this fast.

So yeah. Less concrete. More places to sit that aren't inside a mall. More space where someone isn't trying to sell you something. Keep that going, Shanghai.

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SmartShanghai has a list of all the major parks in Shanghai right here.