Turkmenistan’s capital is often described as a green oasis between the Kopetdag mountain range and the Karakum Desert. From ancient times, urban greenery in Turkmenistan has been not a luxury but a vital necessity dictated by the country’s distinctive climate. Nowadays, creation of green spaces has become a priority of the state’s environmental policy pursued by Turkmenistan steadily for many years.
Since 1998, the country has been implementing the large-scale National Greening Program. More than 300,000 hectares of new forests have been established, and over the past five years the overall area of landscaped, greened territories has expanded by 18 percent. Each year, in spring and autumn, millions of seedlings – conifers, fruit trees and shrubs – are planted in Turkmen cities as part of nationwide greening campaigns. These initiatives are an important component of Turkmenistan’s state policy, where environmental goals are interwoven with socio-cultural objectives. International recognition has followed. Ashgabat received a UN certificate for participation in the “Trees in Cities” program.
By now, it is hard to count how many park zones have appeared in Ashgabat, and their number continues to grow. A stroll through a city park is a simple way to step into nature without leaving the city behind. Parks, avenues and small squares remain magnets for residents in every season. They play a significant role in the life of both immense metropolises and small provincial towns alike. These are the islands of nature where amid urban bustle and the constant roar of highways a person can find a pocket of solitude, take a breath and rest from the daily routine by simply watching how the seasons change the scenery.
Yet the value of these green promenades does not end there. Each of them is a component, an integral and inseparable part of urban planning and the city’s landscape and the broader work of shaping the environment people live in. What unites them is a single overarching task – greening the city. Ashgabat’s modern park zones function, in a sense, as ecological frameworks for urban space. They form a unified natural network – an organic infrastructure – linked by boulevards, water arteries and alleys that run like corridors through the city.
In Turkmenistan’s capital, the condition and development of parks receive close attention on the ongoing basis. For that reason, modernization and steady improvement of city park areas are treated as matters of great importance, and reconstruction projects are actively implemented. The chief aim when building a new park – or reconstructing an existing one – is to create a setting that contrasts with the city’s architectural and artistic image, or, conversely, to make the park a continuation of the city’s architectural concept.
The park “15 Years of Turkmenistan’s Independence” is a vivid example. It was reconstructed in 2025. It lies at the crossroads of four streets in the historic center of Ashgabat. Not long ago, the place looked more like a small patch of woodland than a park. There were no pathways, no lighting, only the rustle of Canadian maples, tree-of-heaven (ailanthus), poplars and mulberry trees. There was an exhibition pavilion in the middle of that green mass. It had long lost its purpose, standing awkwardly like a reminder of another era.
But then the time came, and the park got a new look – one fitting a city whose life has taken on new meaning and rhythm. It now covers 50 hectares. Much of the territory is made up of neatly trimmed lawns and open areas edged by young plantings of pines, cypresses, plane trees, willows and other ornamental species. A broad promenade stretches along the full length of the park. Together with side alleys, they form vast looped patterns of smooth pathways. They give generous space to those who favor active recreation – sports, cycling, rollerblading, skateboarding. And the park’s gazebos invite a quieter kind of rest.
Creation of parks and squares is naturally an investment in the long horizon of life, since the planned look of landscape architecture of natural islands inside the city usually takes shape only after 15–20 years. The park zone in Ashgabat, completely reformatted from top to bottom, has only begun its formation. Still, the park ensemble situated between two residential areas has already become a place people of all generations are drawn to. Its atmosphere combines the triad that people so often seek - aesthetics, comfort and health.
Modernization has also touched another green park area named after Atamurat Niyazov, located in the very heart of Ashgabat. Created more than two decades ago, it won the hearts of residents long ago thanks to its convenient location, dense green cover of local trees and shrubs and abundance of fountain complexes with small basins. Such park alleys are known as boulevards. They split the roadway with a broad green ribbon of plantings and become an adornment to the district.
In September 2025, the Atamurat Niyazov boulevard reopened for regular visitors after reconstruction. The lighting was renewed, the pedestrian surfacing updated, and the fountain complexes gained color and musical design. Walks are now accompanied by the melodies of Turkmen composers, softly carried through speakers, while the clear fountain sprays seem to applaud noisily through a many-colored play of light. Only the park’s flora has not changed. There remain dozens of species of trees, shrubs and flowers. In spring, during the height of vegetation, when the boulevard’s air fills with floral fragrances, it becomes a vernissage of living nature. Here one can see the white “candles” of chestnut blossoms, green catkins of linden and multicolored clusters of several varieties of acacia.
An original composition of deciduous and coniferous drought-resistant plants is formed by pyramidal oaks, ornamental plums and shrubs, Japanese quince, cypresses, plane trees, pines and many other species. It should be noted that for many years seedlings for parks have been grown in national nurseries, where varieties resilient to the arid climate are cultivated and carefully selected.
And when the crowns of trees become a thick green ceiling of the spreading plane trees, the boulevard sinks into a gentle, welcoming shade. Like a coverlet, they cover the benches that are almost always occupied by grandmothers with grandchildren, parents with babies in strollers. It is lively here year-round. This is the most popular location for wedding photo sessions. It is a beloved route for advocates of a healthy lifestyle, and for teenagers who glide along the alley on roller skates. Often, too, one can spot young painters working en plein air. The park offers people secluded spaces where they can be alone and shared spaces where they can be among others.
The urban park zones of Turkmenistan’s capital are an aesthetic pleasure and the creation of natural ecosystems, health and physical activity, culture and education, community strengthening and care for the future.