Harlow is greener than its reputation. The town was planned with fingers of open country running through it, so the nearest green space is usually at the end of the road. Water is a short walk too. None of the land is officially protected. The landscape comes from the town's plan and the countryside around it, and it holds up well.
The average Harlow home is roughly 125 metres from green space, with about 29 green spaces within a kilometre. That comes from the 1947 masterplan. Frederick Gibberd and the landscape architect Sylvia Crowe drew green wedges through the town to separate the neighbourhoods, and Harlow Town Park sits in the middle of them. Most new towns promised residents the countryside. Harlow built it between the houses.
Water is about 350 metres from the average front door, with about 32 ponds, streams and other stretches within a kilometre. The River Stort marks the northern edge of the town, running past Harlow Mill, the old watermill that's now a restaurant.
The National Cycle Network is about 1.1 kilometres from the average home, and about 37% of homes are close to it. That's on top of the town's own cycle tracks, which are among the most extensive in the country and connect every neighbourhood to the centre.
Harlow's homes have about 74,000 square metres of private garden for every 1,000 residents. That reflects a town of houses with their own back gardens, which is what the post-war planners built for families leaving cramped London flats.
The valuation list for the area has 2,317 rateable premises, and offices, shops and warehouses are the most common types, ahead of industrial units. The breakdown counts 608 offices, 592 shops, 69 restaurants and 57 pubs. These are premises on the list, and some may be empty at any given time. The town was designed for people to work as well as live, and offices still outnumber shops. Each neighbourhood was planned with its own pub, and 57 pub premises suggest that part of the plan was followed.
Of the 483 food premises in the area with a hygiene rating, about 78% hold the top score and about 2% fall at the low end.
Harlow's council area recorded fine-particle pollution of about 7.5 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024.
The old town and the planned town sit side by side. Old Harlow and Churchgate Street keep the medieval market town and its church. Mark Hall, Netteswell and Potter Street are among the neighbourhoods built around it. The Water Gardens in the town centre are on Historic England's register of landscapes. Pishiobury and Briggens are registered parks and gardens nearby. To the east, the villages of Matching Green and Matching Tye are in open farmland. Westwards, Roydon and Nazeing run down towards the Lea valley. Harlow Town Park and the Stort towpath are the places to try on a weekend visit to judge whether the green wedges suit the way a household lives.
No area of outstanding natural beauty, site of special scientific interest or ancient woodland overlaps the area. Nothing around Harlow is protected for its landscape. All of its green space was planned on purpose.
The surroundings are one of Harlow's real strengths. Green space and water are a few minutes' walk from almost every home, and countryside starts on the town's edge.