Brookline's parks and open space system is a complex of publicly and privately owned land ranging from intensely managed landscapes to minimally managed woodlands and wetlands. The following inventory of open space parcels includes both lands that are legally protected for open space uses and some of the lands which do not have legal protection, but are significant open space parcels.

Types of open spaces in Town include publicly and privately owned land. Publicly owned land includes conservation areas, parks, playgrounds, recreation facilities, cemeteries, school yards, public works facilities and traffic circles. Many of these are legally protected as open spaces, but others are unprotected and could be used for different public purposes such as additions to schools or town buildings.

Privately owned lands which have open space values include agricultural and recreational land, institutional lands, and private estates of significant size. While the open space on some of these private properties is protected, most is not.

Vacant parcels, green frontage and streetscapes can have special significance to a neighborhood or to the Town as a whole, particularly when they are contiguous to other areas which have open space value in this densely populated urban setting. However, these are not listed in this inventory.

Taking into account all public open space, legally protected or not, as well as significant private open spaces, Brookline has approximately 1,380 acres of open space. This represents 31 percent of the town's land base. However, only 612 acres, 14 percent of the town's land base, is legally protected as open space. Over 600 acres of significant open space is privately held and potentially subject to development. Town-owned conservation sanctuaries total only 56 acres, 1 percent of the town's land base.