One of the criteria for a comfortable ecologically clean urban environment is access to green spaces, their number and quality in any given city. Public green spaces play an important socio-cultural role in the context of active and passive recreation of citizens, various types of recreational activities. The relevance of this study is due to increased attention to the formation of open public spaces in the city of Krasnoyarsk. The purpose of this work is to trace the evolution and identify the social and cultural significance of the green public spaces in Krasnoyarsk. The objectives of the research are to study the green spaces of Krasnoyarsk in a historical retrospective, analyze the green spaces of Krasnoyarsk from the point of view of their ecological significance, recreational use. Research methods included literature review on the topic, analysis of historical data, field survey of the territory, long-term observation, photographic recording, comparative retrospective analysis, and graphic-analytical method. The study captures the most common types of public green spaces and their role in creating a comfortable urban environment. It traces in the most detail the evolution and cultural significance of the most important historical green spaces in Krasnoyarsk: the City Garden (now the Central Park), Yudinsky Garden, Krutovsky Garden. These examples show that gardens and parks can be formed both on the basis of the natural environment of urban forests, and artificially created by the efforts of citizens, that over time they can undergo various quantitative and qualitative, planning and functional transformations. Despite the transformations that have taken place, all the studied historical objects still exist and are used for their intended purpose. In addition to these historical green areas, we examine the newly organized public green spaces with a cultural and recreational component over the past decades: Tatyshev Park, All-season Fun-Park Bobrovy Log, Flora and Fauna Park Roev Ruchey, Dream Gardens and others. The article notes the importance of municipal, public and private initiatives in the organization of local green areas. The analysis allows us to assert that there is a certain system of public green spaces in Krasnoyarsk. It has disadvantages, such as an uneven distribution of green areas throughout the city, lack of interconnections between individual elements, aging of certain areas of greenery, and the complete destruction of some. Nevertheless, the city authorities, architects, designers and the general public make great effort to create a green framework for Krasnoyarsk destined to have an important recreational and cultural role.