Recent research by the Sydney Urban Parks Education and Research (SUPER) Group, a consortium of Sydney park agencies, indicates the significance of urban parks in contemporary urban life in Australia. This paper presents data from the second of two community surveys of park use conducted for SUPER Group in 1998 and 2001, which show how urban parks in Sydney successfully cater for demand from all sections of the community. Unlike many publicly provided leisure facilities, which often cater for a minority of the population and for particular demographic or socio-economic groups, it is difficult to identify any group which is not served by urban parks. Among the population aged 16 and over it was found that 91% had visited at least one park in the previous year. Further, it was found that this figure varied very little across a wide range of social groups, defined by age, gender, ethnicity, economic status and class. The paper considers the range of benefits of park provision and use that accrue to the community and ways that they might be evaluated. In particular consideration is given to assessment of the health benefits of parks which form the basis of the current 'Healthy Parks, Healthy People' campaign.