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Myddelton Square is considered the chief adornment of the New River Estate and is named after Sir Hugh Myddelton who was responsible for building the New River to provide fresh water to London's growing population in the early C17th. The central garden contains some notable trees particularly on the perimeter, with an ornamental garden of raised beds, and now surrounded by new railings. Railed off within the area of the square is St Mark's Church.

The New River Head was the terminus of the New River, constructed in the early C17th to bring fresh water to London from Hertfordshire. Prior to this there were ponds on this site where fishing and duck shooting took place. The New River ended here in a small circular reservoir, the Round Pond, with a larger outer reservoir built in the early C18th. The reservoir was drained when the Metropolitan Water Board took over the New River Company in 1904 and by 1920 the MWB had built its new headquarters here, with the Laboratory Building added by 1938. After it became Thames Water, the headquarters moved to Reading and the buildings here were converted into private apartments. The formal gardens of the MWB became private communal gardens, their landscaping including fountains and rose gardens, now known as the Nautilus Garden. Remnants of the New River Head are at times visible from a viewing platform accessed via Myddelton Passage.

New River Walk follows part of the former waterway of the New River, constructed in 1609-1613 to bring fresh water from springs in Hertfordshire to supply London's growing population. The section of the route through Islington is formed into a series of linear parks, preserved as a nature trail, although the continuous stretch of water in these gardens is actually formed by ponds landscaped to resemble the former river. It was first planted as a garden in the 1860s by the New River Company but remained open water until 1946. It was transferred to Islington Council in 1951, who undertook re-landscaping and opened the public gardens in 1954. Astey's Row Rock Gardens are at the southern end of the New River Walk where the river had been enclosed in pipes in 1892-93 when the area was built over. In the 1950s the pipes were removed and the rock gardens laid out by Vanstone's of Much Hadham. Additional re-landscaping took place in 1996-98, and the gardens were re-opened by Princess Alexandra on 18 June 1998.

Newington Green was the centre of the old hamlet on the edge of Stoke Newington and Islington, and the area attracted wealthy residents in the C16th / early C17th. The village green had been enclosed to form a square in 1742 and from C18th illustrations it appears to have been a simple grassed area surrounded by palings. By the early C19th paths crossed the Green. In 1874 it was acquired by Islington Borough Council and the layout became more elaborate, with benches installed and a picturesque central kiosk, later shaded by trees. The garden was re-landscaped in 2004/5 with a Greenspace Rangers' office, new seating, lighting and bicycle stands as well as road improvements to the surrounding streets. A sculpture by artist Maggi Hambling commemorating Mary Wollstonecraft, who had run a school nearby in the 1780s, was installed in November 2020 following a 10-year fund-raising campaign.

Until c.1805 the site was used as a 'Greenyard', a pound for stray animals. The Northampton Estate was developed as a residential area around the Manor House, which was later demolished in 1896. The district later became overcrowded as London expanded and many houses in the area became workshops and tenements. Northampton Institute was built as a Working Man's College in 1896-98 and later became a polytechnic and then City University in 1966. Only the south-east and south-west sides of Northampton Square still have the original buildings, with a few early C19th houses surrounding the railed central garden, although much bomb damage occurred. The gardens were opened to the public in July 1885 with assistance from MPGA, the layout by Fanny Wilkinson.

In 1563 the Clothworkers' Company was bequeathed 60 acres of land in the area by Dame Anne Packington. The Clothworkers' Estate was developed from 1846-50 and included Arlington and Union Squares, and Packington Square was built by 1861. The area was badly bombed in WWII and the Clothworkers' Co. subsequently sold their land in 1945 although from 1937 the Packington Estate had been administered by City Parochial Foundation. Part of the estate was sold to private developers and Islington Council purchased 22.5 acres in 1963. An earlier private proposal for rebuilding the estate had been rejected as it would have dispossessed unprotected tenants. After a long public enquiry, construction of the new estate began in 1967, completed 3 years later. The objective was to created a community atmosphere with public amenities, including recreational and open space, the main public area of which is Packington Gardens, adjacent to the Regent's Canal.

Paradise Park is popular with children and families owing to its football pitch, RSPB sparrow meadow, community cafe, and playground, which is named after Martin Luther King. It also has free to use outdoor gym equipment, chess tables and the Mary Tealby Peace Garden. The history of Paradise Park began with a temporary adventure playground set up in 1968 on a patch of derelict land that the GLC granted parents permission to use for a summer play scheme. Funding was secured from Christian Aid and the Martin Luther King Foundation, whose grant came with the proviso that the playground should be named after Martin Luther King. The new playground was an immediate success and in September 1968 the GLC agreed to a permanent playground in the corner of the site and announced plans to create a new park, Paradise Park, on the rest of the site.

The Parkland Walk is the disused track of the former Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace Railway. The first section of the line was in use by 1867, with the final section completed by 1873. Use of the line diminished by the 1920s and the last passenger train ran in 1954, with the tracks finally lifted in 1971. In 1990 it was declared a Local Nature Reserve and laid out as a public walk, with former railway structures still visible.

Formerly called Addington Mansions, this was one of the first groups of council flats by Islington Borough Council. Designed by E C P Monson and built in the early 1920s Taverner Estate is on the site of a number of earlier villas. The Taverner Estate consisted of 2 series of flats laid out as squares and was opened in July 1922 by the Mayor of Islington; a plaque on site records that it was named after Alderman Frederick John Addington, a Trade Unionist and Councillor until 1925. When it underwent modernisation from 1977, the estate was later renamed Taverner Estate after Louis Taverner, a landowner in the Highbury Grove area in the mid C19th. The eastern Taverner Square was completed in 1979 and the western Peckett Square in 1981, the latter named after George Peckett who was on the local Vestry in the 1860s and was involved in the creation of Finsbury Park. The two squares have trees, grass and some seating.

The freehold of Penn Road Gardens was acquired by Islington Borough Council in 1921 and an Act of Parliament of 1906 prevented building on the enclosure in the lifetime of Lord Islington. In 1928 the garden was described as a 'triangular area attractively laid out with well-kept lawn, flower beds, shrubs, well grown trees'. Since 2005 the gardens' flower and shrub beds have been maintained by the community and in 2010/11 received a Green Flag Community Award Winning Park. As a result of an improvement grant in 2010/11, the raised central area was transformed with two circular lawns and various beds with different styles of planting, and has wheelchair access. A perimeter path surrounds the lawn, with niches for benches, each surrounded by privet hedging; shrub beds border the entire gardens to the boundary railings and there are well-established trees around the edges. It has been maintained by Penn Road Residents Association since 2005, and regularly picks up both ‘London in Bloom’ and ‘Islington in Bloom’ community awards.

Percy Circus was laid out and designed by William Chadwell Mylne for the New River Estate. It is named for Robert Percy Smith, a director of the New River Company and brother of Sydney Smith, the English clergyman and essayist and one of the founders of the Edinburgh Review in 1802. The circular garden is on a sloping site with paths, raised beds around the centre and mature trees, shrubs and the original C19th railings.