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Although Mile End Park was not fully opened until 2004, it was planned from the 1940s, included in Sir Patrick Abercrombie's Greater London Plan. King George's Field in the south opened in 1952 on an area of bomb damage, and the adjacent East London Stadium opened in 1966. Some land clearance and tree planting took place over the years, with the northern area landscaped in the 1980s. A concerted plan to complete the park took place from 1995 following successful application for funding from the Millennium Commission. The aim was that it should be a sustainable entity, built for the community and a catalyst for regional regeneration. It consists of a series of distinct areas providing for different activities, linked by a winding pathway.

Together with Stepney Green Gardens and Stepney Green Park, Mile End Waste is a remnant of Mile End Green, later called Stepney Green. It was the largest of several commons in the Manor of Stepney, which extended from St Dunstan's Church to Whitechapel, and was the site of historic events, including the Peasants Revolt. In 1910-12 Stepney Borough Council planted 2 long rows of plane trees on a strip of land along Mile End Road, laid out roadside gardens and erected commemorative statues for Edward VII and William Booth. In 1865 Booth had held services in the open air on Mile End Waste, before processing to a second site on the old Quaker Burial Ground, now part of Vallance Recreation Ground.

In the C19th the area between the Rope Walk and the railway arches, later to become Millwall Park, was grazed by cattle, the ground unsuitable for building. In 1901 one of the fields became the playing ground for Millwall Football Club, which used the pitch here until it moved south of the river in 1910. Millwall Park was originally called Millwall Recreation Ground, and at one time its facilities boasted an open-air swimming pool, which opened in 1925 but suffered bomb damage and was later demolished. The park has an area of formal planting that since 2006 has been the site of Frank Dobson's 'Woman and Fish' sculpture. The DLR Island Gardens Station was built on part of the park.

Mudchute Park and Farm was established on a piece of derelict land created from the spoil from dredging Millwall Dock in the 1860s, and was saved from housing development through a public campaign by local people keen to preserve it for open space. The outcome is the hugely popular Mudchute Park and Farm, run by the Mudchute Association, a charity founded in 1977. Now one of the largest Inner City farms in Europe, Mudchute has over 100 animals and fowl, including rare breeds. In WWII the site housed anti-aircraft guns used to defend the docks, and in 2012 an Ack Ack gun was re-introduced to one of the gun sites that remain on the farm - the others provide houses for pigs and other livestock.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Museum Gardens were once part of Bethnal Green Poor's Lands, an area of former manorial waste that under a trust deed of 1690 was administered to benefit the local poor. The Poor's Lands were divided in 1825 when a site was purchased to build St John's Church. In 1872 a parcel of land in the northern section was purchased to erect the Bethnal Green Museum, with the proviso that land not needed for building would become a public recreation ground. As a result the land south of the museum was laid out and opened as ornamental public gardens in 1875, originally known as Bethnal Green Museum Garden. The garden contains mature trees and continues to have formal displays, including a raised mound of carpet bedding.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Paradise Gardens is a small strip of land that once formed part of the Bethnal Green commonland within the Manor of Stepney. A Trust Deed of c.1678 prevented building over the commonland and enabled the profits from leasing the land to benefit the poor of the parish. This small area of garden, which complements the adjacent Bethnal Green Gardens and Museum Gardens, was once a 'west paddock' let to a gardener. The terraced houses of Paradise Row date from the C18th and early C19th. Paradise Gardens consists of a strip of grass with notable planes enclosed by railings.

Poplar Recreation Ground was laid out on a site that contained the former burial ground and almshouses of the East India Company merchants, which dates from the C17th. After the Company's property transferred to the Crown in 1858, the almshouses were demolished and the site was laid out as a public park by the Metropolitan Board of Works. It was opened to the public in 1867.

The forecourt of the Queen's Building on the Mile End Campus of Queen Mary, University of London, has a semi-circular area of formal planting with a driveway and a fine clock tower with drinking fountain. The building originated as the Queen's Hall of The People's Palace, which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1887, and was built on the former site of Bancroft's School founded in 1737. Nicknamed 'The Albert Hall of East London' it provided East Enders with educational, cultural and social activities. A popular venue for many years, it eventually closed in 1954 and was sold to Queen Mary College, now forming part of its campus.

Ravenscroft Park was opened on 5 December 1990 by Dr David Bellamy. According to a plaque installed in the park, it was created 'for the people of Bethnal Green, with thanks to the Monument Trust and the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association for assistance with grants'. A community garden comprised of raised beds was created in 2015, gardened by children from nearby Columbia Primary School, together with parents and neighbours. Nearby is a circular mosaic set into the ground, relocated here from its former location in Brick Lane. It was originally created in the 1990s by artist Rachel Lichenstein with children from Thomas Buxton and St. Anne’s schools.

Rectory Gardens is on the site of the former garden of St Anne's Rectory, an early C18th house that was destroyed in WWII. Now a public garden owned by Tower Hamlets Council, the roughly triangular site is bordered by the Limehouse Cut, London’s oldest canal built in 1766-9, with Commercial Road to the north and Docklands Light Railway viaduct, originally built for the London and Blackwall Railway, along its former southern boundary.

Ropemakers Fields was laid out under the auspices of London Docklands Development Corporation on derelict land, together with land above the new Limehouse Link Tunnel. Although a new park it is of some historic interest in that it was formerly the site of ropemaking in Limehouse where rope for marine anchors, rigging and mining was made for many centuries. Samuel Pepys refers to a visit to the ropeyard in 1664, and Tsar Alexander II of Russia visited in 1871.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

The Spanish and Portuguese Jews' New Burial Ground opened 1733, and was extended eastwards in 1855 and eventually closed for burial in 1888. Parts of the wall have been lowered but the western boundary wall was built in 1733 and a large part of the C19th extended area survives within QMC and Westfield College. Spanish and Portuguese Jews came to this country fleeing from religious persecution and established themselves in Mile End in 1656. The Sephardi Velho (Old) Cemetery had opened in 1657, closing in 1737 when it was full and the new cemetery was open. The cemetery was listed by EH in 2014.