Getting Green
Macrosized cities of a hundred million or more will be compelled to set aside large or well-placed retreats of green and natural havens for recreational use and mental health for their citizens. Few people actually realize the extent of the need for people to engage with nature—it’s going to be a mental health necessity in nonnatural, built environs. Researchers have discovered that “nature” can make you kinder, happier, more creative, more vibrant, better adjusted, and better connected to other people.[1] It will be an essential to a happier, more fulfilling, and healthier life.
Both looking at and being within green spaces help to restore the mind’s ability to focus.
The experience of nature helps to restore the mind from the mental fatigue of work or studies, contributing to improved work performance and satisfaction.
Urban nature, when provided as parks and walkways and incorporated into building design, provides calming and inspiring havens and encourages learning, imagination, inquisitiveness, alertness, and social interaction.
Green spaces provide necessary places and opportunities for physical activity, which improves thinking, learning, memory, and bodily and mental health.
Outdoor activities can help mitigate symptoms of Alzheimer’s, dementia, stress, and depression; they can improve cognitive function.
Contact with nature helps children to develop reasoning, thinking, emotional, and behavioral connections.
Symptoms of attention deficit disorder in children can be reduced through activity in green settings, and “green time” can act as an effective supplement to traditional medicinal and behavioral treatments.
Natural scenes evoke positive emotions and promote recovery from mental fatigue even for people who are in good mental health.[2]
Access to clean air from forests and plants could be the new status symbol in superpolluted cities. And that access may turn out to be just another way that the rich can afford to distinguish themselves from the poor, who may be forced to choke on secondhand and grimy ghetto air.
People in higher socioeconomic groups with lower rates of physical and mental health problems are more likely to be living in towns and cities with green spaces than are those in poorer circumstances.[3]
Streets will be refashioned by introducing walking and cycling routes as alternatives to motor vehicles. The preservation of green spaces will also play a vital role in improving storm drainage and air quality, and it will help combat the urban heat island effect.
Currently, in people-packed and paved-over Los Angeles, part of the ruined Los Angeles River has been revitalized with plants and animals. What were once ugly places are now favorites for walking, hiking, kayaking, and picnicking. These places are a natural and social green jewel.[4]
Another model is Portland, Oregon, which has almost three hundred public parks with more than thirty-seven thousand acres of green space. Hundreds of miles of bike lanes make for an appealing, attractive, and mellow way to get around the city.[5]
In Paris, France, Project Oasis is a radical plan to increase the amount of public green space by transforming eight hundred concrete schoolyards across the city into “islands of cool.”[6] Meanwhile, in US cities from Baltimore to Seattle, people are rethinking their alleyways and transforming dreary dead-ends into pocket parks as places of cool connectivity and a little green.
Planters, gardens, green roofs, and other features can be incorporated into building design to cool off and dress up a city. The soft rhythmic movements of trees or grass in light and shade or in a light breeze could help create calm, peaceful areas that would aid patients’ recovery, improve workers’ outlook, and enhance students’ productivity.[7] Bright daylight supports circadian (twenty-four-hour bodily) rhythms, enhances mood, promotes neurological health and alertness, and increases the use of natural light, which reduces dependence on electric lighting.[8]
Green space can play an important role in fostering social interactions and promoting a sense of community that is essential in crowded cities. However, parks without obvious beneficial features do the opposite. If a green space is difficult to get to, has poor lighting, or is not clean, it may be seen as unsafe or inaccessible and probably wouldn’t boost a visitor’s mood. In fact, it may even frighten people away and be viewed as dangerous.[9]
For some people, going to a quiet park is a way to escape their daily routine, while others use nature to challenge themselves and might prefer something strenuous like mountain biking, climbing, or surfing. Still others may find comfort in nature just when interacting with animals or other people.
A vertical forest is built straight up into the city sky from buildings, absorbing tons of CO2 and producing a wealth of oxygen at the same time. The plant life helps reduce smog, dampen noise levels, regulate temperatures inside and outside of buildings, and can become habitats for native wildlife. During the winter, sunlight can easily pass through the bare plant life, and during the summer, the leaves can block harsh rays that would otherwise pour into comfortable living spaces.
Vertical forestry in built environments offers more than just a horizon of trees. It suggests a greener, better view, enhancing a city for building residents. The trend started with green rooftops, but has grown to encompass all kinds of building surfaces.[10]
Greenery not only is beautiful but also provides us with many other services at no charge. One of the most important reasons to preserve greenery is the simple fact that without it we will have less oxygen to breath. It reduces the amount of pollution that enters the soil, water, and air, provides the ground with a natural erosion protection when strong plant roots penetrate deep into soil and help to hold it in place in the event of floods or other natural disasters.
Green space does not just refer to urban parks. Green space is an umbrella term used to describe either maintained or unmaintained environmental areas, which can also include nature reserves and wilderness environments. But, particularly in city situations, green spaces are purposefully designated for their recreational or aesthetic merits.[11]
Growing research suggests that just about any kind of green space—from hiking trails, forests, and coastlines to soccer fields and local parks—can boost the brain’s stash of feel-good drugs, like dopamine.[12]
When it comes to seeking green pleasure, the quality of the space may matter more than the quantity. Some research has identified specific types of green spaces—broadleaf woods, parks that feature water, and areas with significant biodiversity, for example—as the most fruitful.[13]
Access to areas such as parks, open spaces, and playgrounds has been associated with better general health, reduced stress, and depression levels. One study found that people who use public open spaces are three times more likely to achieve recommended levels of physical activity and better mental health than those who do not.[14]
Physical activity has been shown to improve the cardiovascular system, mental health, neurocognitive development, and general well-being; and to help maintain healthy weight levels and even prevent some types of cancer and osteoporosis.[15] Providing urban green may encourage people to spend more time outdoors engaged in physical activity, which is especially beneficial for seniors, children, and those who suffer from obesity.[16]
Parks are also a source of positive economic benefits. They enhance property values, increase municipal revenue, and attract homebuyers and workers as well as retirees. They filter pollutants and dust from the air, provide shade and lower temperatures in urban areas, and they even reduce erosion of soil into our waterways.[17]
An evaluation of the largest eighty-five cities in the United States found the health savings from parks was an estimated $3.08 billion. Philadelphia experienced $16 million in annual public cost savings as a result of stormwater management and air pollution reduction, according to a 2008 report by the Trust for Public Land Center for City Park Excellence.[18]
Parks and open spaces made from obsolete structures make compact city living far more attractive. Old rail lines, unused bridges, and abandoned streets can be transformed into greenways and pocket parks. Gardens planted on unused or abandoned lots or rooftops can maximize limited space.
A network of urban parks, natural landscapes, and open spaces that include protected natural lands, ecological reserves, wetlands, and other green areas are critical to providing healthy habitats for humans. They also preserve regional ecosystems and save wildlife and plants in densely built places amid growing cities.
Buildings should be oriented so that heat and sun glare may be reduced, to help the spaces within to stay naturally cool and improve air quality.[19]
Some cities are trying out a lamppost that incorporates a compost bin in its base to collect food waste and is powered by the methane created by the waste as it composts.[20] Another, perhaps more radical, idea is based on the sentiment that public urination isn’t going to stop anytime soon. So one urban designer is calling for the placement trash cans in strategic locations with built-in urinals that funnel liquid waste into a tray containing dried garden grass or wood-ash to be eventually turned into nitrogen-rich fertilizer.[21]
In one study of workplaces, employees in windowless spaces introduced twice as many green elements around them as those who had views of natural areas. Workers report that plants make work settings far more attractive, pleasant, personal, and healthy. The presence of greenery improves employee morale, increases worker efficiency, and decreases absenteeism and sick leaves. A lack of nature views or indoor plants was associated with higher levels of tension and anxiety among office workers.[22]
When comparing workforce reactions in windowless offices but with and without plasma TV “windows” showing natural scenes, participants preferred the offices with plasma-display windows. Increased effectiveness was a result even with this artificial connection to the natural world.[23]
For children, natural settings and backgrounds encourage learning, exploration, and building activities; they improve problem-solving skills, the ability to respond to changing situations, and participation in group decision-making. Attention is clearly important for learning, but many kids have trouble paying attention in the classroom, whether it is because of distractions, mental fatigue, or ADHD. Luckily, spending time in nature—taking a walk in a park and even having a view of nature out the window—helps restore kids’ attention, allowing them to concentrate and perform better on cognitive tests.[24] Younger children often use outdoor settings as props for make-believe play that enhances emotional growth.[25]
More than four and a half million children in the United States have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD), a condition that affects social, educational, and psychological growth. One study found that children with ADD who played in windowless indoor settings suffered significantly more severe symptoms than those who played in grassy, outdoor spaces.[26]
Immune systems benefit from direct exposure to natural environments or through contacts with green space. It has also been shown that children with the highest exposure to the outdoors during their first year of life were least likely to have recurrent allergies. Living in areas with more trees and plants was shown to be associated with lower asthma rates.[27]
Encounters with nature also provide mental health benefits for the elderly, including those suffering from Alzheimer’s, a type of dementia that causes memory impairment, intellectual decline, disorientation, impaired ability to communicate and make decisions, less tolerance for levels of stimulation, and death. Supportive outdoor spaces such as looped pathways, tree groves, landmarks for direction, well-lit paths with handrails, seating areas with privacy, and low-key fragrances and colors are soothing to dementia patients.[28]
Dementia and stroke patients exhibited improved mobility and dexterity, increased confidence, improved social skills, better sleep patterns, improved hormone balance, and decreased agitation and aggressive behavior after being “in nature” for extended periods. Emotional states such as stress, agitation, anger, apathy, and depression are also improved and reduced after time spent with Mother Nature.[29]
Roger S. Ulrich, PhD, director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University, investigated the effect that views from windows had on patients recovering from abdominal surgery. Patients able to see the natural world healed faster, had fewer complications, and required less pain medication than those who were forced to stare at walls.
These and other findings from Ulrich’s theory of supportive design concluded that facilities should incorporate nature views and nature-related art in patients’ rooms, aquariums and greenery in waiting areas, fountains and gardens where patients, family, and staff congregate.[30]
The population of the world’s prisons is upward of ten million and rising. Many prisoners are not hardened criminals; some are simply awaiting trial, and some are incarcerated for minor offenses. Social scientists claim that just a short walk in natural spaces with plants and trees can be beneficial to this population and could aid in staunching or altering the destructive behavior of convicts.[31]
Gary W. Evans, PhD, a professor of human-environment relations at Cornell University, studies the effect of noise pollution. Evans found that noisy environments have effects that go beyond irritation and hearing damage. In a study of children, he found that kids attending a school with airplanes flying overhead scored 20 percent lower on word recognition tests.
Evans also found that clerical workers exposed to conversation and other mild office noise showed higher stress levels and did not do as well as those with quieter offices. “City planners, architects and others need to pay more attention to this and other research from environmental psychologists,” states Evans. And he believes that architecture has profound implications for human health and behavior. Mental health conditions constitute one of the main causes of the overall disease burden in the United States, at a cost of more than $198 billion per year.[32]
Having a connection with nature along with social interaction is important to the elderly, as loneliness can mean higher mortality rates and depression along with decreased alertness. To promote connections with nature, the elderly should have easily accessible spaces due to their more limited mobility. Consequently, having parks and green spaces in close proximity to their neighborhoods or care centers is especially important.[33]
As the world’s population ages, there is an increasing need for community environments to support physical activity and social connections for older adults. The proportion of the population age sixty and older is growing rapidly throughout the world. Physical and social environments can positively or negatively influence older adults’ physical activity and social connections. Open spaces in urban areas (green spaces) can promote social engagement, physical activity, relaxation, and interaction with nature—all important elements for physical and emotional health—while reducing health costs.[34]
People seem to prefer a random variety of landscapes with scattered trees, plants, and paths. Those who spend time in a park with a greater richness of plant species are seen to score higher on various measures of psychological well-being than those who visit less biodiverse parks.[35]
A systematic review of sixty studies from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and European countries on the relationships between green space and obesity indicators found that 68 percent of scientific papers showed that green space is associated with reduced obesity.[36]
An intervention study using community gardening and nutritional education in one southern state found that 17 percent of obese and overweight children had improved their BMI (body mass index) classification by the end of a seven-week program of engaging in outdoor activity.[37]
There is also evidence showing that no residential access to green space is not good for babies; it is associated with low birth weight and may be a contributing factor to long-term adverse effects.[38]
Living close to green space has been associated with a longer life-span due to reduced risk of ischemic stroke (the most common type, usually caused by a blood clot in the brain) and higher survival rates afterward.[39]
Of course, when outdoors one must be careful of increased exposure to pesticides, allergenic pollen, infectious agents in soils, animals, and increased risk of injuries. But most potential injuries can be eliminated or minimized through proper design, care, and operation of green spaces, as well as caution by individuals.
Large differences in occurrence of disease are reported when comparing residents of very green and less green settings, even after factoring in socioeconomic status. Healthier individuals tend to move to or stay nearer to greener neighborhoods.
The brain is the only organ that undergoes substantial maturation after birth. Research shows that natural scenes almost always provoke pleasant emotions and promote recovery from all kinds of fatigue. The experience of nature may also provide some relief for those who experience short- and long-term professional burnout.[40]
The constant din and confusion of city life can be mentally exhausting and can actually dull our thinking. Even a small amount of time in a crowded city or on a freeway can cause the brain to suffer memory loss and reduced self-control (as in road rage).[41] Conversely, brief glimpses of natural elements improve brain performance by providing a break from the intense demands of urban life.
When at work, people’s attention is focused on critical information or tasks. Exposure to settings that are visually interesting and relaxing aid in recovery of attention spans. Studies at Stanford University show that just by taking a walk refreshes interest and creative thinking.[42]
Various levels of stress can lead to depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, exhaustion, fatigue, and even strain on bodily functions. It can also negatively affect people’s perceptions of their well-being, including their own mental health. Physical activity has been linked to improvements in mental health and stress. More than one hundred studies have shown that relaxation and stress reduction are significant benefits associated with spending time in green areas.[43]
Ecotherapy, also known as nature therapy or green therapy, is the applied practice of the emergent field of ecopsychology. In a study conducted by Mind, a mental health charity organization, a nature walk reduced symptoms of depression in 71 percent of participants, compared to only 45 percent of those who took a walk through a shopping center.[44] Studies show that exercise can treat mild to moderate depression as effectively as antidepressant medication—but without the side effects, of course. As one example, a recent study done by the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health found that running for fifteen minutes a day or walking for an hour reduces the risk of major depression by 26 percent.[45]
Activities that include wilderness therapy, therapeutic gardening, farming, ecotherapy, nature-based arts and crafts, and animal-assisted aid can improve self-esteem and self-image, self-control, confidence, empowerment, and clearer decision-making.[46]
People don’t have to head for the primal woods to enjoy nature’s restorative effects; even a view of nature from a window helps. In one study, office workers with a view of nature liked their jobs more, enjoyed better health, and reported a greater ability to recover from “normal psychological wear and tear.” Also, those who had walked in a nature preserve performed better than another group of participants on a standard proofreading task and reported more positive emotions and less anger.[47] By the way, blue spaces (rivers, lakes, and coasts) are as important as green—it is not the color that matters but the opportunity to experience it.
Children who live in greener environments have a greater capacity for paying attention, and they’re better able to delay gratification and inhibit impulses. Nature’s impact on children with a hyperactivity disorder in middle-class settings showed that children exhibited fewer symptoms after spending time in green surroundings than when they pursued activities indoors or in nongreen outdoor areas.
All told, these research findings suggest that individuals’ desire for contact with nature is not just the result of a romanticized view but is an important internal process that appears to make people feel and act better.[48]
Green areas allow for exercise, which offers antistress properties through the release of “feel-good” endorphins. Activity and interaction with people also reduces loneliness and isolation for those who engage in any type of exercise, no matter how gentle.[49]
The communal aspect of green and blue spaces may contribute to social closeness, no matter how casual. And for children the impact is equally positive, helping improve exercise, reduce obesity, ease the development of friendships, and encourage independence and contact with people.[50]
For future building projects, it will be important to keep in mind the importance of plants, water, and sky. These are not just luxuries for the middle and upper classes; they benefit the health and well-being of everybody and should be firmly embedded in the plans of developers everywhere.[51]
Psychologist Judith H. Heerwagen, PhD, is already putting the principles of restorative environments into practice in the work she does as a consultant to designers, companies, and others. She’s trying to find ways to make people more psychologically comfortable by “naturalizing” interiors, using natural patterns but rendering them in abstract ways. For example, she replaces bold geometrics with abstract natural patterns in floor coverings and uses branch-like forms overhead to make ceilings reminiscent of tree canopies, pointing out, “We didn’t evolve in a sea of gray cubicles.”[52]
Even though trends suggest that people are moving back to cities, parks give people a chance to get away from urban stress, noise, and built settings and provide places to stretch the arms and legs while enjoying a little “open space.” A relatively small investment in urban green spaces can save governments a lot of money down the line in health-care costs, creating good green vibes that will be beneficial in many ways for their citizens.[53]
Planning and management for green areas are not just about cutting the grass, pruning plants, raking leaves, and picking up garbage. The bigger part of management is how to involve the community in the parks. We need to think of parks more as outdoor community centers where we need to invest in practical and positive surroundings and activities for people trying to fulfill their potential. When we improve parks, we’re really improving the quality of our lives.
But in increasingly crowded cities, it can be difficult to find room for parks. Fortunately, there are potential places that can provide the same kind of benefits. In recent research, these spaces are more common than we thought.
Some are uncommon and part of the curious and uncommon makeup of our oddball urban places. The modern urban landscape can contain pocket parks from discarded real estate parcels, green walls, and agrihoods. They can be made up of stranded patches of woods, abandoned military bases and airports, stormwater systems, disused rail lines and bridges, forgotten alleys, walkways, and bridges, roofs and facades of buildings, and places where scraps of land are pieced together like an eccentric, multicolored, inner-city crazy quilt.[54]
Rail parks are popping up, inspired by the success of New York City’s High Line, a 1.45-mile-long elevated park, greenway, and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan. It was saved from demolition by neighborhood residents as a hybrid public space where visitors can experience nature, art, and design, and it breathed life back into a blighted place.[55]
Besides space for physical activity, there can be space allotted for cultural events such as open-air art camps, dance and theater classes, programs for music and poetry, and the more traditional, multipurpose recreational centers and community neighborhood gardens in which to grow produce and flowers.[56]
Privately owned public open spaces (POPOS) may be accessible to all; they may include plazas, rooftop terraces, greenhouses, sun terraces, and just public seating for the enjoyment of people watching.[57] Spaces for natural green will be planned for in our future super-skyscrapers, where there may be thousands, even millions, of urban dwellers looking for and needing a “green relief” prescription.
The soothing natural backdrops of soft rhythmic movements of trees or grass in a light breeze or the chiaroscuro patterns of light and shade created by clouds are patterns contributing to a calm, stable mental attitude.
Some of the world’s most famous cities are as known for their open space as they are for their culture, such as Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Central Park in New York, Cal Anderson Park in Seattle, Encanto Park in Phoenix, and Boston Common in Massachusetts—all are central attractions in their own right and examples of more to come in future cities.
The way cities and neighborhoods are designed affects whether it’s easy for people to walk, cycle, participate in active recreation, use public transport, and interact with neighbors and their community in general. Nowadays, urban planning decisions have a key role to play in contributing to people’s overall health; decreasing levels of disease, crime, and dysfunction; and restoring native plants and animals to the “concrete jungle” of municipalities.[58]
Although parks are inestimable, they can be expensive and unfair to certain sectors of citizens as well. If elaborate projects are undertaken in poorer neighborhoods, they can harm or marginalize vulnerable residents by forcing them out of their homes as rents and property values rise and the neighborhoods morph and gentrify.[59]
It is important to note that disadvantaged population groups often live in neighborhoods with reduced availability of green space. Studies have shown that these areas tend to benefit the most from improved access to urban greenery that may help to reduce inequalities in health, income, minority status, disability, jobs, education, crime, and other counterproductive factors.[60]
If money is scarce to buy land for more parks, then underutilized and abandoned spaces such as railway corridors, vacant lots, power line easements, brownfields, unused roads, rooftops, and even small scraps of land can be made into functional yet affordable spaces that people can use as petite parks.
Have a look around on your next walk; maybe a small plot or vacant lot near you is just the place for a community garden or pocket park. Green is good for your soul and your neighborhood.
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