Urban Green Spaces

I chose to read, Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The

challenge of making cities just green enough. This is an ongoing issue that needs to be

addressed because urban areas are very overcrowded and polluted. There are lower

income areas that have been neglected environmentally and this needs to change as

well. Implementing these green spaces have many benefits such as promoting physical

activity, decreasing sound and harmful chemicals in the air, and bringing new

perspectives to old areas. There are also potential downfalls such as the green spaces

could increase housing costs and property values.

Adding any type of nature park will make individuals want to walk through or

redirect their running path to this specific area therefore also helping individuals well-

being. Just being in a green space can help destress oneself and stimulate tranquil

feelings. According to this journal, Urban green space, green spaces can give

individuals an opportunity to come across animals and plants which can comfort those

dealing with problems. With America being at the rate that it is with obesity, promoting

physical exercise is a high priority. Parks are far more likely to inspire physical activity if

the park is seen as pleasant.

Another benefit of implementing green spaces would be the creation of

ecological systems. These would be very prosperous for many reasons--refine air,

remove pollution, cutback noise, lower temperatures, and also food can be grown.

According to this journal, Urban green spaces, trees in cities may reduce air pollution by

absorbing certain airborne pollutants from the atmosphere. Larger green areas with
many trees also contribute positively by providing lower temperatures, with shade, and

thus helping decrease heat-related incidents for individuals.

Cities are known for their architectural design and beauty. Having parks

incorporated in this is becoming more and more of a trend. They become very popular

and drawn people in because of their wonders and beauty. For example, Central Park in

the middle of New York City is magnificent. It is so massive and thousands go every day

to witness the awe themselves.

The issue with green spaces is that they can increase property value and

therefore raise house costs for families and individuals. As these green spaces will

revamp the attractiveness and make the neighborhoods more desirable, the housing

cost growth will exclude the residents that the green spaces were originally meant to

assist in the first place. Another negative aspect will be higher rent payments each

month and for those who cannot afford the new prices, they will be forced to move to

much less enticing areas.

This paper is much more so focused on the role of urban green spaces in

shaping public health and environmental justice. I wanted to highlight the reasons of

why this issue is important and how it affects us as individuals firstly. A larger concern is

the fact that people of color/low-income earners are usually neglected and are not given

the green space that they so desperately need.

Within cities, green space is not fairly distributed. Access to such areas like parks

are often based upon income, ethno-racial characteristics, age, gender, and disabilities

to name a few. Recently, the lopsided accessibility to green spaces has been noticed

and has been recognized as an environmental injustice. There are many reasons why
this unfortunate circumstance occurs: the histories of different landscapes, unfolding

new perspectives of leisure and recreation within society, and the past accounts of class

and ethno-racial discrimination. According to this journal, Urban Green Spaces, U.S.

histories of property development are intertwined with histories of ethno-racial

oppressions, philosophies of park design and the land-use systems. As I said before,

the lower socioeconomic class lives in inner ring suburbs where green space is just a

fantasy. In comparison, the wealthier individuals in the suburbs have much more green

spaces handy that are very maintained and well kept. This environmental injustice is

what is fueling the parkland acquisition programs and diverse strategies to deploy

underutilized urban land for additional green space.

In Hangzhou, China they are executing the creation of more urban green

spaces. In between the years 1980 and 2009, the city population increased by 481

million (which is more than the United States). With increased population density comes

increased pollution, inactive lifestyles, inconsistent diets, rising obesity percentages,

increased kidney diseases and lastly, rising diabetes rates. The reason that China has

started to increase its input of green spaces is because there was a recent study that

provided evidence that many residents lack access to parks and that there are entire

areas of the city that there is no green space available. Just to compare Chinas

national green space ratio with the United States: a whopping average of 6.52 m in

relation to a 50.18 m per capita in the United States. The reasons are fairly similar in

why environmental injustice is occurring in China: past patterns of urban development,

high residential densities, and unlimited increases in urbanization. Hangzhou is known

as the Garden City due to its tree-lined streets and Chinas first ever urban wetland
park, The XiXi Wetlands. Just to give a picture, it is three times the size of Central Park

in New York City. The city has made tremendous efforts towards urban greening

programs and it has paid off significantly. Hangzhou has now 166.5 k of green space.

The issue with some of these green spaces is that they are not suitable for recreation.

Most are more veered towards passive recreation such as sight seeing, walking or

drawing.

I believe that green spaces are very important. They promote active lifestyle, can

help get rid of bad toxins and can also turn neglected parts of the city to well tended

areas that families/individuals will want to go. Incorporating green spaces into urban

areas is even more important. Despite the potential negatives, the push for green

spaces needs to be more publicly addressed. Green spaces provide crucial services. In

parks, there is room to garden. These fruits and vegetables that are grown can be sold

in a fundraiser to help upkeep/add on to the park or could even be donated to homeless

shelters. This side of adding green spaces may be overlooked but would be a great

implication for the future and could potentially decrease children from getting into the

wrong crowd.

Nature has a very positive mental effect on individuals as well. Incorporating

more parks and walkways into building design is another way of increasing green

space. The calming effect that nature has on society is something marvelous. It has

been scientifically proven that association with nature helps a variety of people develop

cognitive, emotional and behavioral connections to nearby environments. Nature is a

beauty that was made no certain way and absolutely changes for no one either. This

preconditioned thought also encourages imagination and creativity from us all.

 Another implication could be bringing back Field Day with more nature type

activities, such as planting seeds the fastest or watering trees with bucket relays. The

overhead idea of embodying more nature. Bringing back educational field trip days and

taking children to urban green spaces or local environmental centers having lessons

teaching the importance of physical exercise and preservation of all the green in the

world.

The last implication that I can think of would be the whole idea of decreasing our

carbon footprint. By this I mean advertising more bike racks, public bike rentals, and

informing the younger generations (who are more likely to listen) of alternative ways to

help the environment and therefore keep all the green spaces we currently have.

The Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge

of making cities just green enough journal was very informative and gave me a whole

new perspective on this ongoing issue. I was not aware of all the potentially benefits

and all of the potential risks involved. The research going on in China was very

interesting as well. It is amazing the steps that they have taken to become more green

space friendly. The implications that I offered could really be a good way to reteach the

world what we think about the environment and how to be more conscientious about our

own actions.