There are many reasons why the vast majority of people live in urban areas. They typically provide the best job, education, and cultural opportunities. And residents have greater access to healthcare and public transportation, and more options for dining, and shopping.
This doesn’t mean cities don’t have their share of problems. A lack of affordable housing, traffic congestion, social and racial inequality, and environmental issues abound. That’s especially true if forward-thinking planning can’t keep pace with population growth.
There are ample planning efforts that focus on increasing transit routes, building parking structures, and creating more roadways. Fortunately, more planners are pivoting to making urban areas more livable by lowering the negative impact they can have on the environment. Due to climate change, this has become a necessity rather than a nice extra. Here’s why green spaces are the next urban frontier.
Green Spaces Offer a Breath of Fresh Air
Urban buildings tend to be large. Most don’t have operable windows for a variety of reasons, including energy efficiency, climate control, and safety hazards. In fact, urban building codes often prohibit the installation of windows you can open.
The lack of fresh air for people who live and work in those buildings is a problem. The solution is increasing adjacent green spaces with quick and easy access. Green rooftops, terraces, and parks give workers and residents healthy outdoor spots.
Moreover, if planners include such features as paved paths and playground equipment, people of all ages will take in even more of that fresh air. They make getting outside fun and physical. Visitors can raise their resting heart rate by pumping their legs on swings or doing reps on a sit-up station.
Exposure to fresh air reduces stress, improves mental health, and can bolster quality sleep. It’s the perfect antidote to the negative impact long days cooped up in urban buildings can have on lives.
Green Spaces Improve Air Quality
Of course, the quality of that fresh air is important. No one wants to have to put on a respirator to spend a little time outside. Green spaces can help clear the air.
Grass and trees absorb carbon dioxide and through photosynthesis, return clean oxygen into the air. Trees come in all shapes and sizes. But a mature one can absorb roughly 48 pounds of carbon dioxide every year. Then, they store it as long as it’s alive and unscathed by fire or other damage.
Blades of grass trap dust and other particles, keeping them on the ground rather than in flight. Tree leaves catch particulates, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide. They also latch onto ground-level ozone pollutants, for example, those created when sunlight reacts with volatile organic compounds.
Not all fresh air is beneficial. But green spaces with lush grass and mature trees are the secret to improving air quality everywhere. That’s especially helpful in urban areas where they’re few and far between.
Green Spaces Turn Down the Heat
Cities are hot, and not in a good way. That’s largely due to what’s referred to as the urban heat island effect. It takes a lot of green to turn down that red-hot heat.
The urban heat island effect is caused by the proliferation of manmade materials like asphalt, concrete, steel, and glass. Grass, trees, and other vegetation absorb water from the soil, releasing it as cooling vapor. Those manmade materials just absorb heat and hold it.
Add to the equation the heat created by such things as fossil-fuel vehicles, massive HVAC systems, and artificial lighting. The oppressive heat is generated, captured, and held. Vegetation, on the other hand, absorbs less heat and converts it to something cooling.
Most people understand how much cooler they feel when standing under the canopy of a tree. They’ve experienced the coolness of grass beneath their feet. Green spaces provide both, and so much more that lowers the temperature.
Green Spaces Control and Filter
Urban flooding is a real phenomenon. Water always takes the path of least resistance. In cities, that path is laid with miles and miles of pavement.
During heavy rains or rapid snowmelts, vast quantities of water run rampant. Drainage systems can’t keep up, leaving inches or more of water on streets, sidewalks, and over doorsteps.
Green spaces slow down runoff by absorbing water, decreasing the likelihood of flooding. Moreover, vegetation traps pollutants that otherwise run off into streams, lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. That runoff can lower the quality of drinking water and impact recreational opportunities such as swimming and fishing.
Think of urban green spaces as giant coffee filters. They control the drip rate and keep the grounds separate from that delicious cup of joe. And they keep the water necessary to brew it drinkable.
Green Spaces Build Community
It’s easy to get lost in the crowd of humanity in urban centers. People can come into close physical contact with thousands of others every day but speak to no one. They don’t know their neighbors, fellow commuters, or coworkers.
Green spaces can be magnets for people to gather. They’re drawn to meet, play, picnic, sit, and just enjoy the sun and fresh air. And when they do, the informal and less stressful surroundings can entice them to engage with one another.
Green spaces in urban areas are neutral territory. They provide places everyone can share, regardless of their economic status, educational attainment, job, physical ability, race, and more.
People also tend to fight to keep these spaces in good condition and for improvements that make them even better. They build a community centered on the value green spaces bring to their lives.
The More Green, the Merrier
As urban planners work to improve these complex centers, environmental concerns have risen to the top. Going green can mean many things, like adding EV stations and transit routes, and incorporating solar and wind into power grids. But perhaps nothing is more important than literally going green amid all the manmade infrastructure. The more green spaces, the better.
