This article is written by Alexander Shaul, Policy Advisor, Ontario Ministry of Finance

In cities around the world, green spaces — or lack thereof — can have huge impacts on the physical and mental health of its residents.  Research suggests that people who use green spaces tend to have lower levels of depression, anxiety, cardiovascular health, reduced rates of diabetes, and other physical illnesses that are made worse by a lack of physical activity.

Access to parks and green spaces can lead to increased levels of physical activity to mitigate poor physical and mental health outcomes of residents, which lead to higher health costs and other costs due to poor health outcomes.

The proximity to playgrounds is correlated to healthier children and healthier weights. In addition, the distance to green spaces is tied to lower levels of depression. By contrast, a shortage of green spaces, more common in poor and minority neighbourhoods, contribute to health risks associated with a lack of physical activity such as diabetes and obesity. This can place financial pressures on local public health systems and can widen the gap between wealthy and poor communities.

Access to green spaces is highly aligned along income, ethno-racial characteristics, age, gender, disabilities and other areas of difference between neighbourhoods and segments of society. In Canada, the United States and parts of Europe over the past twenty years, there has been a trend moving towards a more uneven accessibility of urban green spaces, leaving low-income and racialised residents with inadequate green spaces for children to play.

The unequal access to parks and green spaces may exacerbate pre-existing health inequities caused by low-income, lower employment rates and lower educational outcomes. Making it more challenging for low-income and marginalised populations to access parks for recreational activity may amplify these disparities.

While not directly connected to the ongoing protests in the United States and around the world, when viewed through the lens of race, unequal access to green spaces can be seen as a form of systemic environmental racism which people may overlook on a day-to-day basis but which hinders equity. Green spaces also represent a place where people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds can come together to address the ongoing strife and challenges society is currently witnessing.

Everyone should have access to parks

One obstacle to increasing the number of green spaces in many urban centres is the tension between increasing green spaces versus commercial and residential developments.

An area reserved for a park can’t also be used for shops or houses. Another obstacle to creating more green spaces is the issue of financial constraints of building and maintaining green spaces. The financial constraints include making enough resources available, not only for constructing a high-quality green space, but also for maintaining the green space itself.

One of the most famous green spaces in the world is Central Park in New York City. In the summer, Central Park is full of excitement, it offers opportunities for people to experience culture, to exercise, to enjoy the weather and to come together to play sports. Those who play and partake in activities in Central Park come from all across New York City and perhaps from the surrounding area. The park does not discriminate based on race, income, social or economic status. The size of Central Park and its location in the middle of New York City, stretching to Harlem and Columbia University, ensures that it is within a relatively close proximity to many of the residents of New York City. People can get to the park by walking or by taking public transit. In that way, too, it is not discriminatory by being too far from certain groups that it is too expensive to get to.

Public parks, playgrounds and outside green spaces offer a place for people from across the urban centre to come together, to play sports, to exercise and enjoy time outside, which has a positive impact on psychological and physical health

Therefore, when public servants are planning new parts of cities or considering new developments, either commercial or residential, the proximity of green spaces, the development and the number of green spaces should be a consideration. It may be wise for city planners to incorporate, if they have not done so already, how green spaces can be integrated into plans and proposals and to consult with academics and experts.

This does not just go for parks. Playgrounds, fields and conservation areas should be equally distributed across income-levels, socioeconomic classes, and consider the presence vis-à-vis schools, retirement residences and retirement communities and hospitals. All segments of the population should be able to enjoy what parks have to offer.

The quality of parks and playgrounds, too, should not depend on socioeconomic class, race or gender. The quality of parks and playgrounds should be equal regardless of age, social or economic status and race.

Green spaces are worth every penny

Public parks, playgrounds and outside green spaces offer a place for people from across the urban centre to come together, to play sports, to exercise and enjoy time outside, which has a positive impact on psychological and physical health. While some may argue that they do not generate revenue and require, in some cases, significant amounts of money to maintain and develop, they can save governments money in health costs long-term.

These spaces create areas for art, community gardens, educational opportunities for people to learn about nature, and to come into contact with people who they otherwise would not come into contact with. They can also offer economic opportunities such as farmers who come to cities to sell their products, or for artists to sell their drawings, their paintings and their music.

For these reasons, parks and green spaces are an important component of urban centres and should be integral to the current and future planning of urban centres. — Alexander Shaul

(Picture credit: Unsplash)

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