Creating Beautiful (3) Preserving green spaces in our cities .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

In the 3rd in our series on Creating Beautiful, we explore the benefits and value of preserving green spaces in our cities and urban centres.

While many of us live in densely populated areas, either in our cities or in outlying urban areas, green space is premium.  This is reflected in housing prices, where urban and inner city areas with mature plantings of trees and parks fetch a premium on the housing market.  And yet we often don't appreciate the value that these vestiges of green bring to our busy, often frantic daily lives.

In cities well established with large parkland, such as Sydney's Hyde Park, or New York's Central Park, large tracts of green space are integral to the health and lifestyle of the city and it's inhabitants. In fact, as someone who worked in the city for large periods of time, it would be impossible to think of Sydney without also thinking of it's large park and green spaces that run down to the beautiful foreshore of Sydney Harbour.  

Photo sourced from MattLauder.com.au gallery

Only recently when teaching at Sydney University I recall hearing foreign students exclaim over the beauty of the city; their amazement at hearing birds and being able to see blue sky and walk in large tracts of green parkland.  These things maybe taken for granted by long-term inhabitants of Sydney, such as myself.  Yet, hearing these delighted exclamations by first-time visitors I was reminded of how important an asset our city parks and green spaces are. 

Apart from a lovely place to sit and reflect, parks and inner city green space also support populations of native fauna. I discussed this in my previous post on supporting our local bees and birds.  In addition, they contribute significantly to the well-being of local residents and visitors.  



Trees with mature canopies provide shelter and shade, reducing temperatures reflected by hot pavements and hard surfaces and helping to reduce air pollution.  By modifying temperatures trees and green spaces also reduce the amount of cooling needed.  Similarly, green surfaces minimise water run off that washes litter and pollutants into our waterways and ultimately into our harbours and oceans.  And parks also provide important social spaces as well, where special occasions are celebrated.  

And while these benefits are fairly obvious, there are subtler benefits that we may not recognise.  The sight alone of green spaces can rest our minds. My research is based on environmental psychology, where viewing green spaces can assist our emotional cognition to rest from anxiety and stress filled thoughts without any effort on our part.  Just being near a park or green space can help us re-focus our thinking into a state of calm and ease.  In short, our well-being is improved  if we are able to access green spaces in our daily, every-day lives, even when we don't acknowledge or notice them. That is, green spaces are integral to our health and well-being as individuals and to the health of the cities we live in.  

So how can we contribute to ensuring our green spaces are preserved in our city and urban areas?

First of all, if we're limited by space we can fill pots with plants that we enjoy. These could be herbs that we regularly pick to flavour our food, salad vegetables, and flowers we enjoy.   

Or join a community garden.  Not only will this add to the green spaces in our city but it helps to strengthen our local community by sharing experiences and produce with each other.   There are numerous examples of how this builds community and well-being in densely populated areas.

With other residents or co-workers plant a green roof on our building. Or green your balcony with vertical gardens. Imagine if every balcony sprouted a curtain of green! There's lots of evidence that shows this helps to cool our cities and contribute to the green spaces available for relaxation and recreation.  

And importantly, we can be vigilant in regard to any development that would infringe on our green spaces and parks, or remove trees or remnant vegetation on our city and urban fringes.  

Finally, we can take advantage of the beautiful parks and green space that are publicly available and share these with friends, family and visitors to our cities. 

If we see our green areas as an asset and benefit to our every-day lives, we are more likely to look after and protect our parks and green spaces.  And ultimately, we all benefit!