I agree with the fact that Green Infrastructure has a positive impact on the mental health and well-being of the people. The term Green Infrastructure varies at different scales from parks, wildlife corridors, urban forests, national parks to neighborhoods, cities, and urban regions. That being said I think, the green infrastructure also promotes a healthy way of life and provides additional environmental, social, and economic advantages while reducing and treating stormwater at its source. Green infrastructure can improve urban livability and boost local economies by supplementing the existing grey infrastructure.
Another aspect to be considered with this topic is how can Green Infrastructure increase the Urban Resilience. It should provide cities with green solutions which can be an effective strategy for withstanding the adverse effects due to climate change. There have been demonstrations of the same where green areas provide the climate adaptation services. The Urban Forests and Parks have provided many multi-functional benefits. Urban forests basically refer to all the tree and shrubs present in urban areas, including trees in yards and in the streets, protected green areas, and urban or linear parks. Along with providing cooling benefits and reducing the urban heat island effect, it also acts as a recreational space and creates islands of relatively clean air in the city. GI will help to add up in mitigating the climate change effects when designed and developed in co-ordination with the city’s existing infrastructure and by understanding the needs and comfort of the people living in it. To better withstand the effects of climate change and other factors, green infrastructure assets should be connected to form part of a larger network.
Talking about the situation we all faced during the Pandemic, we have realized how much important are the open and public spaces for everyone. Accessibility and usability of the green areas are the important aspects of the urban settlements for improving the lifestyle in a healthy way for reasons related to well-being. It was observed that at places where it was allowed for people to go or travel within a one-hundred-meter radius, most people preferred to go to green areas. People also tried to find different open spaces alternatives such as neighborhood gardens, parks for exercise, yoga, to relax or just to take their pets for a walk. I strongly feel that while designing urban spaces, the accessibility to such green spaces should always be considered by creating green pockets at social public spaces and green corridors.
Along with Urban Planners and Urban Designers, I think there has to be a fair contribution of the citizens who are the main users of the city who would help to address the problems and challenges faced with respect to the usability, social, economic and ecological relevance. Also, there has to be an anticipation of the future and set short term as well as long term goals to meet those challenges.
I agree with the fact that Green Infrastructure has a positive impact on the mental health and well-being of the people. The term Green Infrastructure varies at different scales from parks, wildlife corridors, urban forests, national parks to neighborhoods, cities, and urban regions. That being said I think, the green infrastructure also promotes a healthy way of life and provides additional environmental, social, and economic advantages while reducing and treating stormwater at its source. Green infrastructure can improve urban livability and boost local economies by supplementing the existing grey infrastructure.
Another aspect to be considered with this topic is how can Green Infrastructure increase the Urban Resilience. It should provide cities with green solutions which can be an effective strategy for withstanding the adverse effects due to climate change. There have been demonstrations of the same where green areas provide the climate adaptation services. The Urban Forests and Parks have provided many multi-functional benefits. Urban forests basically refer to all the tree and shrubs present in urban areas, including trees in yards and in the streets, protected green areas, and urban or linear parks. Along with providing cooling benefits and reducing the urban heat island effect, it also acts as a recreational space and creates islands of relatively clean air in the city. GI will help to add up in mitigating the climate change effects when designed and developed in co-ordination with the city’s existing infrastructure and by understanding the needs and comfort of the people living in it. To better withstand the effects of climate change and other factors, green infrastructure assets should be connected to form part of a larger network.
Talking about the situation we all faced during the Pandemic, we have realized how much important are the open and public spaces for everyone. Accessibility and usability of the green areas are the important aspects of the urban settlements for improving the lifestyle in a healthy way for reasons related to well-being. It was observed that at places where it was allowed for people to go or travel within a one-hundred-meter radius, most people preferred to go to green areas. People also tried to find different open spaces alternatives such as neighborhood gardens, parks for exercise, yoga, to relax or just to take their pets for a walk. I strongly feel that while designing urban spaces, the accessibility to such green spaces should always be considered by creating green pockets at social public spaces and green corridors.
Along with Urban Planners and Urban Designers, I think there has to be a fair contribution of the citizens who are the main users of the city who would help to address the problems and challenges faced with respect to the usability, social, economic and ecological relevance. Also, there has to be an anticipation of the future and set short term as well as long term goals to meet those challenges.
I can completely see the significance of the selected topic and would like to raise some relevant points and make some suggestions. The starting point that everybody agrees on is the importance of getting people out of their houses to the public space where they can socialise and enhance their physical and mental health.
In order to optimise the benefits of using the public space, there are some steps that can be taken:
First, developing a better and healthier public space specifically requires understanding and studying every residential area separately. Accordingly, councils need to collect and analyse the relevant data concerning the demographics, age of residents, in order to serve the neighbourhood needs taking into account the diverse mixture that make that community, through adding and/or adjusting the existing public spaces, like more seating, squares, playgrounds, and so on. Second, working to make the public spaces an inviting urban space for walking, cycling, and other active moods of transportation. Third, trying to create more activities in the public spaces so people can socialise more, like communal areas, local barbeque spots, picnic benches, or cafes and places to meet. An organised volunteering events for the local people to plant their local public space or help with the maintenance, support the local wildlife.
As the World Health Organization stated in “Urban green spaces: a brief for action”:
“How to promote the use of urban green spaces:
Outreach and promotion activities are of paramount importance to ensure that urban green spaces are used by a diversity of population groups and provide a setting for all local residents. All urban green space interventions should apply a dual approach through which physical changes (such as creating new or improving existing green space) are accompanied by social promotion activities. Such promotion activities can be very diverse and include: 1. promotion of urban green space through websites, onsite signs, brochures and similar; 2. facilitated activities and public events such as family days, sports events, festivals and markets; 3. small-scale group activities such as guided walks or green gyms; 4. local champions and celebrities, who are very effective for promoting the use of urban green spaces and engaging the local community; 5. setting up or collaborating with local organizations to (help) run and maintain the urban green spaces or to use them for their activities (such as urban gardening allotments).”
All the above can be very affective not only in improving people’s mental health, but also in developing their social and environmental value, their sense of community, the feeling that they belong to this residential urban space where they live and thrive. The whole idea needs to be adopted by local authorities, developers, planners, and the public.
The NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit (HUDU) website has a checklist document which is covering the same topic, it is called “Healthy Urban Planning Checklist”. And they are following the “Active Design Guidelines” in New York city for better urban spaces to help people’s health and mental health. Here is the website to check it out ( healthyurbandevelopment.nhs.uk).
Reference: The World Health Organization
https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/342289/Urban-Green-Spaces_EN_WHO_web3.pdf
Mental health is a fascinating and vital subject. Since the twenty-first century, human health problems have shifted from a predominance of infectious diseases in the industrial society to a predominance of non-infectious disorders. The incidence of chronic diseases and psychiatric disorders among urban community inhabitants has increased rapidly due to rapid urbanization and economic development, and the inappropriate design of urban community environment is an important causal element.
In the essay, it is suggested that we as urban designers can do some things in the field of mental health, and I believe that these things are logical and useful. Green infrastructure, such as “aromatherapy,” can have a positive impact on people’s mental health; activity spaces allow people to relax and thus improve their health; warm social spaces are essential because humans are herd animals, and prolonged solitude can lead to psychological problems; and safety is also important. The safety of people and places is another factor that should not be overlooked, and we can make certain areas safer by repaving roads and modifying the way that lights are designed.
The related concepts can be applied in a variety of contexts, including community park design, nursing home design, hospital design, and school design, among others. Community parks, being the most often used urban green space by city dwellers, can play a significant role in supporting the growing mental health requirements of city dwellers. When I was an undergraduate student, I also worked on a pocket park repair project with the subject of heart mending. We used some of these tactics in this project.
It should come as no surprise that the definition of mental health encompasses a fairly wide swath of territory, and there are numerous approaches to research and practise that might be included into the field of urban planning. I hope to be able to undertake further in-depth research in this area in the future.