Moving on with the theme of combating global environmental difficulties, the lack of green space in urban development and planning often poses a significant problem for cities around the world. While green space may, at first, seem relatively ineffective due to the sheer scale and size of cities and urban environments, this preconception is not exactly true due to the more limited range of the effectiveness of trees. Aside from purposes such as recreation, green spaces and trees planted throughout cities boast numerous other benefits, especially to public health and air quality.
Why Trees?
Fig. 1 Fgrammen. Forsyth Park
Some may ask themselves, why use trees in the first place? Is there even enough space for trees compared to other solutions? These same people very well may be referencing projects such as the Dutch Smog Vacuum Kickstarter project which is capable of purifying over 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour according to its designer or even London mayor, Boris Johnson’s, project to spray adhesives over the city streets to trap particles on the roadways. However, in the case of the former, the project is highly expensive with the Kickstarter project’s original goal for one tower at €50,000. As for the second, skepticism and criticism have poured out from distinguished individuals including professors at the King’s College London who have called the project a “waste of public money” as it provides only a temporary solution assuming it works well. In order to truly tackle this problem, a solution must be developed that is inexpensive and easy to implement worldwide and is effective for the purposes of urban life. This is where the idea of trees and city green spaces comes into play.
Trees and vegetation act as natural air purifiers that accumulate dust particles on their leaves which simply wash away during rainstorms where it can be treated in water treatment plants rather than escaping as pollutants into the atmosphere. This process serves to better the air quality surrounding the trees as well as the overall health of citizens in the city by preventing toxic substances from being inhaled in the currently dangerous quantities that are present in many cities around the globe. As a whole, the introduction of trees into an urban environment presents overwhelmingly positive health benefits for the residents within a city as well as the city’s impact on production of harmful pollutants that may escape into the atmosphere.
Outdoor Recreation
Fig. 2 Shutterstock. Central Park
Another major facet of the idea of increased green space coverage in urban centers is the improvement of outdoor recreation opportunities for residents within a city. Green spaces are often built in the form of parks which allow people across the city to come and enjoy themselves in a healthy manner, boosting city health overall. For example, Central Park in New York City serves as an excellent example of the benefits to large outdoor green spaces and their impact not only on the health of the residents of a city but also on their culture. To an even further extent with the example of Central Park, the park as a center of recreation has also had significant economic impacts on the city by creating a region of high commercial activity with large amounts of foot traffic that encourages the thriving economy that makes New York City what it is today. Aside from the aforementioned benefits, Central Park has numerous other benefits for New York City that are outlined in documentation such as The Central Park Effect.
As a result of these notions, motions have been set forth by congressional representatives such as U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán of California’s 44th congressional district who had introduced bills to the House in the past such as H.R.2943, the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Grant Program Act. This program serves to provide grants and federal subsidies to cities for purposes of the establishment of green spaces through outdoor recreational areas for citizens to enjoy. Providing the effects already mentioned in terms of health and recreational opportunities, this bill would have expanded green space or made existing green space more desirable for public use. Following its introduction in June of 2017, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources and then to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands. Since then, however, little action has been taken. Although this reality is the case in countries such as the United States, the issue of pollution and city smog across the world in other cities is much more prevalent and more in need of being addressed as soon as possible.
Overall, the concept of green space is a tried and true method of reversing negative health effects caused by a growing and increasingly industrial society. In countries such as China where air pollution is all but the norm as mentioned in a previous blog post, greener urban environments could mitigate the impacts of industrial pollution and move cities towards a higher standard of health and living worldwide.