Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
recreation, initially providing walking and sometimes riding paths, but subsequent-
ly as places of more
active recreational and leisure pursuits
, containing a range of
additional features, such as swimming pools, even sports fields and tennis courts,
lakes for boating, and areas with cooking facilities designed for family gathering. In
addition, separate specialized areas in cities were set aside for various recreational
pursuits as leisure time increased and schools developed their own playing fields
(Mumford
1961
, Vance
1977
). Later, the larger park areas became important gath-
ering places for open-air concerts and other celebratory activities. But the growing
belief that parks and open spaces were also able to
improve the social life and health
of urban residents, became a fourth justification for parks, not simply by providing
places where people could escape from the built-up city and engage in physical
activity, but because the presence and use of these areas seems to reduce stress,
improve sociability and generally made people happier, which can be an additional
part of the Healthy City agenda (Chap. 13). This old subjective 'assumption' of the
health benefits of green areas has been proved by new and rigorous research. For
example, a recent report (EEA
2011b
) quantified some of the advantages, argu-
ing that a 10 % increase in green space in European cities leads to notable disease
reduction, adding five years to life expectancy. More generally, researchers such
as Richard Louv (
2008
,
2011
), are using the term 'nature deficit' to draw attention
to the fact that people in general, but especially children, are now far less exposed
to nature and green areas than in the past and have much more restricted ranges in
their activity patterns. So the free-roaming children of the past who learned to live
in natural surroundings and to play with many others are now a rarity, a trend not
helped by the fact that most children are now bussed or driven to school, rather than
walking by themselves or with friends. Louv argued that our species lived in natural
areas for millennia and our brains were hard-wired to assume this nature associa-
tion. Contemporary children are less exposed to natural conditions because of their
increasing concentration in urban areas, many parts of which have few green areas,
and are often prevented from playing outside by parents fearful of crime, or they
prefer the recent attractions of computer and media devices. Parks, however, pro-
vide a small way of reducing the nature deficit. Another indication of this alienation
from nature can be seen from one of Louv's (
2011
) surveys that showed that only a
fifth of American children now live within a mile of their school, or ever ride a bike
to school, compared to almost three quarters for their parents.
This rapid alienation from nature in the past thirty years is having human costs—
costs that are being documented by an increasing number of research reports sum-
marized in a new network (NCN
2012
) and books (Kahn and Kellert
2002
). These
studies have shown many important results, such as: the finding that access to green
space, even views of green space, can enhance self-control, peacefulness and self-
esteem in children; the discovery that exposure to natural settings increases cog-
nitive capacity in children, as well as their curiosity, problem-solving ability and
intellectual development in general; even small amounts of contact with nature
can reduce the severity of the growing number of children with Attention Deficit
Disorder. Moreover, if children are in schools that have gardens which children can
help to cultivate, they are more likely to be interested in healthy diets and become
