The Role of Urban Parks for the Sustainable City
Article: The role of urban parks for the sustainable city
Student name: Pham Duc Manh
According to Anna Chiesura, some recent enquiries show that although nowadays people pay more attention to protecting the natural environment, there are less scientists and politicians who care for small green places of cities and for its benefits to citizens. Tyrvainen and Vaananen (1998) claimed that “low appreciation of green spaces is also reflected in the recent cuts in the maintenance of budget of many towns”. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that natural assets and components not only make the quality of life of municipal dwellers better but also provide the citizens with many kind of services such as the purification of air and water, social and psychological services and so on. According to recent studies, urban park brought many positive impacts on the well-being of citizens such as the reduction of the stress, the enhancement of mental health. Moreover, it also brought us other social merits. For example, Coley et al (1997) believed that “nature can encourage the use of outdoor spaces, increases social integration and interaction among neighbours”. Above all, economic advantages can be provided for both municipalities and municipal dwellers by the functions of urban environment. However, there are several negative impacts of parks on people’s attitudes such as the feeling of insecurity related to vandalism and fear of crime in uninhabited areas. This paper will focus on the important of urban environment for the prosperity of urban dwellers and for the sustainable cities. Despite there are many different definitions of sustainable cities, it is generally believed that environmental indicators and the quality of life are the central criteria of the variety of definitions of sustainable cities. Besides that, other criteria such as “amount of public green spaces per inhabitant”, “public parks” and “recreation areas” also considered as vital factors to make
Student name: Pham Duc Manh
According to Anna Chiesura, some recent enquiries show that although nowadays people pay more attention to protecting the natural environment, there are less scientists and politicians who care for small green places of cities and for its benefits to citizens. Tyrvainen and Vaananen (1998) claimed that “low appreciation of green spaces is also reflected in the recent cuts in the maintenance of budget of many towns”. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that natural assets and components not only make the quality of life of municipal dwellers better but also provide the citizens with many kind of services such as the purification of air and water, social and psychological services and so on. According to recent studies, urban park brought many positive impacts on the well-being of citizens such as the reduction of the stress, the enhancement of mental health. Moreover, it also brought us other social merits. For example, Coley et al (1997) believed that “nature can encourage the use of outdoor spaces, increases social integration and interaction among neighbours”. Above all, economic advantages can be provided for both municipalities and municipal dwellers by the functions of urban environment. However, there are several negative impacts of parks on people’s attitudes such as the feeling of insecurity related to vandalism and fear of crime in uninhabited areas. This paper will focus on the important of urban environment for the prosperity of urban dwellers and for the sustainable cities. Despite there are many different definitions of sustainable cities, it is generally believed that environmental indicators and the quality of life are the central criteria of the variety of definitions of sustainable cities. Besides that, other criteria such as “amount of public green spaces per inhabitant”, “public parks” and “recreation areas” also considered as vital factors to make