Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back every Monday for our news roundups.
Pass the Peas: Making a Food Desert Bloom in the South Bronx
“The country’s fattest congressional district sits within the South Bronx section of New York. Walk down the streets here and it’s hard not to notice: One in six young people is obese and two in three adults are overweight or obese. Most of the food sold is processed and much of it has spent some time in a deep-fryer. The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, calls the area “ground zero†for the obesity epidemic. Yet despite the challenges, a handful of committed educators, farmers, bodega owners and, well, children, are attempting to reverse the morbid trend. With strategies ranging from gardening to subsidizing the sale of vegetables to simply educating consumers about the value of nutrition, these leaders are reshaping the debate on food deserts and influencing public policy at all levels.”
What Birds Indicate About Home Values
“Researchers found that the number of birds on a given plot of land — and the number of diverse species — not only indicated eco-diversity, it also related to property values.”
“Parks Are a Vital Resourceâ€
At Greater & Greener: Reimagining Parks for 21st Century Cities, the 4th international urban parks conference organized by the City Parks Alliance, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg told an audience of 900 city parks leaders, landscape architects, and activists from 210 cities and 20 countries that “parks are a vital resource.†Under Bloomberg’s administration, some 730 new acres of parkland have been added to the 29,000 existing acres of green space. Bloomberg thinks NYC’s high-quality parks also have a lot to do with the fact that for the first time ever NYC got more than 50 million tourists last year.
A Place for Healing
“It is proven that walking a labyrinth at any age lowers one’s heart rate and blood pressure,” says Burt. “You can walk the labyrinth with a prayer or a problem or with joy in your heart. Anything you wish. This is cross-cultural. It’s the belief that there is something greater than we are, and this helps you tap into that.”
