Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture and urban planning, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back each week for new roundups and items.
Just a Spoonful of Nature: How Much Do We Need to Maintain Wellness?
“How much exposure to nature is needed to improve physical and mental health? This is a question that the Biophilic Cities Project and other researchers are trying to answer. Roger Ulrich’s landmark study in 1984 investigated whether recovering gallbladder surgery patients who were assigned a room with a window view of nature saw beneficial results (Ulrich, 1984). The results showed that patients with window views of trees had shorter hospital stays, fewer negative nurses evaluation comments, and took fewer moderate and strong pain-relieving drugs…Since then other researchers have tried to answer various questions regarding nature’s impact on wellness.”
Vacant Lots Get a Green Makeover
“Vacant lots are a big problem for cities that have lost a lot of their population, like Detroit and Cleveland. That’s got people tinkering with ways to do something meaningful with the space, such as plant an urban farm or create a neighborhood park. But those options take money, time, and maintenance, so researchers in Cleveland are testing a way to help revitalize an area—and improve stormwater management—without breaking the bank.”
Public spaces have power: Amanda Burden at TED2014
“When we think of cities, we think of buildings and skyscrapers and stray cats. For Amanda Burden, who spent 12 years as New York City’s director of urban planning, they’re primarily about people. They’re about where people go and where they meet – that’s the core of how cities work. And for the people, even more important than the buildings are the public spaces in between them. Those, to Burden, are what makes the cities come alive…Over years she has learned how hard it is to create meaningful places. Her first project was in Battery Park, at the time a landfill that had laid barren for 10 years. In 6 months it would go bankrupt. So they came up with a crazy plan. They would build a park first, and see what development happened.”
A Prescription For Nature
“When is the last time a doctor or nurse asked you about your exposure to nature? Perhaps you were asked if you smoke, how much alcohol you drink, and whether you exercise. But time spent in nature? An unlikely topic. And yet evidence has made it increasingly clear that exposure to green space can affect our health just as much as other lifestyle factors traditionally covered in a medical visit.”
