Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back each week for new roundups and items.
How San Francisco Is Changing the Way People Think of Green Space
“Tables and chairs sit neatly arranged on a wooden platform in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. When the sun is shining, customers spill out of cafes and restaurants and crowd onto the platform. But this isn’t just outdoor seating. It’s a park. The platform is part of San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks program, a collaboration between the city planning department and a number of other municipal agencies, including the mayor’s office. The program converts squares of pavement into plazas and postage-stamp-sized parks, called parklets. It started four years ago as a kind of experiment and has since become a fixture of civic life in San Francisco.”
Michigan: Leslie Science & Nature Center Teams with Ann Arbor Hospitals to Help Patients Heal
“Patients and families can tap into the natural world as a means of healing through a partnership between the Leslie Science & Nature Center and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. Staff members from Leslie Science & Nature Center in Ann Arbor have been visiting the Wayne and Shelly Jones Family Center at the hospitals once a month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., presenting programs that connect families, patients, and hospital staff to the natural world. “The partnership between Leslie Science & Nature Center and our hospitals was created to bring nature-based experiences into the hospital to help families decrease feelings of isolation, reduce anxiety, and normalize the experience they have at Mott, while offering a space inside that is fun and engaging,” said Julie Piazza, the hospitals’ project manager. Leslie Science & Nature Center administrators said that being in nature, or in this case bringing nature inside, can also help the body, mind, and soul.”
Shift to Green Transport Makes City Residents Happier, Richer
“Across the world, cities are making their transport systems more environmentally friendly. They are revamping bus services to be faster and more reliable, introducing bike-sharing schemes, putting in cycle lanes and reducing the number of cars on the road. At the same time, the world’s population is becoming increasingly urban. For the first time ever, more people now live in cities than in the country. A larger urban population requires more and better public transportation, and improved road management. Some cities do care about their carbon footprint and are thinking about its effects, both now and in the future. But even in urban areas that do not follow a sustainable political agenda, similar changes are taking place… People are settling in cities only to discover they have become congested with traffic, are hard to get around and highly polluted. As a result, cities are turning to sustainable transport options for reasons beyond being greener.”
Green Landscaping In New York City
“In 2010, the fellows of the Design Trust for Public Space published a handbook for green landscaping in New York City’s parks. Developed with public spaces in mind, the guide is an invaluable resource for urban landscapers looking to reduce their environment impact and offers in-depth planning information aimed at mitigating the urban heat island effect, providing healthy habitats for native species and reducing the impact of climate change. Although the technical guide aims at the creation of large-scale urban park spaces, the landscaping guide also offers some practical and cost-effective methods adaptable for green spaces large and small. From harvesting rainwater, using native plant species and enriching your soil with composting, home landscapers and gardeners can benefit from some of the best expert-developed practices currently being used to transform New York City’s public urban park spaces into environmentally friendly green oases.”
