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.
More Green, Less Diabetes Finds Australian Study
“Being out in nature has been shown to improve creativity and cognitive function, as well as increase the likelihood of exercise for weight maintenance. A new study finds that when you live in an area that has more green and open spaces, you are less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes as well. Researchers with the University of Western Sydney (Australia) studied data on more than 267,000 people living in New South Wales who were part of the 45 and Up Study. They used information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to calculate levels of green space. People living in neighborhoods with more green and open spaces had lower rates of Type 2 diabetes. For those in areas with at least 40% green space, the rate of Type 2 diabetes was 8% versus 9.1% for those in neighborhoods that were less than 20% green space.”
Urban Farming Takes Hold in Blighted Motor City
“The Motor City is going green. In a city with too much abandoned, derelict, and ruined space, Detroiters are fighting back with one of the country’s largest urban agriculture movements. Residents, nonprofits, and corporations are rehabilitating their city in a sustainable–and often edible–way… Even the automakers are helping: last summer, General Motors began re-purposing 250 massive shipping crates into raised-bed planters, creating the Cadillac Urban Gardens. Last week, the corporation announced they’d expand the program with another 100 steel crates. Several hefty Ford grants have also made their way into green initiatives, too.”
For Some Devils Lake Students, Nature is Teacher at Sullys Hill
“This is the second year of the cooperative program between Devils Lake Public School District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is patterned after a similar program in Fergus Falls (Minn.) Public Schools and the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center near Fergus Falls. Students get daily assignments that are expected to be done during the 20-minute ride between Devils Lake and Sullys Hill. Once they arrive, they take a five-minute “In the Moment” walk along a paved path just outside the Sullys Hill Visitor Center, past a birding garden, where students participate in Project FeederWatch, a winter-long survey of birds that was developed by Cornell University.Besides having two state-of-the-art classrooms, the visitor center is home to a North Dakota Habitat Display featuring dozens of mounted animals in prairie, wetland, forest and agriculture habitats.”
Q-and-A: Urban Trees are More than Just Ornamental
“Is there a relationship between shrubbery and public health? To a degree, yes, says Geoffrey Donovan, a research forester with the USDA Forest Service who’s in town this week for PSU’s “Health Benefits of Nearby Nature” symposium. Donovan’s work has, among other advances, uncovered evidence that urban trees can reduce crime. We caught up with Donovan by email in advance of tonight’s event to talk greenery, green spaces and Portland itself…”
