Boston Parklets: Concrete Jungles No More!

by Maria Barsky

A park that can fit in your pocket

Urban jungles have been traditionally void of greenery, with the exception of that one city park. Recently, however, there has been a push to provide city dwellers with oases of nature, or pocket parks. In a proposal to create miniparks all over the city next spring, Boston’s mayor Menino has declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston." The parks are cheap to maintain and continue in the spirit of improving our neighborhoods. Cities like New York and San Francisco have already begun to create these nature sanctuaries.  And besides being adorable and aesthetically pleasing, studies show other benefits to even miniature exposures to nature.

Cute, and good for you too!

A rooftop parklet

The parklets in mind won't necessarily be outdoor health clubs, or give residents the chance to chisel themselves a hot bod; after all, few of us are willing to circle one hundred laps around the park square to run that one mile. However, there has been substantial evidence that even a little greenery in a neighborhood impacts the mental capacity and health of inhabitants. Horticultural therapy is used today in community-based programs, geriatrics programs, prisons, developmental disabilities programs, and special education.  Terry Hartig, a professor of environmental psychology at Uppsala University in Sweden, explores the link between greenery and mental health. In one of his studies, he performed tests designed to mentally exhaust participants; he then asked them to take a 40 minute walk through nature, a 40 minute walk through an urban area, or to sit quietly and read magazines. Afterwards subjects were asked to perform a mental test. Subjects that took a walk through nature performed better on the task.  We wonder what results would have come from a group sitting quietly in nature--controlling for the exercise variable and thus exploring the impact of greenery alone on mental functioning.

A study of the Philadelphia campaign to increase pocket parks by Branas et al. demonstrated lower levels of stress in occupants of neighborhoods with more greenery; the study was controlled for socioeconomic factors.  Kuo et al. performed a similar study involving parents of 96 children diagnosed with ADHD, which found that the greener the play environment, the better the children's functioning. Another researcher, Kathleen Bagot  summarizes many of the European studies  done on urban greenery projects: “European studies show that children tend to be stronger, more flexible, and have better motor coordination skills and balance from playing in forest-like playgrounds compared to asphalt ones.”

Kuo study also examined the effect of vegetation on crime. Kuo’s research focused on the housing projects of Chicago. She found that compared with housing blocks that had little or no vegetation, housing blocks with high levels of greenery had 48 percent fewer property crimes and 56 percent fewer violent crimes. Branas also showed a reduction in gun assaults and vandalism in the areas of Philadelphia that were “greened”.

Not all results are positive; studies of the pocket parks in Houston showed no significant reduction in crime in neighborhoods with pocket parks. However, there was a greater perception of safety in the neighborhoods with greenery. One aspect ignored by these studies is the variety of vegetation in the mini-parks. A recent study demonstrated that gardens with more biodiversity are superior to the more monotonous one-plant gardens.

Take home message

Local governments are finally starting to realize that urban environments could house lush inlets of nature.  These parklets are not the answers to all our health and societal problems, but there is substantial evidence that they can make us happier.  More importantly, these initiatives from our governments can inspire us to create parklets of our own. 

So feeling sad?  Find a patch of land, no matter how small and create your personal pocket park.  All that digging and planting might give you that hot bod after all.

Learn more about urban greening:

http://www.metro.us/boston/boston/article/1153967--boston-paving-the-way-for-parklets

http://bostoncompletestreets.org/whats-new/mayor-menino-seeks-parklet-designs/

http://sfgreatstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/ParkletStudy_InitialConditions.pdf

http://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/Thm_Crime.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/opinion/13prochnik.html?_r=0

http://www.communitygarden.org/docs/learn/articles/multiple_benefits.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17504734&dopt=Citation

http://eab.sagepub.com/content/33/3/343.short

http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood.aspx

http://www.eastshorepark.org/benefits_of_parks%20tpl.pdf