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Heat islands -

An urban heat island is an urban area that is warmer because of human activity. Heat builds up in cities from vehicles, people, restaurants, and everything else, which can cause the temperature to rise 39.2°F (4°C). 

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Inner city heat -

People have to battle this heat to stay cool in the summer months.

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Energy -

Individuals use their air conditioning systems more, which uses a lot of energy.

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Rooftop gardens -

A common way architects and city planners are dealing with this is by introducing green areas at the tops of high-rise buildings. These are, in essence, tiny parks.

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Rooftop gardens -

This doesn’t just help reduce the heat island effect in the city, it also helps to insulate buildings from extreme cold and heat, decreasing energy costs.

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Miniature gardens -

They have understood the benefits of implementing tiny forests in their streets in Singapore. This is done by mixing human structures with many different tree species.

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Ecosystems -

The knock-on effects aren’t to be overlooked. These tiny clusters of nature allow ecosystems to flourish, which take care of themselves so that humans don’t have to.

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Life expectancy -

In 2008, a study by Dr. Richard Mitchell and Frank Popham of 40 million British people found that the life expectancy of individuals with higher and lower incomes was the same in rural areas where they had easy access to nature.

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Life expectancy -

As was already known, and was further proven in this research, the difference in life expectancy in inner cities without easy access to parks between the highest and lowest earning groups was staggering: 10 years.

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Mental health -

Visits to green spaces have been proven to reduce stress and improve restoration in the brain, thereby improving mental health.

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World Health Organization -

The WHO recommends that there should be an open green space of about half a hectare every 300 meters (1,000 ft), but in cities this is rare.

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It's of economic benefit too -

However, it is in every city’s interest to attempt to implement more parks. It even has benefits for those who are interested in economic gains.

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Healthy populations are more profitable -

Why? It causes the population who live there to have a longer life expectancy, fewer mental health problems, improved cognitive functioning, and be in better moods. All of these factors improve economies.

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Noise pollution -

When sounds are made in a city, they bounces from building to building. With more parks, the noise has somewhere to go, to escape into the atmosphere. This isn’t only true for someone standing in the park, but the noise in the city too. Sound escapes like heat escapes.

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Children's cognitive function -

Children who live in areas with more green spaces are healthier and have a significantly better cognitive function.

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Children's development -

Living in areas with more green spaces during childhood decreases the chances of developing mental health problems later in life.

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Pregnancy and childhood mortality -

Research shows that green spaces reduce child mortality.

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Pregnancy and childhood mortality -

Increasing tree canopy 20-30% in more impoverished neighborhoods could prevent more than 400 premature deaths annually.

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Barcelona -

Regional governing body Ajuntament de Barcelona reported in 2020 that 60% of infrastructure for public spaces were dedicated to cars.

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They paved paradise to put up a parking lot -

One way of dealing with this is by replacing car parks with green areas. However, big businesses that own massive car parks usually aren’t interested in planting trees for the health of communities.

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Alternatives to parks -

Some cities implement green corridors, linear parks, pocket parks, and shared walkways.

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Real estate -

However counterintuitive to the interest of big businesses that replacing inner-city car parks with green areas may seem, real estate can benefit from having parks around.

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Prospect Park -

Parks raise the value of the houses around them. For example, the restoration of New York City’s Prospect Park raised real estate values in surrounding areas.

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Parks and communities -

The effect that parks have on communities being more engaged is massive. In a way, this helps deal with social issues.

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Parks and equity -

Thinking of parks in the city as being a signal of equality is sensible. If they're done right, they can tackle existing inequalities and provide resilience and well-being to the surrounding communities. For example, the utility of urban parks during lockdown became very apparent.

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Real social networks -

They can reduce conflicts within communities and strengthen real social networks.

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A public health need -

Parks are vital for everyone and should be viewed as such, and not be only reasonably accessible to the affluent in society.

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Where else is free to go to? -

They are one of the only places that we can go to without spending money (most people are paying rent to sit in their homes). They are a space that represents equality and democracy in society.

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It's not political -

If this political viewpoint is not your own, there is, as has been pointed out, a powerful argument for urban parks economically too.

Sources: (Natural History Museum) (Oppla) (World Resources Institute)

See also: The best cities in the world to explore on foot

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