Enabling Access To Greenspace During The Covid-19 Pandemic-Perspectives From Five Cities - The Nature of Cities

8/17/2020 Enabling Access to Greenspace During the Covid-19 Pandemic—Perspectives from Five Cities – The Nature of Cities
Be a part of a world-wide movement towards green cities DONATE TODAY
Enabling Access to Greenspace During the

Covid-19 Pandemic—Perspectives from Five
Cities
David Barton, Oslo. Dagmar Haase, Berlin. André Mascarenhas, Berlin. Johannes
Langemeyer, Barcelona. Francesc Baro, Barcelona. Christopher Kennedy, New
York. Zbigniew Grabowski, Millbrook. Timon McPhearson, New York. Norun
Hjertager Krog, Oslo. Zander Venter, Oslo. Vegard Gundersen, Oslo. Erik
Andersson, Stockholm.
4 May 2020
Many voices. Greener cities. Better cities.
There is now plenty Using Google 1 Comment

of evidence on the Join our conversation
bene ts of local
mobility data,
access to greenspace Urban
and greenviews on resilience
physical health and
mental well-being.
researchers in
Lockdowns and New York,
social distancing Barcelona,
advisories have
placed restrictions on
Berlin/Halle,
About the Writer: citizen normal access Oslo, and
David Barton to public Stockholm
David N. Barton, Ph.D. is a Senior spaces. Google
Research Scientist at the community mobility
provide local
Department of Landscape
Ecology, Norwegian Institute for statistics from perspectives
Nature Research (NINA) in Oslo,
Norway. His research focuses on
February-March on the
revealed varied
the economics of ecosystem
patterns of reaction
importance of
services and ecosystem
accounting for urban areas. to Covid-19 in cities access to
More From this Author where we greenspace.
work. While
residential mobility
While we
increased hope the
everywhere, change pandemic and
in mobility in parks
varied from city to
its su ering
city. soon will
pass,
Beyond the direct understandin
e ects of the g the
pandemic on
importance of
mobility, and the
greenspace
About the Writer:
e ects of indoor
https://www.thenatureofcities.com/2020/05/04/enabling-access-to-greenspace-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-perspectives-from-five-cities/ 1/23
Dagmar Haase time on health, for urban

Dagmar Haase is a professor in Covid-19 sheds a resilience
urban ecology and urban land use
modelling. Her main interests are strong light on must continue
in the integration of land-use
change modelling and the
challenges to with renewed
assessment of ecosystem urban
services, disservices and socio- force.
environmental justice issues in resilience. Our
cities, including urban land
teleconnections.
research was—
More From this Author pre-pandemic—focused on the role of
urban greenspaces for ecosystem
services and environmental justice. The
variation in restrictions and reactions to
the pandemic across our cities shows a
gradient from Barcelona and New York to
Stockholm. This reinforces the importance
of comparative research on resilient urban
development, while triggering new
questions.
About the Writer:

André Mascarenhas Click on image to expand
André Mascarenhas is a Post-Doc
researcher at the Lab of
Landscape Ecology, Humboldt-
Universität zu Berlin, and the
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin,
Germany. He is interested in
human-nature interactions,
especially regarding the links
between biodiversity, ecosystem
services and spatial planning in
urban environments, under a
sustainability science lens.
More From this Author
Google community mobility data for ve cities in the

ENABLE project Source:
https://www.gstatic.com/covid19/mobility/ . The baseline
is the median value, for the corresponding day of the
week, during the 5- week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020.
https://www.gstatic.com/covid19/mobility/2020-03-
29_NO_Mobility_Report_en.pdf#page=9&zoom=100,48,
88
About the Writer:

Johannes Langemeyer
Johannes Langemeyer is a senior

researcher at the Institute of
Environmental Science and
Technology at the Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
He is trained as a geographer and
environmental scientist. His
interdisciplinary research focuses
on urban social-ecological
systems, at the interface of
ecosystem services, resilience, Mobility changes during the pandemic in 5 cities emphasizes
and justice. research ndings on the importance of green space and raises
More From this Author new research questions
The severity of the lockdowns on
workplace mobility has been stronger in
Barcelona and New York than Berlin/Halle
and Oslo, which in turn have had stronger
restrictions than Stockholm. The severity
of the pandemic and restrictions seems
roughly to coincide in the case of our
cities with urban density and greenspace
availability per inhabitant (see below).
About the Writer:
Francesc Baro
Francesc Baro is a postdoctoral Click on image to expand

researcher at ICTA/Universitat
Autonoma de Barcelona, and
member of the Barcelona
Laboratory for Urban
Environmental Justice. He is an
environmental scientist trained in
landscape and urban planning
and explores the
operationalization of ecosystem
services in urban social-ecological
systems.
Web More From this Author
Urban greenspace availability for selected European

cities in ENABLE
The reactions to Covid-19 and impacts on access

to greenspace raise a number of questions which
cast previous research results “in a pandemic
light”. Is the loss of access to greenspace larger in
areas hit the hardest by the pandemic? Are other
environmental problems correlated with the
About the Writer: incidence of Covid-19 and its restrictions? Is the
Christopher Kennedy distribution of greenspace and the loss of access
Christopher Kennedy is the
equitable across neighbourhoods? Are new open
assistant director at the Urban spaces such as brown elds being used, and does
Systems Lab (The New School) the lockdown increase the importance of green
and lecturer in the Parsons School
of Design. Kennedy’s research roofs in dense cities? What is the e ect on
focuses on understanding the children and public health of indoor con nement?
socio-ecological bene ts of
What of a pandemic lockdown in a future climate
spontaneous urban plant
communities in NYC, and the role change scenario with heat waves?
of civic engagement in
developing new approaches to
environmental stewardship and The Google mobility data for residential
nature-based resilience.
area and parks triggers questions about
the importance of greenspace during the
pandemic. Can the resolution of the
mobility data be improved and compiled
speci cally for the urban areas hardest hit
by the pandemic? In the following we look
at some of these gaps and questions cityDONATE TODAY

Be a part of a world-wide movement towards green cities
by city.
Berlin, Leipzig, Halle, Germany by

Dagmar Haase and Andre Mascarenhas
Click on image to expand
About the Writer:

Zbigniew Grabowski
Zbigniew J. Grabowski is a post-

doc at the Cary Institute of
Ecosystem Studies and the Urban
Systems Lab at the New School.
Working with Drs. Steward T.A.
Pickett and Timon McPhearson,
his current work examines the
equity of green infrastructure
planning in US Cities.
More From this Author Source: https://www.gstatic.com/covid19/mobility/2020-
03-29_DE_Mobility_Report_en.pdf
The Google mobility data describe only partly

what you can observe on the streets of large
German cities like Berlin, Leipzig, or Halle. People
limit shopping (retail, grocery, pharmacy), but our
general impression is that more people seek
being outdoors, meaning walking in their
residential area as shown in the Google mobility
data, but also in green spaces. You see many
About the Writer: more people jogging compared to pre-corona
Timon McPhearson times. People are innovative in lawn-based
activities, since playgrounds and sports elds are
Dr. Timon McPhearson works
directly with designers, planners, closed, which highlights the importance of lawns
and local government to foster as recreational places. Interestingly, there is
sustainable, resilient and just
evidence for the importance of open spaces other
cities. He is Chair of
the Environmental than parks, such as brown elds. Previously, they
Studies program, Director of were basically for walking the dog, but are now
the Urban Ecology Lab, and
faculty at the Tishman also used for family activities and jogging more
Environment and Design Center. than before. One reason might be that brown elds
More From this Author are less observed and visited by the police and
thus people feel more free. Another relevant type
of non-park green space is urban forests, where
similarly it can be more di cult for the police to
control people’s behaviours.
There is evidence that important urban

forests like Grunewald in Berlin are
intensively used. Reasons to use such
spaces have to do with people nding
them relaxing and calming, wanting to
About the Writer: enjoy their beauty or experience
Norun Hjertager Krog wilderness, or believing that they have a
Norun Hjertager Krog, PhD, is a
Be a part
Senior Scientist at the Norwegian
positive in uence on their well-being. For
of a world-wide movement towards green cities DONATE TODAY
Institute of Public Health in Oslo, the coming weeks, namely until 3 May
Norway. She is a sociologist and
environmental epidemiologist, when restrictions will be re-discussed in
with research on associations
between urban environment and
German government, if numbers of
health, including green space and infected further decrease and the r-value
built environment, but also noise,
air pollution, climate and remains below 1, more and larger shops
socioeconomic factors.
will reopen, walks for shopping will most
probably increase, while those in
residential neighbourhoods and parks
might decline (being replaced by
shopping walks/ways). In terms of existing
inequalities in the uptake of ecosystem
services from green spaces in German
large cities, it is still hard to judge without
monitoring data, but existing evidence
indicates that there is unequal socio-
spatial distribution of urban green space,
About the Writer: translated in di erences in the quantity
Zander Venter
and size of green spaces, the structure of
Zander is a spatial ecologist vegetation, and their quality. These
based at the Norwegian Institute
for Nature Research in Oslo, inequalities and their negative e ects on
Norway. His interests lie in nding
creative ways to monitor and the worse o can become very important
visualize urban ecosystem
services. His recent research has
in situations like the corona lockdown.
focussed on the relation between
urban green infrastructure,
climate mitigation and public We think those inequalities remain more
health bene ts. or less the same when it is about parks,
they only become much more visible due
to the mobility restrictions in place. Of
course people with residential / private
green de nitely can draw more bene ts
(like enjoying fresh air or gardening)than
those without. Those with a view into
urban green also draw some bene ts,
particularly if they have a balcony,
allowing them to “go outside” or do some
gardening. These factors are related to
About the Writer: existing inequalities in the housing market
Vegard Gundersen but, of course, now they become simply
Vegard Gundersen, NINA, has more evident. The Corona situation has
long research experience both
within social and ecological elds, highlighted the need to put more
currently focusing mostly on
visitor monitoring methods, nature
emphasis in developing high quality
conservation and management green spaces in all districts and areas of
implications of human use of
mountain areas. He is trained as the cities, as in times of such mobility
forester, did a PhD in urban
forestry in 2005, and much of his
restrictions both short distances (as public
research is about people’s transport is not advised) and good quality
perception of forest environment,
and adaptations of silviculture and of urban greenspace would be urgently
needed.
management methods for urban
woodlands. Be a part
Finally, in terms of this pandemic, the virus
of a world-wide movement towards green cities
DONATE TODAY
More From this Author occurrence and the reaction to it brought
two things onto the desk of Leipzig and
Halle’s urban greenspace development:
First, as mentioned above, a more equal
(fair) distribution of high quality green
spaces for recreation across the entire
town. Second, to develop more “wild”
areas where people have NO access and
wildlife can develop and form
independent biocenosis and thus prevent
zoonoses as best as possible. This point
About the Writer:
Erik Andersson
is particularly important for the joint
planning of cities and their wider
Erik Andersson works as
associate professor in peripheries.
sustainability science at the
Stockholm Resilience Centre.
More From this Author Barcelona by Johannes Langemeyer and
Francesc Baró
As Covid-19 infection rates started to

increase, Spain declared a countrywide
state of emergency and put in place and
restricted people’s mobility and especially
activities in public space drastically (see
decree here). As a consequence, in
Barcelona as in other Spanish cities—but
in sharp contrast to all other cities
considered here—the accessibility of
public green spaces has been limited to
dog walking (though restricted as well,
this bene ts a substantial share of the
population, as the ratio between dogs and
people in Spain is about 1:4). Other highly
appreciated recreational activities like
outdoor running or cycling are penalized
by high nes, while most urban parks
have been closed since mid-March. As a
consequence, park use drastically
dropped by about 90%, as shown by the
Google mobility data.
Source: https://www.gstatic.com/covid19/mobility/2020-
03-29_ES_Mobility_Report_en.pdf. Data for Barcelona
not available.
Despite broad scienti c evidence for the health

and wellbeing bene ts from green space
exposure, the lockdown measures in Spain are
strongly tailored to restrict leisure activities in
public spaces. Entering already the sixth week of
con nement, this poses multiple important
questions that extend on our previous research on
urban resilience.
First of all and most generally, it is

relevant to question whether there is a
general underappreciation of particular
nature values among decision-makers
and the broader Spanish society
compared to other European countries.
This could constitute an important general
barrier for the implementation of nature-
based solutions and other greening
strategies in cities (lacking trust people’s
responsible behaviour could be another
explanation). Interestingly in this context,
in Catalonia, the strict initial regulations
have been rapidly softened for accessing
vegetable gardens (positively a ecting
about 10,000 gardeners in the
metropolitan area of Barcelona) once
more showing the importance of gardens
in moments of crises, while softening
access to urban parks, e.g. for individual
exercising as in other European countries,
has hardly been in the discussion.
Secondly, and maybe most discussed

right now, at least in Barcelona, are
potential negative physical and
psychological health e ects primarily onDONATE TODAY

children due to lacking outdoor
recreation, also long term. Despite
relatively low scienti c evidence for the
e ectiveness of children’s isolation, the
Covid-19 restrictions in Spain are even
more severe for children than for adults—
apart from a few exceptions children were
not supposed to leave the house at all
during six weeks (after strong public
pressure relaxations in the regulation
have been implemented from 26 April
onward). Yet, potential negative health
e ects such as obesity and anxiety, which
could be mitigated by access to urban
nature, are not limited to children but
a ect adults similarly.
Thirdly, and related to the previous points,

the lockdown can be assumed to a ect
already vulnerable social groups
unequally higher, and reproduce existing
environmental injustices. Given that low
income residents generally live in smaller
apartments and are assumed to have less
access to private green spaces, the
privation of access to bene ts from public
green spaces is likely a ecting low-
income groups disproportionately
stronger than more a uent citizens. At
the Barcelona Lab for Urban
Environmental Justice and Sustainability
(BCNUEJ) we are currently investigating
this unequal accessibility to greenery
under lockdown conditions in relation to
unequal health impacts through a Spain-
wide online survey.
Fourthly, the lockdown puts Barcelona’s

about 2700 ha rooftops in the spotlight of
future urban resilience strategies, which
have become an important gathering and
recreational space for neighbours during
the lockdown. In an extremely dense city
like Barcelona (at least for European
standards) unused rooftops bear an
important transformative potential. This
has more classically been discussed in DONATE TODAY

the context of solar energy production,
while more recently mitigating peoples’
needs for ecosystem services through
green roofs is gaining relevance in the
debate. This debate must be reshaped
considering multiple and potentially
interacting drivers of change.
Finally, the severe lockdown might

indicate potential solutions for one of
Barcelona’s most pressing environmental
issues before Covid-19: Air pollution.
Which might even have increased the
lethal e ects of Covid-19. Regarding the
Barcelona Public Health Agency, air
pollution is causing over 350 premature
deaths each year in Barcelona (in
comparison, the number of deaths by
Covid-19 between 1 March and 10 April
has been estimated at 2,236). For
Barcelona, we observed that air pollution
has dropped by more than half, compared
to the same period in 2019, showing a
much wider e ect than the recently
implemented low emission zone. In this
context we are starting to question, to
which extent we are capable of avoiding a
return to the pre-Corona “normality”, at
least with regard to emission intensive
transport.
New York by Chris Kennedy, Zbigniew

Grabowski and Timon McPhearson
New York City is unique among ENABLE

cities in that under the weak federal
system of the United States, signi cant
responsibility for Covid-19 response falls
to states and municipal governments.
NYC current caseload (180k con rmed
cases as of this writing), has labeled it as
both the current “epicenter” and the
“vanguard” of the pandemic in the US.
03 29_US_New_York_Mobility_Report_en.pdf
In order to rapidly learn how NYC’s experience

may inform response e orts elsewhere, the Urban
Systems Lab at The New School has been
examining patterns of Covid-19 spread and
relationships to multi-dimensional vulnerability. For
instance, we have noted that the mobility
restrictions put in place by NY State Governor
Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order “NY on PAUSE”
(Policies, Assure, Uniform, Safety, Everyone),
re ected in the Google mobility data, appear
con rmed by transit, electricity use, and geo-
coded tweets across the city. The USL has also
begun to aggregate additional mobility data from
Twitter to examine covid responses.Given the
magnitude of the di erence in increased
residential mobility and decreases across all other
sectors, these data suggest that most public realm
activity in the city is driven by non-residents now
restricted to their home jurisdictions, which may
be true across ENABLE cities. However, data on
testing totals and con rmed cases also indicate
that social vulnerability to Covid infection and
mortality may be driven by socio-economic and
racial disparities, existing issues of environmental
justice (e.g. air pollution), and workforce
hierarchies. For example, the historically low
transit ridership declines (87% down according to
the MTA), are not uniform across the 5 New York
City boroughs, highlighting equity, access, and
socio-economic issues. In low-income
neighborhoods ridership is more consistent with
data from this time last year, with reports of
overcrowding as service is disrupted.
There is also strong reason to suspect

that the mobility data also do not
accurately re ect the uses of parks by
local residents, who have observed local
parks becoming much more crowded
than usual. NYC being a dense megacity
(population density averaging ~2800 DONATE TODAY

residents per sq km), with a relatively low
greenview index, private and community
green spaces providing numerous
ecosystem services, were already highly
sought after, and the city’s extensive
green roof programs may become
increasingly important. Additionally,
ongoing e orts to make more of the
streetscape useful for pedestrian, bicycle
transit, while managing stormwater and
heat hazards at a ner scale, may also
gain in importance, although existing USL
research (in preparation) shows that
planning remains fragmented in these
domains. For example, the city’s nascent
attempt at a city wide bicycle network
could be expanded to integrate nature-
based solutions and green infrastructure.
Aside from NYC being an international
and regional destination, much work
remains to be done on how extending NY
on PAUSE will a ect the vulnerability of
residents to the oncoming extreme heat
and ooding season.
Oslo by David N. Barton, Norun

Hjertager Krog , Zander Venter , Vegard
Gundersen
03-29_NO_Mobility_Report_en.pdf
Oslo’s Covid-19 mobility to non-essential

workplaces decreased by 45% in March
and increased residential mobility by 14%.
Outdoor recreation was advised within DONATE TODAY

one’s municipality in Norway, following
social distancing advisories. We wonder
whether physical exercise has been more
spatially distributed during the period of
mobility restrictions. Oslo is surrounded
by continuous boreal forest cover with
public right of access. Data from
automatic counters indicate that people
use new entrance areas and are
dispersed over large forest areas on
marked and unmarked paths. Oslo has
plenty of room for recreation in the city’s
peri-urban forests. However, with the
advisory against public transport, those
who live in the city center without a car
must use urban parks and open spaces
for recreation. While there is a small
reduction in use of parks (-7%) since
February as a whole, there was a large
increase in park use following the shock
of the March 12th announcement. Oslo’s
citizens may have compensated for
mobility restrictions by increasing outdoor
recreation in parks, streets and forests
close to home. The density of vegetation
in streets may also be an incentive to
exercise close to home.
Unfortunately, the Google community

mobility data does not identify mobility in
streets and undesignated greenspaces
such as Oslo’s peri-urban continuous
forest cover, the Marka forest.
Neighbourhood green spaces
accessibility, size and quality, as well as
tree density in general have shown to
have positive impacts on mental and
physical health. Street level greenviews
in Oslo are high compared to other capital
cities, and green spaces are relatively
equally distributed across the city,
although some di erences in exposure to
green and other environmental quality still
exist.
The importance of residential tree canopy

may literally grow if a pandemic lockdown
occurs during a heatwave. In Oslo each
tree canopy reduced average excess heat
exposure to the elderly by one day during
the heatwaves of 2018. We speculate that
urban tree canopy’s importance for public
health and urban resilience can only
increase, with Oslo’s summer
temperatures in 2050 expected to be
over 5 degrees warmer. Ease of access to
cool, large, low recreation density areas in
the Marka peri-urban forest and Osloord
should increase the value of urban
ecosystem services in futures with climate
change and pandemics. These peri-urban
areas may also serve a spectrum of
di erent opportunities for activities and
nature experiences for the urban
populations, as they include an
environmental gradient from intensively
managed service areas towards
untouched wilderness areas within short
distances. This means that people do not
need to travel far near Oslo to achieve
experiences such as silence and solitude.
Despite authorities assurances of food

security, the announcement of Covid-19
restrictions 12 March saw an approximate
50% spike in grocery & pharmacy visits in
Oslo. Although this brief hoarding was
probably focused on non-perishables, we
wonder whether this behaviour will be
lower in cities with better access to urban
gardening and local agriculture.
The next Google mobility report will cover

the period including Easter. Easter is
traditionally a time for outdoor activities in
Norway, mainly skiing activities in the
mountains. Many people go to their
cabins, but since this was prohibited, we
expect the use of urban greenspace will
show an increase in mobility—at least to
the extent that people have adhered to
the advice from the Government to walk
from home, and avoid crowded car

parking spaces and public transport. Local
newspaper reports also indicated that the
peri-urban Marka forest was extensively
used during Easter, perhaps covering
similar recreational needs of outdoor life
as going to the cabin, while also o ering
more space for social distancing than the
city streets and parks. Oslo’s peri-urban
forests provide for resilient outdoor life
during the pandemic, complemented by
local access to parks and high quality
urban spaces with street trees.
Stockholm by Erik Andersson
03-29_SE_Mobility_Report_en.pdf
Stockholm residents have compensated for

mobility restrictions, and restricted access to
urban services like gyms, museums, concerts,
sports events etc. by increased outdoor recreation
in parks, streets and perhaps especially forests
close to home. Similarly to Oslo, density of
vegetation in streets may also be an incentive to
exercise close to home. Stockholm has over the
last few years rolled out a system of outdoor gyms
to increase the multifunctionality of the city’s
green spaces, and these have seen increasingly
heavy use. Unfortunately, the Google community
mobility data does not identify mobility in streets
and undesignated greenspaces such as Tyresta
national park, nature reserves and remnant green
spaces embedded in Stockholm’s green wedges—
only a smaller portion of these are designated as
“parks”. Stockholm has ample access to water, and
as we move into spring/summer this will open up
additional opportunities for being out while
keeping a distance from other people.

Neighbourhood green spaces and tree density
are shown to have positive impacts on mental and
physical health. Street level greenviews in
Stockholm are high compared to other capital
cities, and green spaces are relatively equally
distributed across the city, although some
di erences in ‘direct’ exposure to green and other
environmental quality exist.
Ease of access to cool, large, low

recreation density areas in the green
wedges, nature reserves and national
parks, together with the archipelago and
lake Mälaren should increase the value of
urban ecosystem services in futures with
climate change and pandemics. The
importance of residential tree canopy will
also grow in Stockholm if a pandemic
lockdown occurs during a heatwave. Soft
restrictions and social responsibility,
together with a generally high availability
of larger open spaces have made it easier
for Stockholmers’ to shift activities and
time to open space rather than the more
built up parts of the city. However,
restrictions for the use of public
transportation means that the larger scale
regional system of open spaces is
primarily available for people with their
own cars, skewing the distribution of
opportunity across the population.
This is not the end
We hope the Google mobility data will

soon show access to urban greenspaces
increasing everywhere as restrictions are
lifted, coinciding with the green views of
spring. While we hope the pandemic and
its su ering soon will pass, preserving,
restoring and understanding the
importance of greenspace for future
urban resilience must continue with
renewed force.
David Barton1, Dagmar Haase2, Andre

Mascarenhas2, Johannes
Langemeyer3, Francesc
Baró3, Christopher Kennedy4, ZbigniewDONATE TODAY

Grabowski4, Timon McPhearson4, Norum
Hjertager Krog1, Zander Venter1,
VegardGundersen1, Erik Andersson5
1—Oslo, 2—Berlin, 3—Barcelona, 4—New
York, 5—Stockholm
On The Nature of Cities
One thought on “Enabling Access to

Greenspace During the Covid-19 Pandemic
—Perspectives from Five Cities”
5 June 2020 at 12:16
This is a vital topic in terms of social justice and environmental quality.

I’ve been studying how
Aidan Ffrench
My rm conclusion – and I invite responses – that states must seriously
consider ‘enfolding-in-law’ (at least constitutionally) a right to accessible
greenpeaces, within a reasonable distance/walking time (max. 10 mins)
for people. This is particularly needed in high-density and densifying
urban context,
Here in Dublin City (popn. c.1.6 milloin), Republic of Ireland, we are
fortunate to have – generally and on average – a relative high per
capita provision of open, green spaces. But the ‘devil is in the detail’,
crude general stats. are insu ceient. That tells little about the Quality
and Accessiblity (Proximity to people) of parks and greenspaces. For
example, arising from studies undertaken since 2008, we know that
there are sizeable pockets of deprivaiton and disadvatagte, aligned to
social class. Gap analysis for under-provision not only of greenspace,
but also of Play Areas and Urban Trees/Forests also tends to reveal
gaps aligned to lower socio-economic groups in society. In addtiion, the
failed neo-liberal economic model (virulent, law-of-the jungle capitalism)
followed by Ireland during the period 1998-2008, weakened Planning
and Development regulations, with developer-led projects the norm.
More recent changes in the government’s Apartment Design Standards
have severely reduced the minimum per capita “amenity” space
quantum, required of developers of high-density developed. These
highly questionable standards override the more strigent standards of
the country’s 31 local planning authorities (councils)
In our case (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council – the municipality
where i work as a Landscape Architect), the di erence is standard is
66%!
In the Republic of Ireland, we’ve a lot of political lip-service about the
importance of parks. The parks and landscape profession is weak and
barely present in local government. We’ve a lot of ‘skin-in-the-game’ but
little turf. Add that to the fact the Parks+Landscape Service is merely an
optional function for local authorities – no statutory mandate (unlike

other local services – roads, planning, housing, libraries), and it’s a toxic
cocktail of dysfunction. Despite that there is a dedicated band of
professionals and advocates ghting to address these existential issues.
For me, the provision Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure is a human rights

issue, and one related to social equity question. That iss paramount. A
resolved thru mandatory governance in primary law, will be critical,
indeed foundational, to making progress.
OTHER ESSAYS ON SIMILAR THEMES...
SCIENCE & PEOPLE &

TOOLS COMMUNITITES
29 June 2015 20 October 2015
Sustainability is Everywhere Turning to the Flip Side

Stephanie Pincetl, Los Angeles Maruxa Cardama, Brussels
A review of Sustainability in the Global City, Myth and On the ipside you can do anything (…) the ipside
Practice, edited by Cindy Isenhour, Gary McDonogh bring a second wind to change your world. Encrypted
and Melissa Checker. 2015. ISBN: 9781107076280. recipes to recon gure easily the mess we made on
Cambridge University Press, New York. 426 pages. As world, side B —Song ‘Flipside’, written by Nitin
the introductory chapter states: “Sustainability is Sawhney and S. Duncan My brainstorming for this
everywhere.” Indeed, what... essay started thinking about the comprehensive list
that follows the a rmation of “a just city is a...
0 Comment(s) 0 Comment(s)
Join our Conversation Join our Conversation
PLACE & ART &

DESIGN AWARENESS
2 June 2013 17 May 2016
Cities Are Our Streams Biophilic Urban Acupuncture: The

Eric Sanderson, New York Importance of Biophilia in Urban Places
The following is an excerpt from my new book, Terra Jonce Walker, New York City
Nova: The New World After Oil, Cars, and Suburbs As our cities expand and densify simultaneously, there
(Abrams, June 2013), which is about, at least in part, is a need to design places to connect people to
how cities can t into nature: Many years ago, before nature. If we are not careful, our commute and daily
I... experience within the city will be nothing more than
glass, steel, and...
1 Comment(s) 0 Comment(s)
Join our Conversation Join our Conversation
3/8
Download Image
Show on map
Start slideshow
Stop slideshow
Hide info
Show info
Close
Urban greenspace availability for selected European cities in ENABLE

Enabling Access To Greenspace During The Covid-19 Pandemic-Perspectives From Five Cities - The Nature of Cities

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Enabling Access To Greenspace During The Covid-19 Pandemic-Perspectives From Five Cities - The Nature of Cities

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

8/17/2020 Enabling Access to Greenspace During the Covid-19 Pandemic—Perspectives from Five Cities – The Nature of Cities

Be a part of a world-wide movement towards green cities DONATE TODAY

Enabling Access to Greenspace During the

Many voices. Greener cities. Better cities.

There is now plenty Using Google 1 Comment

Dagmar Haase time on health, for urban

About the Writer:

Google community mobility data for ve cities in the

About the Writer:

Johannes Langemeyer is a senior

Francesc Baro is a postdoctoral Click on image to expand

Urban greenspace availability for selected European

The reactions to Covid-19 and impacts on access

at some of these gaps and questions cityDONATE TODAY

Berlin, Leipzig, Halle, Germany by

Click on image to expand

About the Writer:

Zbigniew J. Grabowski is a post-

The Google mobility data describe only partly

There is evidence that important urban

As Covid-19 infection rates started to

Click on image to expand

Be a part of a world-wide movement towards green cities DONATE TODAY

Despite broad scienti c evidence for the health

First of all and most generally, it is

Secondly, and maybe most discussed

psychological health e ects primarily onDONATE TODAY

Thirdly, and related to the previous points,

Fourthly, the lockdown puts Barcelona’s

has more classically been discussed in DONATE TODAY

Finally, the severe lockdown might

New York by Chris Kennedy, Zbigniew

New York City is unique among ENABLE

Click on image to expand

Be a part of a world-wide movement towards green cities DONATE TODAY

In order to rapidly learn how NYC’s experience

There is also strong reason to suspect

(population density averaging ~2800 DONATE TODAY

Oslo by David N. Barton, Norun

Click on image to expand

Oslo’s Covid-19 mobility to non-essential

Outdoor recreation was advised within DONATE TODAY

Unfortunately, the Google community

The importance of residential tree canopy

Despite authorities assurances of food

The next Google mobility report will cover

from home, and avoid crowded car

Stockholm by Erik Andersson

Click on image to expand

Stockholm residents have compensated for

keeping a distance from other people.

Ease of access to cool, large, low

This is not the end

We hope the Google mobility data will

David Barton1, Dagmar Haase2, Andre

Baró3, Christopher Kennedy4, ZbigniewDONATE TODAY

On The Nature of Cities

One thought on “Enabling Access to

5 June 2020 at 12:16

This is a vital topic in terms of social justice and environmental quality.

optional function for local authorities – no statutory mandate (unlike

For me, the provision Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure is a human rights

OTHER ESSAYS ON SIMILAR THEMES...