from Sunday Herald, 11 December 2011
They are vital for our health, our life and our sanity, but they are now in sharp decline because of government cutbacks.
The parks, gardens, allotments, woodlands and sports fields that make up urban Scotland’s vital green spaces are deteriorating fast, according to dramatic new evidence to be unveiled tomorrow.
A survey conducted for the independent social enterprise, Greenspace Scotland, reveals a steep drop in the number of people using their local green spaces over the last two years. This is because they are seen as more stressful, less attractive and more dangerous places now than they were in 2009.
This means that Scotland is putting public health and economic prosperity at risk, experts warn. The survey should act as a “wake-up call” for policy-makers to protect and enhance the quality of green spaces rather than allow them to suffer from funding restrictions, they say.
“We’ve been hearing about reductions in green space staffing and management which inevitably were going to make a difference on the ground, but we hadn’t expected this to impact so soon on people’s use and attitudes,” said Julie Procter, the chief executive of Greenspace Scotland.
“Difficult decisions on priorities have to be taken in these financially challenging times – just as households have been tightening their belts, so too have local authorities and other organisations.”
The survey results should “sound an alarm” and make us rethink spending decisions, Procter said. “What may seem a relatively easy, low-impact cost-saving on green space now could have a disproportionately negative and far-reaching impact on Scotland’s health and prosperity.”
Greenspace Scotland was set up in 2003 by the government’s nature conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), to improve parks and woods in urban areas. It now operates as an independent charitable company, and gets public funding for specific projects.
With backing from SNH, Greenspace Scotland commissioned the Edinburgh polling company, Progressive Partnership, to interview more than 1,100 people in urban areas earlier this year. The results were compared with a previous survey conducted in 2009.
The survey found that the proportion of people who said they used their local parks or woods once a week or more dropped from 63% in 2009 to 54% in 2011. This was mirrored by similar falls in the number who thought they were “places you can relax and unwind”, “safe places for physical activity”, “attractive places” or “good places for children to play” (see table below).
According to Greenspace Scotland, a decline in access to good quality parks and woodlands could have worrying impacts on health, well-being and business. There was a substantial body of research on the links between green spaces and quality of life, pointed out the group’s chair, Pam Whittle.
“People who live near green spaces tend to be more active. Green spaces can help reduce stress and blood pressure,” she said. “The benefits of green space far outweigh costs.”
Neglected parks and woods could also damage Scotland’s economic recovery by deterring investment, Whittle argued. “Places that are well-cared for, attractive and well-used project a powerful image of energy, confidence and success,” she said.
“Run-down, neglected and tired spaces send a very different message – depressing investment prospects, blighting people and places.”
One area where green spaces have declined is Possilpark in Glasgow, where there are a high number of vacant and derelict sites. Edinburgh, on the other hand, has bucked the downward trend by working with local communities to raise the quality of its parklands.
Stan Blackley, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, was not surprised that urban parks were being used less. “Many of them are now so badly maintained, poorly lit or strewn with litter and dog dirt due to cuts in budgets for their upkeep,” he said.
"Urban green spaces have a significant positive impact on peoples' quality of life and can bring city dwellers some respite from the day-to-day stresses of city life, such as crowded streets, noise and air pollution. Those living in the poorest communities often have less access to good quality urban green space and are denied the benefits that this brings.”
Blackley called on other local authorities to follow the example of Edinburgh and invest in maintaining their green areas. “The benefits of doing so not only include making towns and cities a more pleasant place to live, but they also include increased public activity in sports and recreation and improved public health.”
The survey showed that some people are willing to be more involved in the management of their local green spaces. This suggests that greater community involvement could be the key to revitalising areas, campaigners say.
SNH was concerned that people were using parks and woods less often that in previous years. But its manager, Chris Nevin, added: “We are heartened that there appears to be a grassroots move for people to have more of a say in how their local green space is managed and help improve them.”
The survey also discovered that hundreds of thousands of people in towns and cities want to grow their own food, but can’t because they don’t have a garden. More than a quarter of those who don’t currently cultivate their own fruit and vegetables said they would like to.
Nearly a third of urban Scots are already growing their own food in gardens, allotments or backgreens. But Greenspace Scotland is urging measures to unlock new land for communities to start growing more of their own.
Scotland’s declining green spaces
What people said / 2009 / 2011
Use local green spaces once a week or more / 63% / 54%
source: Greenspace Scotland
Can green space make you happier and healthier?
by Dr Elizabeth Richardson from the Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health at the University of Edinburgh
Could local green spaces help to improve the health and wellbeing of the Scottish population? There is compelling evidence that people living in neighbourhoods with more green space are generally healthier than those in less green areas.
As well as reporting that they feel healthier, residents of greener neighbourhoods also have lower blood pressure, better mental health, and reduced risks of being overweight or dying from heart disease.
This green space and health relationship has been found in many scientific studies in the UK and elsewhere, and importantly it remains after we account for how affluent or deprived an area is. The health benefits of green space are of particular interest in Scotland, given that we have obesity and heart disease rates that are among the highest in the world, the social and economic costs of which are enormous.
But how, exactly, is green space thought to benefit our health? This is a trickier question than working out, for example, how smoking damages our lungs. Green space effects on health are subtle and multifaceted; rather than tangible, obvious and direct.
Importantly, green space may affect different people in different ways. There is evidence that local green spaces encourage us to be more physically active (e.g., to go for a walk or a jog), or may enhance our opportunities for social interaction with others, both of which are known to improve our mental and physical health.
We also have convincing evidence that nature has a stress-relieving effect on our minds and bodies, and that this has positive repercussions for our mental and physical wellbeing. Whilst it is difficult to prove a causative link between green space and health (that is, without experimentally moving people to live in neighbourhoods of different levels of greenness to see how they fare!), all the evidence leads to this conclusion.
According to the 2011 Greenspace Scotland survey, fewer Scots now rate their local green space as having safe, pleasant or relaxing qualities, and usage has also declined. Indeed, recent research evidence suggests that our usage of, and health benefits from, green spaces are more closely related to their quality than their quantity; we are more likely to use these spaces, and consequently to benefit from them, if we perceive them to have qualities that are important to us.
These quality judgements – such as safety, functionality, attractiveness, or serenity – vary from person to person and are also dependent on the wider community context. For example, a participant in a recent study in Glasgow reported that although her local green space offered good quality facilities she was prevented from using it because she perceived her local community as unsafe. Hence, improving facilities and conditions within green spaces may not be sufficient to increase usage and potential health benefits: a wider community focus is likely to be required.
OT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/world/asia/japan-set-to-declare-control-over-damaged-nuclear-reactors.html?_r=1
Posted by: cynicalHighlander | 17 December 2011 at 10:01 PM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davet_herav/
Posted by: David Swan | 11 December 2011 at 02:29 PM
Well now Green piece the S.N.H. FRIENDS OF WHAT' HISTORIC SCOTLAND, ARE ALL NOW GOING TO DO SOMETHING, IT'S A PITY THEY HAVE SAT BACK FORE YEARS AND ALOUD THIS DEGRADATION TO GO ON FOR YEARS, LOOK AT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR TOWN AT THE HANDS OF THEM ALL THEY HAVE ALL BEEN MAID AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE PAST, SO WHY HAVEN'T THEY ACTED BEFORE IT HAS ALL GONE PAIR SHAPED SO WE MUST BLAME ALL OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS FORE FAILING TO DO WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN GETTING PEOPLE 'S FUNDING FOR, TO SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING. THEY SHOULD HANG THERE HEADS IN SHAME. LOOK WHAT THEY HAVE ALOUD TO HAPPEN TO OUR LAND IN DUNBAR, WHERE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BATTLE SITS IN SCOTTISH HISTORY WAS FOUGHT IN 1650. AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLDEST MESOLITHIC SITE IN BRITON TO DATE. SO WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO. AS THEY HAVE FORE YEARS NOTHING ??
http://www.flickr.com/people/davet_herav/ http://a1historydunbar.com/
Posted by: David Swan | 11 December 2011 at 02:14 PM