On one of the main roads that cross the municipality of Santa María de Cayón, about 20 kilometers from Santander, a group of neighbors harvest giant courgettes while others chat in the shade of a tool shed. They are in the ‘sustainable occupational gardens’, an initiative of the city council that for more than a decade has offered several plots for their use and cultivation. Every year a raffle is held among interested people and priority is given to those who are unemployed, retired or pensioners: there is always a waiting list to access one of these spaces.
The gardens are conceived, as explained on the municipal website, as “a means of training, learning, training and environmental awareness.” But the benefits of these spaces go much further: we know that access to green spaces improves the physical and mental well-being of its users , as they are social meeting places, ideal for practicing physical exercise and perfect to disconnect from stress and stress. rush of daily life. On the younger population, the effects of doing activities in green areas on a regular basis are undeniable: a few weeks ago, a study published in the People and Nature magazine revealed that children who had more connection with nature during the pandemic suffered fewer problems of stress and anxiety associated with the health situation.
In addition, there are numerous studies that show that green areas help mitigate air and noise pollution, contribute to the capture of carbon dioxide and attenuate the ‘heat island’ effect that occurs in many cities due to concrete, asphalt and other materials. All these factors lead to abundant health benefits such as a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases or respiratory conditions associated with poor air quality. The Lancet Planet Health magazine has just published a study that points further and proposes a ranking of the European cities with the highest mortality attributable to the lack of green spaces . The authors, from the Barcelona Institute of Global Health, obtained data on mortality due to natural causes and levels of green space for each of the cities studied relative to the year 2015. Subsequently, and based on the results on the association between green spaces and mortality provided by large meta-analyzes published previously, estimated the number of deaths from natural causes that could be avoided if they complied with the World Health Organization (WHO) indications for access to green spaces: up to 43,000 deaths per year .
At the top of the list, which can be consulted through this ISGlobal website, is the Italian city of Trieste, followed by Turin, Blackpool, Gijón and Brussels. Although it may perhaps be striking that, for example, a city like Brussels, which has enormous green spaces, appears in the list, the researchers wanted to reflect the percentage of the population that has real access to these surfaces: “We have analyzed the proximity from residences to a green space following the recommendation of the WHO, which tells us that we should all have a park within 300 meters of our home ”, explains Evelise Pereira, one of the authors, in a telephone interview. “There are cities, like Barcelona, that have a lot of green space, but most of it is on the periphery, which places some people at a disadvantage depending on the neighborhood where they live. Many times green spaces are not close to where people live, so they do not generate health benefits ”.
The objective of the study is to show this unequal distribution within each city, and for this reason they have used a scale with 250-meter squares. “The initial idea is that each municipality knows where this inequity is in relation to access to green areas, and that within its context it knows what is the way to follow in case of wanting to expand these spaces”, explains the researcher.
The study comes at a time when many sectors of the public are demanding proposals to redesign public space and create more livable and healthy cities. Along these lines, the European IN-Habit project aims to turn four small European cities into test laboratories to study measures that truly integrate the peripheries in the cities and make them fundamental agents of urban transformation. One of them is Córdoba, and there the architectural and cultural heritage represented by the Andalusian patios has been chosen as the common thread. “Our idea is to monitor Cordovan patios with different types, architecture and vegetation to know what their real behavior is in terms of variables such as temperature attenuation, water management, carbon dioxide capture, etc. ”, Explains Mar Delgado, coordinator of IN-Habit in Spain and professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Finance and Accounting at the University of Córdoba. “We all know that patios are cooler, but we want to see how the characteristics of each one contribute to aspects such as thermal comfort or well-being, not depending on air conditioning in August or heating in winter.”
Inclusive cities, benefits for all
When we talk about unequal access to green areas, there are many barriers beyond the mere distance from home. For example, a recently published study by scientists from the University of Alcalá revealed that people in the poorest neighborhoods of Madrid do less physical activity in public spaces. Among the factors that explain this difference are both the perceived insecurity in these areas and the job insecurity of their inhabitants : long and physically demanding hours leave little room for going out for a walk in the park.
Another of the actions proposed by the IN-Habit project in Córdoba consists of the renaturation of several courtyards in Las Palmeras, one of the neighborhoods with the lowest socioeconomic indexes in the city and with numerous problems of social exclusion. “The prefix ‘IN’ of IN-Habit comes from the word ‘inclusive’: we want the health and well-being of nature-based solutions and other urban actions to reach all citizens, also the most disadvantaged ”, we Delgado explains. “We want to introduce more vegetation in these spaces, and not only ornamental plants but also edible ones, such as aromatic species, take actions to motivate young people to exercise in the patios, and investigate how these actions influence health and well-being. of the participants ”. In Lucca, another of the cities attached to the project, the creation of a kind of ‘pet corridor’ is going to be considered in the walk that runs along the old city wall so that it can serve as a meeting place between people who go out with their animals. “In many European cities the population is very old, and the fact of having a pet pushes older people to get up, clean themselves and get ready to go out for a walk and socialize “, reflects the researcher. Having these green spaces in which to meet and chat is, therefore, a fundamental requirement to combat loneliness and contribute to the well-being of the older population.
Each city, a challenge
How to green our cities in the most equitable and inclusive way possible? There is no single recipe, as each place has its peculiarities. A dispersed population, with more space between houses to introduce new elements based on nature, is not the same as the dense historical centers of many European cities. “Some are already reinventing themselves and taking advantage, for example, of old industrial areas or underused buildings to build urban parks or areas for public use in which green space is expanded ,” Pereira tells us. “In Spain the terraces are underused and the streets have a very waterproof design in which asphalt predominates, but we can think about how to turn the tables. For example, there are many spaces such as health centers or schools in which green areas can be installed, so that the social function of educating or attending to health is expanded with the benefit that these elements provide ”. It is about looking for ways to redesign cities while respecting their historical and cultural heritage, as is the case of Cordovan patios, but with actions that enhance the benefits of greening them and gaining space for health and enjoyment. Because harvesting giant zucchini in the heart of the city is just one of the many possibilities we have to live longer, and better, in cities that hopefully are increasingly green.
