Greening Urban Areas is For More Than Just Making Places Look Nice

Greening urban areas is for more than just making places look nice. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Green spaces in urban areas are areas that have vegetation growing, which can be seen in different forms such as parks or gardens. It could be argued that the greening of urban areas are more than just for aesthetic purposes only and on the other hand, to some extent the reason why urban areas have green spaces are purely for the benefit of making an area more attractive to tourists and residents.

One of the benefits of green spaces is that it can also provide regulatory services to urban areas--such as flood management. By having green spaces strategically placed around a river running through a city could help reduce the risk of flooding or any damages caused by flooding. An example of this would be the park system in Curitiba, Brazil where parks were placed alongside the Iguacu river as a cheaper alternative than building levees to prevent flooding.

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Hence, not only does this park system prevent flooding it was also more economically efficient as it cost less to maintain or to build whereby more money was invested into other aspects of development in Curitiba. Due to this development it is estimated that the development of the parks saved up to $40 million in damages. A system like this would be appropriate to use in developing countries--such as Bangladesh, as the urban planner for Curitiba--Jamie Learner had kept the idea of creating solutions using as little money as possible.

This idea could be adopted in a country like Bangladesh as it suffers from severe river flooding and would be a cheaper solution than building levees that the government cannot afford with the right solution to reduce the effects of river flooding, Bangladesh as a country would have a better chance at developing more economically. Hence it could be said that the greening of urban areas are more than just making places look nice, but acts as an integral part of keeping an urban ecosystem stable.

However, on the other hand some cities may be wealthy enough to build green spaces only for aesthetic purposes. This is could also be beneficial however as it makes the city more attractive for tourists to visit, for people to relocate to or for the benefit of the city's residents. An example would be the New York 'High Line', where an old and abandoned train railway was converted into a long strip (2.33km) of greenery for the public. It was a good solution from turning an old railway into a park strip as it made the area around it more attractive and increased the value of the property nearby.

In addition to, this new green space allowed more people to visit these areas where there was a noted lower crime rate in the areas nearby in comparison to before the park was built. Due to the large amount of people who visit this new attraction would allow less pressure on other attractions in New York--such as Times Square. The development of this park will also allow diversity in the tourism industry of the city, in which many other businesses located around the High Line, creating a multiplier effect. Despite the fact that this was not the original purpose of the recycling of the derelict railway it still provided more benefits than just aesthetic appeal.

Despite this, green spaces are also known to reduce the urban heat island effect (UHI). The urban heat island effect is caused due to the use of machinery, vehicles and electricity supplied to a city that give off heat. This is also paired with the use of concrete or buildings that absorb heat from the sun's radiation that is released at night and these factors contribute to the the UHI effect that causes urban areas to be about +2°C higher than the surrounding areas. This can bring negative effects as it causes the seasons to come earlier (ie spring) than in rural areas and could disrupt migratory or breeding seasons, that is disruptive to the urban ecosystem and can also cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

The development of green spaces in urban areas--such as green roofs like in Marina Bay, Singapore helps cool down the building by 1-2°C which means that less cooling systems and electricity is used to help cool the building. Green spaces also help reduce the UHI effect as it absorbs heat and provides shade as trees can be planted in sidewalks or along roads to reduce heat as well as it can absorb more carbon dioxide emitted from industries or cars and reduce noise pollution. Therefore local governments would be inclined to greening urban areas as it provides more beneficial factors than just aesthetic views.

A reason why cities tend to have green spaces is for the benefit of the residents in these areas and increases the community's general happiness. A national survey filled out by more than 10,000 people in the UK between 1991-2008 showed that those living in green areas have a higher life satisfaction with notably less depression or stress than those who live in areas with little greenery. This suggests that planting trees in urban areas for making places look pleasing is enough reason for urban planners.

As stated above, by building a green space such as parks in an area can increase its property value and reduce crime rate in what used to be derelict areas of the city (High Line, New York). This concept could be used in cities that are known to be very unattractive to live in or for businesses to relocate--such as poor cities like Detroit in the US.

Overall, from the evidence above I would agree with the statement that greening urban areas is for more than just making places look nice. Even though there are some cases that green space are created so that urban areas to make it more attractive, green spaces are made so that they can provide other services like to help control river flooding (regulatory services) or to help reduce urban heat. Furthermore the development of green spaces can also help develop industries such as tourism or to improve areas socially or culturally and help integrate communities. All in all, it seems clear the green spaces do have more purpose than just aesthetic values.