Time in nature improves our mental and emotional health ("Nature Deficit" Photo credit: Gernie, Parkdale, Toronto).
Our brains and bodies desire nature. A tide of research demonstrates that nearness to nature makes us healthier, happier, more peaceful beings. Conversely, a lack of contact with nature can intensify stress, aggression and even violence. With 80 per cent of Canadians now living in cities, one would think that maximizing natural spaces would be a major health priority. Yet, the apportioning of our urban green oases is perplexing; what we often find in cities are grand tracts of trees in some neighbourhoods and concrete deserts in others.
Our own community-led research on urban environmental health (PDF) documented this uneven distribution of urban green spaces. In Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, local researchers contrasted images of sparse vegetation and restricted public spaces in poorer neighbourhoods against an abundance of nature in other parts of their city. This lack of nurturing by nature was described as having a quality of demoralization — a negative pull on mental well-being that intensified life challenges. As one community researcher described it:
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"When I look at the pictures in my neighbourhood and then these [in other parts of the city] I see the space that we have to live in seems to be getting smaller and smaller ... When you have little money or no money or pressures and problems, you can go to these areas like the beach and look out at the horizon and you can see how this beautiful stretch of land has always been there and it was there long before any of us were here and will likely be here long after. When I look out at this vastness I realize there is more to life than my own experiences and problems and somehow, after a while it doesn't matter as much, in terms of my own problems. I think here, with wider spaces, you can get more of that kind of feeling."
Scientific evidence supports our inner knowing that time in nature improves our mental and emotional health. But green sanctuaries provide even more than peace of mind; they are also essential to our physical health. They help us to bear the heat and breathe easier and inspire us to get out and move our bodies. But again, not all neighbourhoods are created with a fair share of health-enhancing verdure. In line with our own comparative study of urban neighbourhoods, climate change research is showing that poorer communities tend to be located at the urban core, with little vegetation and an abundance of heat-radiating surfaces. Higher-income neighbourhoods, on the other hand, are often surrounded by cooling vegetation. This phenomenon may be contributing to a relationship between lower socioeconomic status and heat-related illness and death.
So, what should we do? Population density and lack of space is often blamed as the impediment to laying down more inner-city green, but our community researchers told a different story. They cleverly and easily identified spaces for trees, green walls, sound-absorbing bushes and more tranquil natural spaces. Opportunities seemed abundant to those who knew their neighbourhood well. But fear, they argued, often stands in the way. Fear that what may be viewed as an inviting naturalized space in one neighbourhood could be seen as ground zero for undesirable activity in more marginalized neighbourhoods — a place for a homeless person to sleep, for an aggressor to hide or for drug activity.
This raises the question: Is it reasonable to implicate a shrub in dubious urban activity? A foliage-reduction strategy to deal with serious social issues like crime or homelessness is a hard sell, especially in the face of strong evidence supporting the deep mental and physical nourishment nature can provide its citizens. The story that unfolds is that many neighbourhoods, already coping with exclusion due to challenges of poverty or poor housing, get additionally excluded from enjoying a fair share of the city's nature — the very thing that may provide at least some support in the face of difficult life circumstances.
So are fresher air, reduced morbidity, better mental health and natural play spaces being usurped by fear or prejudice? Are whole communities experiencing deprivation from nature as a result of neighbourhood stigma? Are population density and a lack of space the reason why the city is segregated along green lines, or are there deeper root causes?
A recent documentary on CBC's The Current about nature and human health is enough to inspire even those who are apathetic about nature to balance more green among the concrete. Achieving this balance city-wide, however, means considering issues of equity and fairness within urban environmental health strategies. This begins with city planning that incorporates the aspirations and expert knowledge of communities experiencing a green deficit.
Tara Zupancic is the Associate Director of the Centre for Environmental Health Equity. The Centre for Environmental Health Equity supports communities through creative research that translates knowledge into action for more equitable and just environments. Our vision is an environment where all people have equal opportunity to enjoy healthy, vibrant communities, no matter where they live.
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2 Comments
3:57 PM
Do u have any thoughts in regard to schools located near hydro lines?
11:52 AM
So I was just talking about the incinerator in Durham Region and meant to say that Covanta has a term for it called EfW Energy from Waste to sell it but we know how little energy comes from burning garbage as it takes natural gas to keep it going It wastes the valuable resourses like reuseable plastic that could other wise be recycled as they help with the burn and once signed in contract the region can no longer go toward a larger recycling opportunity and innovation takes a back seat to backward technology
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