Experiencing nature helps people in times of joy and pain. However, inequity of access to green spaces means that South Africans cannot enjoy nature when they need to.
Green spaces provide benefits for people and nature. Photo by Ida Breed,
GRIP Research team
We cannot think of nature as something set aside in wildernesses, far from human activity. We need to conserve some elements of nature everywhere, including in the cities we live in.
Bill 23 proposes to eliminate or weaken many housing development regulations including site plan controls, which keep us and our natural environment safe from the negative effects of poorly controlled development.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Poorly regulated housing is leading to more greenhouse gas emissions through energy loss, increased energy requirements and greater exposure to weather extremes.
People wouldn’t last long without the countless other species we depend on for survival.
The U.S. military released a defoliant called Agent Orange over the South Vietnam countryside to weaponize the forest during the Vietnam War as part of the Operation Ranch Hand project.
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How we design our cities can make it harder to be healthy. City planners are now able to quantify the different elements that are affecting our health and well-being.
Wealthy areas of London have better green space provision than the national average.
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Despite their good intentions, cities rarely have the full set of skills and capabilities to turn their plans into a reality. Our research looks at what needs to change.
Urban green spaces are essential for the well-being of both human and and non-human residents of a city.
A study showed that, on average, more greenery around primary schools was associated with better NAPLAN scores. Higher exposure to traffic-related pollution was associated with poorer scores.
Green spaces are inequitably distributed across cities: The quality and quantity are lower in racialized neighbourhoods.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Green spaces can be part of the plan to ‘build back better’ after COVID-19. But city officials and policy-makers must address systemic racism for urban green spaces to benefit public health.
In South Africa, there are more streets named after non-native plant species than native plant species.
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There’s ample evidence that colonial imprints and mindsets in many cities and towns around the world today still dominate the availability of green spaces and how they’re managed.
Several large cities have set ambitious targets for increasing their tree canopy. The city of Montréal has adopted an action plan that aims to plant 185,000 trees by 2025.
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The built environment plays a pivotal role in lowering residents’ exposure to climate change driven risks.
Traffic flows past trees that have been felled to make way for a highway in Nairobi, Kenya on November 12, 2020.
Photo by LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images
Parts of Nairobi are already dealing with temperature increases and reduction in humidity. These conditions are associated with increases in mortality, especially in children and the elderly.
COVID-19 restrictions led to calls to open up golf courses to the public. But these are such precious refuges for native flora and fauna that access will have to be carefully managed.