We know parks and trees in our cities are good for public health so how do we fund them?
Garden cities and new towns invoke a model where public space and green space is an integrated part of a sustainable whole. Nearly ten years ago CABEspace published a paper on the value of public space, citing case studies where proximity to green space had raised local property values and added economic value to business. Since then, more research has shown benefits for both mental and physical health: local green space is important for therapy and exercise, and as a generator of community cohesion. Recent evidence shows that the difference in life expectancy between rich and poor shrinks among those who live in an environment with parks and trees.
New York City’s HighLine has acted as a spur for some $2 billion investment in its vicinity
However, funding communal green space can be problematic. At the neighbourhood level, my practice has been given architectural briefs which include minimising communal external space in order to lessen the burden of service charges on already hard-pressed affordable housing residents. Throughout the UK it is still a struggle to find capital funding to improve parks that are run down, and revenue funding to ensure that restored parks are maintained to a good standard and do not decline again. Cities all over the world are trying to replicate the runaway success of parks