Implementation Of Greenery In Public And Community Spaces What are the benefits?

Green Spaces: Mental and Physical health enhancers

It is proven that with the presence of Green open spaces, human health and wellbeing can be vastly improved mentally, physically and even socially. One study indicates that Open Green spaces play a role in Improving mental health, due to the proximity they offer with natural context which is beneficial for human . With very immediate and specific benefits such as the reduction with blood pressure, muscle tension and feelings of fear and anger, as well as the increase of self-esteem. 5 The study also indicates that the presence of greenery, even when just observed from a bedroom window, is able to reduce symptoms of attention deficit disorder in children, increase their ability to communicate with others, as well as reduce depression 6 . Open public spaces for walking, cycling, playing and other outdoor activities, especially when including an increased amount of green texture, can improve safe mobility and basic services for women, the elderly and children, in addition to low-income populations, which in this case promotes health equity and creates safer communities.

WA Department of Sport and Recreation, (2009) states that Green Spaces help enhance social outcomes. As they encourage social interaction and development of social skills, improve social networks and social wealth, as well as increase community cohesion. One study found that it is three times more likely for people who use public open spaces to

achieve recommended levels activity than people who do not. 7 of physical

Zaha Hadid’s Beko Masterplan in Belgrade

Besides their effect on mental health, Open Green Spaces appear to have a very immense impact on physical health as well. Especially because they encourage a healthy lifestyle. This is mostly evident in community buildings that work as a living cell. Such an example is the Soprema HQ - Eco-futuristic building in Strasbourg, France. A, yet unbuilt, ecological prototype of the green city of the future.. The special thing about this project is that, as the architect Vincent Callebaut states, will “transform the balconies and roofs of the project into gardens, vegetable gardens, and hanging orchards.” 8 As noted by the architect it will also include recreational and relaxation naturally stop and converse. areas where people

In this project, direct contact with nature benefits all services. The green spaces are scattered on the balconies and on the roofs, to the point that vegetation is literally offered to the inhabitants in an apparent plenitude. The proximity of the gardens with the workspaces enhances the wellbeing of the inhabitants by increasing their ability to think clearly and cope with the pressures of daily life, as well as providing a better atmosphere for working. 9 Their introverted character at places also serve as outdoor work, informal meeting, and relaxation areas. 10 While the openness and flexibility of the exterior space provides open places activities such as hiking and cycling. for physical

Deaths from physical inactivity are estimated at 3.2 million deaths a year, as per a recent study by the United Nations. The specific building is meant from its design stage, as a counteraction towards this reality. Furthermore, being around vegetation and green surfaces reduces death from heart attacks or stroke caused by high temperatures and sunstroke, because of their solid role in lowering temperatures and improving the climate. 11

Green Open Spaces:

Possibly an answer to more integrated and healthy buildings? Open green Spaces do play a role in enhancing and benefitting the environmental values of a public and community area. As they offer great opportunities for positive change and sustainable development for our cities. They help make cities and towns more integrated with their urban environment, safer and healthier places to live, work, visit and play and even more aesthetically pleasing. Taking into account health issues when planning public green spaces can provide the greatest number of common benefits. Open green spaces are an important element that must be maintained within and outside urban areas not merely because of its aesthetic value, but more importantly, its health and environmental impact on human life. It is e important for architects, urbanists and designers to inform their design with issues concerning health and wellbeing, related with the use of green. It is even more important to educate communities about the importance of green spaces, how to preserve them and their biodiversity, and encourage societies to make the most secure and optimal use ofthem.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10.

11. (Mensah, 2014) (Mensah, 2014) (Shackell & Walter, 2012) (Rakhshandehroo, Johari, Afshin, 201-) Zaha Hadid’s Beko Masterplan in Belgrade (United Nations, n.d.) (Evergreen, 2015) (United Nations, 1997) WA Department of Sport and Recreation, (2009) Soprema HQ - Eco-futuristic building by Vincent Callebaut Architectures. Available at: < http://88designbox.com/architecture/soprema-hq-ecofuturistic-building-by-vincent-callebaut-architectures2868.html> (United Nations, n.d.) Available at: <http://88designbox.com/architecture/soprema-hq-ecofuturistic-building-by-vincent-callebaut-architectures2868.html> (Evergreen, 2015) (United Nations, 1997)

A SQUARE IN DOUBT?

By Myria Christodoulou

A controversial project Eleutheria Square is one of the most controversial projects in Nicosia today and possibly the most debated. During the latest years, this project has been a matter of argument because of its extremely high financial cost and its long delay in construction. It was awarded the first prize in an architecture competition in 2005 and now, 15 years later, it is still in construction. While its functionality, as a main public space of the city centre, is also doubted. Today, it is considered a necessity for any project to follow the principles of sustainable development and let alone the Public and Municipal Projects. The question that this article wants to discuss is whether we can actually consider Eleutheria Square a sustainable project.

What is sustainable development? The three pillars ofsustainability

Before deciding about the sustainable character of

the square, we should first define what sustainable development is and what its components are. Up to today, there have been about 200 definitions ofsustainable development 1 different

Picture 1: Retrieved from https://www.zaha - hadid.com/

A popular approach in the 21st century is summarised under the title ‘The three pillars of sustainability’, which includes society, economy and environment 2,3 . The three pillars often appear in bibliography as three intersecting

circles. In the development is

Venn Diagram, sustainable represented as the common place of intersection components. 7 Which among the demonstrates three that

sustainable development can only

happen when all three components co-exist harmonically. And the opposite: that we cannot actually talk about when one or more does not exist. 2 sustainable development of the three components

If the overall condition of the world today was translated through this theory, the circle of economy would be the largest one, which is using the resources of environment, without replacing them, and society is not benefited enough from this economic development. If the environment circle keeps shrinking, the circles of economy and society will collapse, because there will not be enough natural resources for these to be sustained. 7

Social Sustainability Social Sustainability, as a concept, has its roots in the 1960s social upheaval, which started in the United States, soon spread to Europe and many other Western countries. The movement was connected with the outbrake of riots in 1968 in Chicago, Paris, London, Tokyo and Prague. At the time, there were concerns for the validity of the Vietnam war. However, this was just the initial cause. The movement soon expanded to include universal values demanding equal opportunities and respect to people of different social classes, race, gender and sexual orientation, as well as expressing a concern about providing those, equally, to the future generations. The understanding of social sustainability by that time was more mature than the, previously expressed, American Dream and its consumerist understanding of equality. Social sustainability was linked with a form of reverse –consumerist ideals and the feeling responsibility of the individuals.These of the events later matured into a world view and the theory and practice of what we today call ‘social sustainability’. 4 According to McKenzie Social Sustainability can be, generally, defined as “a positive condition within communities, communities that and a can process achieve within that

condition”. sustainability

Goals related are the equality to

to social provision of

necessary needs and services, equality of

generations, respect cultures, participation

between different of citizens in communities, a sense of community ownership, the mechanisms that help a community to be independent and be able and the provision system. 2,7 of a

to cover their needs supportive political

development as a Venn Diagram

Picture 1: Sustainable