Park

Nearby nature—new research reveals the difficulties of  enticing working adults and children into outdoor spaces, but it also hints at solutions.

Designers can  benefit from a better understanding of how people think about and react to the natural environment.

Urban spaces can affect both community and individual health.

A number of new articles provide insight into good park design.

Floyd and his colleagues assessed activity levels in 28 different parks in Tampa and Chicago.

In 2007, the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) investigated ways to increase the diversity of people using parks and similar places (“Placemaking in a Pluralistic World:  Using Public Spaces to Encourage and Celebrate Social Diversity”).

Designers and managers of public parks and plazas use many different methods to maintain the security of these places. Reviewing these  can allow designers to take a comprehensive approach to public space security.

Researchers in Melbourne, Australia, have determined the distribution of native and exotic birds differed in four general types of urban habitats. 

Researchers have determined that there is a positive relationship between duration of time in a park and lower systolic blood pressure, as well as a relationship between being in a park with another person and how healthy the person in the park perceives himself or herself to be.

Anyone who has sought out a choice spot under a tree on a hot day knows that a single tree can create its own microclimate. In small, tree-rich urban parks, the effect can be significant.