The pandemic took a toll on the mental health of young adults, and a new study suggests cities are moving slowly to adapt public green spaces to fit the needs of the “missing middle.”
A UBC study released Thursday (Nov. 17) found that 15- to 24-year-olds are often overlooked when city planners design their parks, especially when compared to the needs of children and elderly people.
“We’re very good at providing playgrounds for younger children or including things like benches in parks for older adults,” researcher Sara Barron said in a press release.
“But when it comes to youth and young adults, there’s a noticeable lack of intentionally designed spaces where they can be themselves.”
Barron and her research partner Emily Rugel developed a three-pronged tool to better judge how young adults will use parks and green spaces.
Young people respond best to well-maintained parks where they feel safe. Rugel says safety is a primary concern for young women using the parks.
“That’s definitely it [an area] where we have to think about how safety feels for young adults versus other people who might be in a green space.”
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When it comes to diversity, parks with a variety of plants and activities available scored higher, the study found. There is also a demand among young people for quiet and more secluded spaces.
“Some people will look for that withdrawal,” Rugel said. “But many other young adults want a place to meet their friends, play games and have a loud conversation that they would call a library.”
Exploring the parks and pathways of Melbourne and Sydney in Australia as case studies, Rugel and Barron found that very few parks scored highly in the three areas of order, diversity and seclusion. Conflicts between the three are a challenge for cities that want to adapt the framework.
“There will be tensions between young adults and other park users,” Rugel said. “People who want to use a large open space to play a game [conflict] with people wanting to sit there and have a picnic… That’s certainly a tension that we think can be easily resolved, particularly by creating different areas that offer options to people who are there when they’re there for different purposes.” .
However, there is an opportunity to improve smaller ‘pocket parks’ and even alleyways to better serve young people, such as Melbourne’s alleyways that feature street art, plants and shrubs.
“If you see a place where there’s graffiti, that means there’s an opportunity to do a fabulous mural,” Rugel said. “That would contribute to the sense of order and the feeling that it’s a well-kept place.”
The study finds that green spaces can positively affect mental health by relieving stress and strengthening social ties. During the COVID restrictions, the lack of access to outdoor spaces had direct impacts on young people’s mood, ability to pay attention and focus on important things.
Rugel hopes the approach will be used as a checklist for improving parks in Metro Vancouver and other cities in the area.
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