On Parks: Essential Ingredients
A series by: Aya Abdelfatah and Islam (Sam) Ibrahim
Facts and Figures
Public spaces have proven their importance for both physical and mental health especially during the pandemic. Whether the regulations allowed group gatherings or not, many people found comfort within open parks.
Vancouver is known for its public park abundance, according to the recent VanPlay report 11% of its land is green public spaces. Better yet, 73% of the population is within a 5 minute walking distance of a park and 99% are within 10 minutes.
However, most often than not, it is difficult to find a bench or a public washroom. It is even close to impossible to enjoy a park on a rainy day.
The question thus begs itself, how can we make parks more inclusive and engaging all year long?! Some bare necessities are required.
Nuts & Bolts — Three Essential Ingredients
It is as simple as offering public washrooms, accessible trails and seating, and weather protections.
1| Public Washrooms
As simple as it may sound, having the comfort of staying at a park longer than your bladder “authorizes” is pure gold. Urbanarium recently held two workshops on the topic of integrating public washrooms in the urban fabric; imagine a public washroom within 5 minutes walking distance, just like transit.
The scarcity of public washrooms is not exclusive to Vancouver. Major cities such as New York are suffering from the same issue.
Earlier efforts by the Nippon Foundation aimed to expand the role of these monolithic ugly blocks to a catalyst for safer and more engaging public spaces.
The idea is to make people’s lives easier by simply not worrying about having to use the washroom!
2| Accessibility
Another basic human right is to offer everyone access to those parks. People with different physical and mental abilities need to have ease of access not only into and out-of parks, but also within.
The obvious solution is providing benches and a few paved trails around parks. However, a more inclusive approach is designing parks according to peoples’ wide scope of abilities and preferences.
For instance, mulch or rubber surfaces are ideal to walk on for those who have joint problems. Moreover, people with visual impairments require clear visual and auditory cues. Equally, people on the spectrum require secluded areas of refuge where they can resort to safety when feeling overwhelmed.
In short, inclusivity entails expanding our designs to guarantee everyone’s outdoor experience is pleasant and comfortable.
3| Weather Protection
Now comes the biggest challenge, but one if tackled ensures those parks can serve the public year round; weather protection. Undeniably, different climates will require different solutions.
For Raincouver the obvious impediment is rain. In this context weather protection is a function of the following: shading, rain cover, and wind protection.
Vancouver’s rain friendly pop-up plazas are the first step towards facilitating the use of public spaces all year long. An earlier partnership with Vancouver Public Space Network resulted in the inspiring Life Between Umbrellas competition. It is quite possible to extend these creative solutions to parks.
Furthermore, the problem persists after rainfall where unprotected elements are left wet. This is when porous materials, such as rubber, come in handy allowing rainwater to infiltrate trails and benches making them usable short hereafter.
Food for Thought
Statistically speaking, Vancouver has enough parks, yet the question follows: how much time do people spend there? Are the parks inclusive enough? How often are they used throughout the year?
With the three essential ingredients, the greenest city can offer more inclusive and usable parks all year round.
Having covered the nuts and bolts, stay tuned for the cherry on top: Complete Parks!
Urban Reflections is a series which sheds light on the degree of resilience of cities as revealed by the pandemic in a way that contributes to a constructive dialogue so that social justice prevails in the future of our urban life.
