Many people do not treasure green urban spaces: Politicians say that they must focus on policy implementation and businesspeople say they have to focus on business opportunities.
As a result, two parks in New Taipei City are to lose a large area of green space in the near future.
A new line of Taipei’s MRT metropolitan railway system is to cut through Jincheng Park (金城公園) in Tucheng District (土城), while Huwei Battery Park (滬尾砲台公園) in Tamsui District (淡水) will lose 2.28 hectares to a residential housing project.
In a study of 108,000 women in the US, Harvard University researchers studied correlations between mortality rates and living in a green environment over an eight-year period from 2000 to 2008.
The study showed that women living in the greenest surroundings had a 41 percent lower rate of kidney disease-related mortality, a 34 percent lower rate of respiratory disease-related mortality, a 13 percent lower rate of cancer-related mortality and an overall lower mortality rate of 12 percent.
The study also showed that living in a green environment reduces exposure to air pollution, which benefits physical and mental health.
In a University of Alabama at Birmingham study, researchers interviewed 94 visitors to three urban parks in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and found that a 20-minute park visit improved subjective well-being by 64 percentage points, even if those interviewed did not engage in any physical activity while in the park.
This implies that regardless of age or health, a visit to the park improves most people’s well-being.
Moreover, experimental data show that spending time in nature lowers stress hormone levels. The effect is most obvious after between 20 to 30 minutes, but continues to increase after 30 minutes.
A British study of the daily activities of about 20,000 people came to similar conclusions.
In Taiwan, the percentage of green area in the six special municipalities is lower than the 10 percent that is targeted in the Urban Planning Act (都市計畫法).
Compared with major cities in other nations, which have increased the rate of greenery — that is the percentage of land area covered by vegetation — to between 20 and 30 percent, Taipei is moving in the wrong direction.
While the rate of greenery for example in Singapore is as high as 50 percent, the Taipei City Government is planning to remove one-third of green space in Shuanglian Park (雙連公園) by for example adding playgrounds, a plan that has been strongly criticized by local residents.
Taipei City Councilor Lin Liang-chun (林亮君) says that one of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) election pledges was to create a green and healthy Taipei.
In fact, his administration is doing the opposite.
The big lawn on Minquan E Road Sec 5 is to undergo the same development as Shuang-lian Park.
Before long, the green space is to be turned into Songrong Park (松榮公園), which will include a playground, spaces for activities, a pond and concrete structures.
Academia Sinica founder Tsai Yuan-pei (蔡元培) said that parks are the main focus of urban landscaping, and that although there are only eight traditional Chinese arts, park design should be looked upon as art.
This wisdom is worth considering.
Lu Ching-fu is a professor at Fu Jen Catholic University’s applied arts department.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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