Urban Green Areas – their functions under a changing lifestyle of ...

UGA improves business by attracting more people in to area. For example,
companies are attracted to locations that offer well-designed, well-managed public
places and these in turn attract customers, employees and services.
UGA invigorates local businesses and neighbourhood economies by attracting
tourists and investment in real estate.
UGA offers direct employment opportunities for those people who develop, manage
and maintain the sites.
2.4.3 Social benefits
Parks provide benefits to the physical, mental and social well-being of local residents
(WTO 1948).
Many leisure activities (i.e., sports, relaxation, socializing etc) take place in UGAs. It
is better for physical and mental health to exercise in parks or gardens than to do it
indoors. For example, teenagers gather in groups in open space in parks and gardens
to dance and make sports. No doubt, the open air supplies more oxygen for breathing.
And green makes people’s mind relax better so that “subsequently the recreation
benefit can be determined from actual behaviour of park users.” (IAMTRAKUL et al.
2005: 1262).
UGA helps people’s physical and mental health (calm mental-patients and crime
down). ULRICH (1986) shows that natural scenes (lakes and rivers, vegetation) have
better relaxation and less fatigue than city scenes (skyscrapers) have. His research
also implies that medical treatment of patients in hospital room with nature view was
statistical more successful than medical treatment of patients with view to concrete
walls of adjoining (neighbour) house (WITTIG in SUKOPP/WITTIG et al.1993: 97).
Mood changes, stress, health (ABKLAR et al. 2010), “enhance the positive qualities
of urban life: variety of opportunities and physical settings; sociability and cultural
diversity” (BURGESS et al. 1988: 455), city sustainability (CHIESURA 2004).
A park is also used as an informal meeting place (communication): Residents take
parks and gardens as meeting places when they exercise or go for a walk. As a
consequence, those crowded places “discourage crime, in turn make green spaces
even more desirable and lead to further outdoor social interaction” (TROY/GROVE
2008). And that is beneficial for social environment in cities. (ERTSTSON 2008: 31).
2.4.4 Possible negative aspects
Besides the above benefits, when parks are badly maintained, several negative aspects arise
(see BURKE 2007; YANEZ/MUZZY 2005, TROY/GROVE 2008).
45