Do Saint Johners need to become more physically active? Do we need to encourage people and children to be more active in their daily lives and not just at times of recreation? Encouraging more people to walk or cycle to work is not only good for the health of our people and a necessary responsibility for our governments to encourage, who are stakeholders in health care, it is also good green policy.
A new research article supports a possible option for increasing this type of activity: increase green space. The article, titled Urban Green Space Linked to Walking, Cycling Levels and originally published by Medical News Today, presents a new way to look holistically at our communities and see the relationships between thoughtful urban planning and quality of life for its citizens are many.
While Saint John may do well in this regard, I believe there has not been enough attention to accessible and usable green space in locations where it is likely to get used. Where are our kids play parks in neighbourhoods where young families live or want to live (especially uptown)? Are they in good working order and are they used? Why or why not?
Personally, I believe we need to start with a play park for young children in an area that is the heart of our city - King's Square. It would encourage families and children to use our crown jewel and bring human energy and vibrancy to the visible centrepiece of our uptown core. Follow that with the planned skateboard park and amenities for teenagers and young adults and there are few remaining obstacles to families interested in moving to the uptown.
I appreciate and respect concerns that heritage advocates may have about such a suggestion but I think it is worth exploring. It is a multi-use urban park with adequate space for a variety of activities and still plenty remaining for the peace and tranquility we enjoy there now. A tasteful playpark that adheres to the highest standards for this type of development would send the message loud and clear that this is a family-friendly community and one that is not afraid of mixing young and old, new and heritage and in serving the diverse needs of our community.
The greater and more plentiful the range of all legitimate interests (in the strictly legal sense) that city streets and their enterprises can satisfy, the better for the streets and for the safety and civilization of the city.- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961
7 comments:
there are no issues such as these if you live in quispamsis! 8)
I don't even know where to start with that one.
The idea I would categorize as a Jane-Jacobs utopian-esque Pleasantville dreamland approach. The idea challenges the political economy of the city. Middle and upper-class families (that is with children under the teen years) reside for the most part in Quispamsis and Rothesay characterized by a homogeneous group of people all wanting similar amenities (like a playground). There ARE children in the urban core, mostly those on a lower socio-economic scale that are concerned with basic survival, like lodging.
Now having said this, what of Rainbow Park (I think it's called) near Broad Street? Is that not the playground you wish for?
There are too many issues raised to unpack, I "touched" on some but need to leave it at that...
Perhaps, and I know this to be true, many families move to the KV without considering the uptown BECAUSE there are limited resources for young kids. And Rainbow park, much like many suburban neighbourhoods, is a park stuck on the fringes of the residential area and neglected by the citizens who would use it and care for it and, primarily, police it. It was placed there to satisfy a political need, not a community need, much like suburban neighbourhoods are required to provide a certain amount of green space in their developments and place them on the most useless piece of land available to them.
In my Jane-Jacobs stupor I also considered that if something that the community needed was to be provided, it needs to be built in the location and fashion that it would actually serve its purpose. Hence King's Square as my suggestion.
Your comments are right on the money for someone looking at the uptown in 2000 or even as recently as 2003. But in 2006 we are seeing a remarkable surge of new families moving uptown and raising their families here - so much so that it took us a year to find our home because there was so much competition in this housing market. If we are to keep these families and attract more we need to recognize this opportunity and address their needs as we would any other group of citizens.
We don't need more lip service towards uptown family living and we definitely don't need another rainbow park that no one will use and that will suffer neglect and abuse.
As for Quispamsis and Rothesay, you and I both know that the assertion that the KV has more to offer families and is the reason so many move there when they have children is pure mythology. The clone zone promised nothing for my children than an average experience in a community of very nice people. However, uptown is a community of very nice people with a diverse mix based on income, race, background etc that promises my family we will never be bored and will always have stimulus for our growth and creativity in a community we dearly love.
It's a choice. And I would like us to make it easier for families to choose the uptown.
Many people choose to live in the valley because they don't like the crowded streets of the uptown...the parking the noise etc...for some that's okay..
More misunderstanding of the uptown, I am afraid, Mark. We hear no noise uptown, parking has never been a problem for us and, because people want to be near people, as evidenced in every single study of human behaviour, our uptown streets are not crowded enough, especially when so many people empty into the valley in the evenings. There are always exceptions of course and I don't presume to know what every individual wants.
I don't think many people actually give much thought to what they want and need and get absorbed into a herd mentality that justifies certain choices and behaviours simply because everyone else is doing it. This is not a slag, it is human nature. I am suggesting we need to put in effort to point the herd towards the city where people's needs, both deep and superficial, are better met.
Canada is the most urban country in the world - a greater percentage of our population lives in cities than any other in the world. Hard to believe, isn't it? If New Brunswick continues to focus on serving rural living we will miss out on a dynamic that will drive our economy and the effort to serve the outlying areas will eventually make us broke.
Time to rethink how we live.
Keep up the good work.
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