As I noted yesterday, the City of Ottawa is in the midst of a review of its Community Gardens and Community-Led Green Initiatives. If you care about having a livable city, I urge you to complete the city’s survey before the July 7 deadline.
In my written submission, I gave ten reasons why I think greenspace is not just important, but vital to our city. Here are a few more of my reasons.
3. Schools
Children in Ottawa finished their educational year under extreme heat conditions in schools that often lack air conditioning. Heat makes it harder for students to learn. Students perform worse on tests when they’re hot, according to multiple studies by economists R. Jisung Park and Joshua Goodman, among others. A Harvard study of 10 million secondary students who took the PSAT standardized exam found that cumulative heat exposure decreases the productivity of instructional time. Without school air conditioning, a 1°F hotter school year reduced that year’s learning by 1%. More greenspace, especially mature trees, around schools and in surrounding neighbourhoods should be a priority to offset the negative effects of heat on learning, and to reduce the potential cost of providing air conditioning in all schools.
4. Children
There is a growing body of research to suggest that children’s imaginations, social and mental health development are all positively influenced by access to greenspace. A South Australian study found the young children prefer to play in natural environments. Three- to 5-year-old children were significantly more imaginative and social in nature play areas, tending to play together more and be more creative. In manufactured spaces, children mostly engaged in physical activities like climbing and playing on equipment. Playing through the greenery and litter of a mini forest’s undergrowth for just one month may be enough to significantly improve a child’s immune system, according to an experiment in Finland. A longitudinal study of twins in Belgium concluded that children raised in greener areas have a higher IQ, as well as lower levels of difficult behaviour.
5. Stormwater Management
Effective April 1st, the City of Ottawa implemented a 4.3% overall increase for water, wastewater and stormwater rates. This is the 8th consecutive year in a row that city water rates have increased. The cumulative increase over those eight years is 47.7%, driven in large part by construction of extensive stormwater management infrastructure. As the city continues to expand, and encompass more and more impermeable surfaces, the need for more built stormwater management infrastructure will continue to grow, as will our utility bills. In contrast to parking lots and the massive roofs of big box stores, greenspaces are permeable, permitting more water infiltration. Greenspaces mitigate the risk of flooding, and the need for more expensive stormwater management infrastructure. It is heartening to see the city is considering adjusting its water rates to reflect the extent of permeable surfaces on a property. Indeed, we encourage the city to also implement mandatory green roofs on all large roof surfaces, as the City of Toronto has already done.
Gardening at Last 