Green Spaces

While exploring transportation, it’s important to remember that some of the most environmentally friendly options are walking, running, and cycling. To encourage people to take advantage of these options, cities need to create and preserve green spaces.

There are many types of urban green spaces, including parks, athletic felds, greenways and community gardens. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil even has a rainforest within the city limits!

Source: Global Scholar Program 16-17. Building better cities.

Open space is any open piece of land that is undeveloped (has no buildings or other built structures) and is accessible to the public. Open space can include:

Green space (land that is partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation). Green space includes parks, community gardens, and cemeteries.

  • Schoolyards
  • Playgrounds
  • Public seating areas
  • Public plazas
  • Vacant lots
% green spaces world cities

Open space provides recreational areas for residents and helps to enhance the beauty and environmental quality of neighborhoods. But with this broad range of recreational sites comes an equally broad range of environmental issues. Just as in any other land uses, the way parks are managed can have good or bad environmental impacts, from pesticide runoff, siltation from overused hiking and logging trails, and destruction of habitat.

Source: https://www3.epa.gov/region1/eco/uep/openspace.html

Barcelona Green Spaces

Open the source here and investigate about the Greenery and Biodiversity Plan for 2012-2020 made by the Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility Area of the Barcelona's Council. It is responsible for providing municipal services linked to the public areas and city services which make life easier for people who live and work in the city.

Activity:

  • Read the article to inspire you.
  • Brainstorm different ideas in group.
  • Then meet with another group and discuss about your ideas.
  • Analyse your mockup section of Barcelona.
  • Think about a building in your mockup you can transform to include a green zone.
  • Choose the best ideas and develop them in a Google Doc with the name: Green_space_G(N)(C).
  • Draw a draft, scan and include it in your document.
  • Create a 3D model using Tinkercad/Sketchup and include pictures in your document.