Parks and the Pandemic
There’s no shortage of evidence that parks have been a lifeline for people through Covid-19, offering space for daily exercise when we were allowed out just once a day (remember those bleak days, when the sun shone and spring dazzled?), and then as a great place for socially distanced meet ups when we were freed to do so.
There's always been an underlying, too-difficult-to-fix contention around access / privilege / equality. Parks serve those not fortunate enough to have gardens. But not everyone has access to parks, and where parks are available, there’s a good chance that those spaces don’t deliver the wealth of benefits they have the potential to offer. The pandemic has surfaced this inequality.
Reliance through the pandemic has perhaps also reminded people that they love their local park, and they’ve shown appreciation by caring for them, through informal litter-picking trips, volunteering, and even donating cash to make improvements for nature.
Future Parks places have had the (comparative) luxury of ring-fenced resource to keep flying the flag for parks and green spaces, when colleagues all around have been pulled into crisis response. They've been able to try new things, get creative with how they talk to people in these contact-constrained times, challenge the status quo, build partnerships which will make a difference. And now word is starting to spread about the value parks offer, the opportunities which arise from embracing them, and placing them at the core of how local authorities support communities. And this stands a good chance of resulting in more, better parks and green spaces, in the places where people live, and at the heart of communities.
There are major challenges to overcome – how do we access and channel funding to pay for these spaces? How do we make sure they are welcoming to everyone? We know the health benefits of access to green space save money on health services, but how to break the cycle and pay for ‘prevention’ rather than ‘intervention’? FPA projects are trying to change the system, and this is really difficult. Watch this space...
Blog written by Claire Graves, 3 Sep 2020