Green, Blue, and Soft: Thoughts on park safety

As the earth's population becomes more urban, creating connection to nature has to be intentional. Designing greenspace and bluespace to combat the dangers of the "the progressive loss of human–nature interactions," is the work of designers with expertise in urban planning and landscape architecture. These are some of our most important public health professionals and civic leaders.

Parks and recreation areas, and the greenspaces and bluespaces that they contain, are a powerful force for strengthening communities. They serve as activation centers motivating movement and gathering areas inviting human connection. Being among the grass, trees, plants, and flora and a body of water (whether natural or human-made) improves our mood. Meanwhile, greenery improves the air we breath and water helps to dissipate heat. In fact, the overall benefits of connecting with nature are so strong that a recent review article

found that exposure to various "nature-based interventions" can

Enjoying the benefits of nature in our urban neighborhood

"improve mental health outcomes across all populations, including older adults with long-term conditions and people with common mental health problems and serious mental illness, as well as healthy adults." My family has experienced this first hand as demonstrated in the photo of my human and furry children in our local park.

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I am an avid runner. Running along tree lined paths or along bodies of water is the nature-based intervention that improves my cardiovascular fitness and my mental health.

Over the last several months, our city has been enhancing a local greenspace. They are adding bluespace to a park that consists of a grassy field with lovely trees between the treelined streets of a densely packed residential area. It's been a curiosity on my runs to see this addition progress. A couple of months ago, the progress stopped me in my tracks.

Our parks attract a lot of families with young children. The grassy fields welcome them to run out their energy, play tag, do somersaults, and the like. As a parent who was strongly counseled to remove every coffee table and end table with sharp corners, to get a padded edge covering for my hearth, when my kids were beginning to move, I was surprised to see a new retaining wall of sorts on every corner of the park, made of stone at exactly toddler eye height. I shuddered.

Today, I ran past the evolving park again. I was thinking about a patient I had recently. An avid and experienced jogger, she had tripped on uneven pavement on her morning run. Her story - and her lack of a life-threatening injury - had me scrutinizing the park corners again. Our town is exceptionally well maintained but due to age and various updates, the sidewalks can be uneven in spots. I thought to myself "Who among us has face planted while running?" (meaning me, on this very route - more than once) and looked at those sharp corners again.

Of course my mind goes to a runner, or a toddler, or a somersaulting older kid taking a header into the short wall. Would shrubs have been a better / softer choice? Fortunately, these kinds of accidents are rare and the space is still a work in progress; I am hopeful there are finishings to be added that will make those entry corners a bit safer.

The literature on urban park safety doesn't focus on these seemingly minor design elements of green and bluespaces. Surely, the manmade bluespace being added to this park has been designed with safety considerations to prevent drowning. It is likely that the new paths are being designed to be well lit and free of tripping hazards. Should these injury prevention concerns extend to the areas I am highlighting? I am curious what those of you in urban planning, landscape design, and trauma care think.