Inspiring public places are good for your health
By Nic Mason, Manager, Local Government Centre, Institute of Public Policy, AUT University, Auckland
Nic
Mason has a varied professional background in central and local
government, with non-government organisations, and as a consultant.
Her work has focused on social development issues such as youth,
health, mental health, suicide prevention, sustainability and
wellbeing.
Introduction
Well designed public places can positively affect our mental health and wellbeing - individually and collectively. International studies of multi-functional town-squares have found that where "trade, football, political meetings, religious services, concerts, theatre, performances, sidewalk cafes, exhibitions, play and dance" coexist there is a resultantly higher citizen participation rate than in comparable towns with only mono-functional spaces (van Klingeren, in Gehl, 1987). The Ministry for the Environment (2005a) here in New Zealand identified a range of social, economic, health and environmental benefits from similarly "mixed use" environments, including enhanced social connectedness, reduced obesity, reduced diabetes and depression, less pollution and noise, and enhanced social equity from improved access to these environments. These 'mixed use' or 'multi-functional' environments are therefore 'inspiring public places' because of the positive community outcomes derived from such places.
Yet so many urban public places in New Zealand are bland shopping strips with handkerchief-sized areas of grass and which lack any substantial, attractive and free social and cultural gathering spaces. Compounding this issue is that increasingly, pockets of public spaces such as parks are being sold by councils with newer 'public' places being in fact, privately-owned and managed spaces with associated rules and conditions of entry. Any reduction in the quality and/or quantity of public places will necessarily diminish our opportunity to informally connect with other people. The health risks of social isolation are comparable with those associated with smoking, blood pressure and obesity (Cohen, in Scanlon et al, 2006). Poor quality and/or a diminishing stock of public places will have negative and clearly avoidable health consequences for us all.
Issues
We all have favourite places which inspire us, where we feel whanaungatanga (related and connected). If these places are within an urban context, they will have been thoughtfully designed: they are not incidental. There are however, significant challenges for councils to address when (re)designing public urban areas into inspiring public places. For example, public places are not neutral:
Urban space transmits values of dominant groups' ideology pertaining to capitalism... class, gender, ethnicity... groups struggle over space because they want it to conform to their own notions of social relations (Swearingham and Orellana-Rojas, in Hutchison, 2000).
Mixed or multiple-use conjures an impression of many activities occurring in a place with consequently diverse communities participating in these activities. However, the actuality of who gets to participate needs to be explored rather more deeply, as marginalised groups e.g., skaters, people of colour, and street dwellers, are frequently shown to be excluded from such activities:
[There is a] general acceptance that the public in the park is 'people like us'... employed people, white collar workers, with most park users of colour - by coincidence or not - sitting on the outer edges of the park, rather than in the centre (Zukin in Kalltorp et al, 1997).
In her seminal analysis Decolonizing Methodologies (1999) Linda Tuhiwai Smith argues that Western thinking has often viewed space as being static or divorced from time, whereby time was considered to be ordered, linear and progressive. This does not correlate with many indigenous perspectives of time and place which are more fluid and interconnected. Arts Access Aotearoa has observed other cultural conceptions and use of space through their work, especially with refugees and migrants. For example, some Asian peoples may be frightened or mystified by large open spaces, and feel safer in built-up or enclosed areas. For some African communities, if they experience a sense of 'ownership' over a designated area, then they will migrate easily into associated communal areas, and perhaps not relate to others' discomfort at their presence.
Therefore, it is important for decision-makers to be mindful that conflict is inherent where public space exists because of differences pertaining to people's perception, prior association and access to a place. These experiences will be comprehended through different cultural lenses.
Consequently, the challenge for councils and communities is to identify how public places can be meaningfully and sensitively shared amongst many diverse people with potentially common and competing interests. Additionally, the test is to maximise the capacity for 'official' and 'unofficial' activities and opportunities to flourish in public places. Addressing these issues will advance community wellbeing outcomes such as 'feeling welcome in my neighbourhood' or 'local public art reflecting my heritage' or 'negotiating my own inclusion into a group'.
Opportunities
There are 'tricks' to identifying, balancing and ultimately achieving these healthy individual and community outcomes through the development of inspirational public places.
The strength of a council's commitment to the dual purposes of the defining Local Government Act 2002 - the enablement of democratic decision-making and the promotion of social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing - is an important factor that will advance or hinder the development of inspiring public places. Every council must seek the community's mandate in defining its yearly business which will include their legislated responsibility for building and sustaining local environments. The meaningful involvement of people and the subsequent 'place' that is developed will both contribute towards a mentally healthy public environment.
The New Zealand Urban Design Protocol (Ministry for the Environment, 2005b) identified what quality urban design can be, and how to progress its implementation across New Zealand:
Quality urban design adds social, environmental and cultural benefits by creating well connected, inclusive and accessible places.
Importantly, one of the Protocol's seven essential design qualities is 'connections'. The Protocol has garnered voluntary commitments from many local and central government agencies, property developers and investors, design professionals, educators, and other sector groups. It is therefore another useful lever in discussions with councils pertaining to the development of inspiring and healthy public places.
One familiar mechanism across the mental health sector which can very meaningfully support the development of inspiring public places is through collaborative creative projects. The Ministry of Social Development (2005) found that over 93% of the population experienced one or more cultural activities. M?ori had slightly higher rates of participation (97%) than Pakeha or Pacific peoples; and young people had substantially higher participation rates (98%) than older people (81%). There was hardly any difference in cultural participation between women and men or between urban, provincial and rural residents.
Hence, the arts are a very familiar and powerful mechanism by which individual and community engagement and participation can occur, especially with the most marginalised and disadvantaged peoples (Kay, 2000). Art projects can create a greater understanding of different cultures, enhance community leadership and management skills, build friendships, support people in acquiring a stronger sense of community identity and belonging, and increase feelings of personal significance (Williams, in Ibid; Eames, 2004). Some council decision makers are already very inclusive of community arts activities in their work as they have witnessed the profoundly positive social, environmental, economic and cultural benefits which have eventuated. Te Kawerau a Maki has beautifully articulated this phenomenon:
Art is a manifestation of mana, and mana is vital to the preservation of unique identity... [including] our material taonga (artefacts, environment, wahi tapu etc) and our abstract taonga (oral traditional, genealogies, korero tuku iho, waiata etc) (Waitakere City Council, 2002).
Conclusion
The mental health sector needs to become engaged in local government discussions about growing inspirational public places as community wellbeing benefits have been clearly demonstrated. The Local Government Act and the Urban Design Protocol both offer valuable entrées for sector advocates into the conception and preservation of inspiring public places. The sector can take a lead role in facilitating collaborative creative practices to deliver aspects of these inspiring public places because these creative skills are already prominent in our communities.
This dialogue, these creative activities and the consequently inspirational public places will provide bountiful additions to our kete of mental health promotion activities and local wellbeing outcomes.
References
Eames, P. (2004) Art Solutions: Arts programmes in social and community settings. Wellington: Arts Access Aotearoa.
Gehl, J. (1987) Life Between Buildings. Using Public Space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Hutchison, R. (Ed). (2000) Research in Urban Sociology, Volume 5. Connecticut: Jai Press Inc.
Kalltorp, O; Elander, I; Ericsson, D; Franzen, M. (Eds). (1997) Cities in transformation - Transformation in Cities: Social and Symbolic Change of Urban Space. England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Kay, A. (2000) 'Art and community development: the role the arts have in regenerating communities' in Community Development Journal:35.4 October 2000. pp.414-424. (2000).
Ministry for the Environment. (2005a) Summary of the Value of Urban Design - The economic, environmental and social benefits of urban design. Wellington: Ministry for the Environment.
Ministry for the Environment. (2005b) New Zealand Urban Design Protocol. Wellington: Ministry for the Environment.
Ministry of Social Development. (2005) The Social Report. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development.
Scanlon, Mulligan and Welch. (2006) Renegotiating Local Community Life in a Changing World: Arts Agency, Inclusion and Wellbeing. Unpublished.
Smith, L. (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books; and Dunedin: University of Otago Press.
Waitakere City Council. (2002) Draft Arts and Cultural Strategy. Unpublished.
