The benefits of greenspace

Copenhagen is a gorgeous city, one full of green space and natural settings. City life is often hectic and over scheduled; many inhabitants come home from a long day in desperate need of an escape from stress. Urban green spaces, especially those of Copenhagen, are a great way to relieve this stress and find peace in a relaxing environment. Copenhagen has done a great job in making green space a priority in the every day life of a city dweller. Their goal to make a green space accessible to everyone in the city by a 15 minute walk has not yet been achieved; despite this fact, they are very close to reaching their goal. The benefits of ample green space are endless and can be categorized into three main subsections: social, ecological and economic.

Social benefits include the ability of children to interact with their peers from a very young age. They begin to develop these skills much earlier than those children who are confined. To social interactions within their classrooms and indoor play dates. As we saw at many of the urban larks today, there are many playgrounds and tools that allow children to use their imagination with their peers. Much of the playground equipment in the Danish parks is very interesting. For example there were ships, hollow televisions and countless other types of equipment to incite inspiration in the minds of Copenhagen's developing youth.

From an ecological standpoint, Copenhagen is an extremely green city. The urban green spaces of this city allow Copenhagen to decrease its CO2 emissions tremendously by having such a large volume of plant life within the boundaries of the city. This has been accomplished in many ways, some much less obvious than others. Although there are a plethora of parks and recreation spaces, there are also garden rooftops hidden throughout the city. These interesting creations reduce energy consumption significantly by proving heat and cooling insulation to the buildings that they reside atop.

Economically, green spaces give the areas where they are located many proactive advantages. For example, by having such a green friendly point of view, many residents of Copenhagen own bikes instead of cars or they utilize public transportation in their daily commute to the office. This mind set has decreased the number of cars on the road to such an insignificant number that parking lots across the city of Copenhagen have been removed and parks and other types of green spaces have replaced them. By decreasing this demand for parking, Copenhagen as a city has been able to change the function of there urban spaces to provide its residents with more opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and have more scenic views after those long days in the office. Further, urban green spaces have proven to be a great tool in reducing issues with mental health and other related topics. This in turn has decreased the every day costs of health care, improving the overall health of Copenhagen residents by a significant amount. Although being such a green city has a very large price tag, it has proven to be worth the sacrifice in the grand scheme of things; so much so that in several surveys, residents of Copenhagen have been proven to be some of the happiest people in the world.