Public spaces are an essential component of cities. They have an essential role to play in regulating life in urban centres. The significance of urban centres cannot be denied as an economic value is attached to the urban centres. Similarly, public spaces also have a therapeutic feature which is an essential tool for maintaining mental health. Cities that cater to the tenets of town planning delegate land to be used for public spaces. Similarly, public spaces are an important tool for maintaining a healthy society that keeps society cohesive.
Graana.com, through this blog, highlights the significance of public spaces in urban centres. Public spaces can benefit life in cities in myriad ways. The rising temperatures across the world’s urban centres and lack of recreational spaces pose significant problems across the cities.
Public Spaces
Public Spaces play an essential role in enhancing the city’s aesthetics. Public spaces can take various forms; for example, parks, gardens, squares, and grounds can fall under the definition of public spaces. Public spaces are an essential tool of interaction among the communities and encourage cross-cultural communication. In the same fashion, the public spaces create cross-cultural linkages, which is essential for keeping a city vibrant.
Similarly, the public spaces are used as a stool of increasing mobility in the city. It is said that cities that cater to the public spaces have a lower crime rate and provide more economic opportunities. Another important aspect of public spaces that cannot be ruled out from the cities is that it promotes productivity. Against this backdrop, the local governments can be the best enablers for creating public spaces and reiterating the importance of public spaces in the country.
The benefits of public spaces are elaborated below
Impact on Property Prices
The property prices have a direct correlation with the public spaces. It has been observed that the cities that cater to the public areas impact the prices of the property. Public spaces have become a medium of urban regeneration, thus having a direct impact on the property. A case study in the Netherlands showed that the public spaces which bordered the canal water had an immediate effect on the prices of property in the city. Similar is the case of Pakistan, housing societies that designate a special place to public space also impact the property prices. Furthermore, the people’s responses brought facts to the light that people prefer living in cities built around public spaces.
Suitable for Business Activities
In the same fashion, public spaces have a direct impact on the business activities originating in the city. Public spaces play an essential role in attracting customers who like to visit public spaces. As mentioned earlier, public spaces are not only restricted to parks and greens rather than streets, and squares also fall under the domain of public spaces. Therefore, those retailers are likely to benefit from the public spaces that provide easy access to business activities. The public spaces promote revenue generation and also help to generate the revenues of local municipalities.
Impact on Mental and Physical Health
One of the foremost advantages of public spaces is that they cater to mental requirements. The public spaces provide convenient access to the recreational facilities offered by the municipalities, which allow a person to take care of their psychological and physical health. Health is among the important tenets of city life. If the health situation deteriorates in a city, it puts external pressure on the government’s revenues. To provide relief to the government revenues and reduce expenditures, public spaces can facilitate this aspect.
Decrease in Crime Rate
The studies have shown that the cities that cater to public spaces have a reduced crime rate. In England, people experimented by changing their courtyards to secured community gardens, which helped decrease the crime rate. The increased lighting in the public spaces also plays a central role in reducing the cities’ crime rates. The law enforcement agencies have no difficulties managing the crime rates in the cities that pay special attention to public spaces.
Furthermore, public spaces also work for social cohesion in the cities. People from different ethnic backgrounds, when sharing the same spaces, tend to create harmony, which enhances acceptance and works for the inclusion of people.
