Introduction
Green space is proven to have many benefits including improving physical health, mental health and people’s general quality of life (Chiesura, 2004) (Thompson, 2002) (Roe et al, 2012). Therefore the city of Vancouver, in its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, is hoping to have everyone in Vancouver live within a five minute walking distance of a public green space by 2020. There are several questions that arise when thinking of the logistics of this goal:
1. What is the distance of a five minute walk?
A five minute walk is roughly considered to be around 420 metres but for the sake of a simple number, the city of Vancouver has chosen 400 metres for a distance.
2. What constitutes a sufficient amount of green space for it to be considered a green space?
The Greenest City 2020 Action Plan has outlined its answer thoroughly so I shall quote directly from it:
Green space can include parks and fields, greenways, the seawall, street mini-parks, natural green spaces, as well as park-like spaces such as the grounds around institutional buildings like City Hall, hospitals, and schools. It also includes linear green space such as the seawall and the extensive Champlain Heights walkway system.
Greenest City 2020 Action Plan
In my spatial analysis I will use these restrictions to locate areas in Vancouver that are within 400 metres of a public green space and those that are not. Then, in my discussion, I will review some of the larger areas that are outside of the 400 metre zones and explore a) why they are outside of the zone and b) some ideas for integrating green spaces into those zones. The difficult question for Vancouver and its neighbourhoods is how seriously do they consider this goal? As Vancouver is already quite dense and built-upon, the city will have to be creative in integrating more green space on limited land.
Vancouver Greenest City 2020 Action Plan