For many of us who know 'Utopia' by Sir Thomas Moore and every Architect who followed his footsteps trying to recreate it, Arcadia might be an unfamiliar concept. In simple Words,
"Arcadia refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. Although commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable. Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, contrasting to the progressive nature of Utopian desires."
In addition to Healing Gardens, past week we also have been looking into Urban parks and green spaces that plays a role in human health and condition, with Millennium Park as a study. The research on effects of views to gardens and green space on human mental and physical health has even lead experts to look forward to garden incorporated housing.(Frumkin, 2003). However it is a challenge to bring back the Arcadia that we lost, to balance our over crowded building units and the need we have to reach for the sky that never fades away due to population concentration.
Urban Designers are collecting, creating and examining the evidence for the benefits of Restorative Urban parks on the people who view and use them. Nordh, H., et al.(2003) discusses the Attention Restoration Theory(ART) that has four characteristics, being away, fascination, extent and compatibility. Their study based on being away and fascination helps one "quantify components of urban green structure and their associations with the perceived likelihood of restoration." Their statistical analysis concluded that some small parks which had larger components (grass, flowering plants, trees, water etc.) had a similar restoration likelihood like a larger park for its occupants and viewers. Their study encourages to design small urban parks for the urban communities.
Our visit to Millennium Park on a warm Wednesday when the local schools were on spring break, allowed us to experience the space with as much as activity as kids and parents decorated the park with activities. Based on the discussion of urban parks being a restorative component on mental and physical aspects, the west portion of the Millennium park that extends until the Jay Pritzker Pavillion almost serves for crowd control, splitting the large crowd that intends to take a picture in front of the cloud gate from the residents who are visiting the park for their lone time or to spend time with their family. It is beyond the pavilion, one can see the therapeutic/ restorative nature of the small pockets of parks combined together. Surely the overall view is therapeutic from the upper floors on all the buildings that make the front on the Chicago Sky Line.
The therapeutic/restorative nature of the parks starts with Maggie Daley park that has more number of components than the parks in the west section. The skating rink, rock climbing section, a number smaller play ground spaces, sand pits, water games and everything that is included allows for physical activity and community interaction. The cancer Survivor's garden that remains detached from the entire setting around, yet blends in is another element that offers restorative components. The garden has less activity, however allows for a combination of sensory effects with the different sounds that are filtered due to distance and components that exist between louder sections and the garden. Lurie Garden has a similar effect with the tall and dense shrubs that split the views and noise from other sections. Similar to Nordh's (2009) discussion, the more the components in a park, there are opportunities for restoration in the public's mental and physical health.
Another challenge is to create green urban spaces that serves everyone and anyone. "People are heterogeneous and vary in their responses to place. Some like forests, others like deserts, others like bustling city streets. A person's "place in the world" including socio-economic status, sense of efficacy and opportunity, and cultural heritage affects the experience of place". (Frumkin, 2003). Overall the Millennium Park has different sections as discussed above for a diverse category of people who visit it. There are bustling and busy sections with tourists and also therapeutic and restorative sections used by a combined population of tourists and the Chicago residents. The Millennium park is definitely a 'poetic shaped space associated with bountiful natural splendor and harmony' which is simply the definition of Arcadia. This resurrection of Arcadia for serving public health has been a foundation for several restorative urban parks and pocket size parks to serve the communities successfully.
References:
Frumkin (2003), Healthy Places: Exploring the Evidence, .Vol 93, No.9 American Journal of Public Health .
Nordh, H., et al., Components of small urban parks that predict the possibility for restoration. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening (2009), doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2009.06.003
Laura E. Jackson.2003 The relationship of urban design to human health and condition. Landscape and Urban Planning 64 (2003) 191–200
Thank You Professor Worn ! The readings were a great resource to gain grounded information and data on effects of Urban parks on Public Health.
Really well written, researched and thought through.