Reciprocal Relation between Urban Open Spaces and Urban Community
Abstract: Urban environment and its quality are majorly determined by the types and quantity of effective, inclusive and accessible urban open spaces available for its inhabitants. Character of urban open space, offers numerous opportunities as well as benefits while conditioning everyday discourse, public life and civic culture. Rapid and unregulated urbanization is leading to the consumption of public open spaces. Appropriate, relaxing and enjoyable open spaces are required for physical and emotional well-being of inhabitants of an urban area. The paper attempts to draw the focus on the significance and relevance of different types of open spaces affecting urban dwellers’ lives. Further, paper deliberates on the development and improvement strategies and design solutions with reference to two case studies.
Keywords: Urban open space, Urban environment, Urbanization, Social, Community, Physical, Economical, Educational
INTRODUCTION
In urban area and the quality of its environment are extremely important as there exist a strong relationship between the environment and the behavior. Urban environment has an impact on a wide range of elements encompassing housing, health, education, employment, recreation, etc. for various communities. Urban environment and its quality are majorly determined by the types and quantity of effective, inclusive and accessible urban open spaces available for its inhabitants. Character of urban open space, offers numerous opportunities as well as benefits while conditioning our everyday discourse, public life and civic culture. Urban open space can be defined as land and water in an urban area that is not covered by built environment. Open spaces in an urban land provide a range of tangible and intangible benefits to the urban community. Urban planning and Urban Design professionals have always valued the relevance and importance of open spaces for the benefits it brings to the urban environment and inhabitants. Several open spaces of diverse functions such as urban squares, well designed streets, private and public parks in neighborhoods, playgrounds (small and big), open areas of public and private institutions, forest reserves, incidental spaces, etc. offer varied social, educational, active as well as passive recreational, health (physical and mental), environmental (climate and bio-diversity) and economic (positive impact on property values) benefits.
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