Analysis: urban greenways bring benefits for physical and mental health, biodiversity and local businesses
By Suzanne M. Egan, Jennifer Pope and Anne Dolan, Mary Immaculate College Limerick and Sarah O'Malley, Limerick City and County Council
In late 2021 a new suburban street opened in Limerick. On this 1.3km stretch sits a primary school, a secondary school, a crèche, a supermarket, a cinema, a shopping centre, a natural playground and a tiny forest, alongside a number of new housing estates. What makes this 'street' so unlike any other in the country is that no cars are allowed to use it. It was designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind and there is no vehicular alternative running alongside it.
The Castletroy urban greenway is not like most other greenways developed around Ireland for pleasure, making the most of scenic coastal routes or disused rail tracks to encourage physical activity and tourism. This also isn’t a pedestrianised city centre shopping street which are common around Ireland. This is a purposely designed suburban amenity to facilitate the safe movement of local residents around the community facilities and to provide additional outdoor amenities for those living in the neighbourhood.
Research shows that physical activity and being outdoors has a many benefits for healthy growth and development, both physically and psychologically. From early childhood onwards, a wealth of research highlights the benefits of being and playing outdoors. For young children, being outdoors allows for a range of play opportunities and the opportunity to experience greater freedom of movement, including larger and more boisterous movements and to have contact with natural materials. This is particularly true of the natural play area on the Castletroy Urban Greenway, which includes log piles, tree stumps, and landscaped mounds, which support messy and risky play.
Since the greenway was officially opened by Limerick City and County Council, it has been part of an EU project called GoGreenRoutes. This project focuses on nature connection, physical activity and enhancing biodiversity. The input from the community, local schools and the council is central to this co-creative and collaborative process. There has been ongoing community engagement with the sharing of ideas on 'greening' the greenway, a series of public workshops and lots of native trees planted for a tiny forest, a Choill Beag.
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From Limerick City and County Council, the Castletroy urban greenway from the air
In terms of child development, research studies also suggest a range of beneficial effects of outdoor play and activity in relation to children’s weight, and wider wellbeing such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, stress and anxiety levels, tiredness and sleep. Several studies have also highlighted the beneficial effects of being outdoors for children with myopia. Playing in green spaces also appears to have long term beneficial effects into adulthood too.
However, recent decades have seen changes in how children play, with suggestions of a decline in the time children have for outdoor play. Similarly there has been a decline in the independent mobility of children with more children being driven to school and children having a smaller independent circle of movement from their home, compared with previous generations. For example, one study in Finland showed a significant decrease in children’s independent mobility over the course of 20 years, with this being most pronounced in rural villages and small towns.
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From RTÉ Brainstorm, why risky play is good for kids
One of the barriers to outdoor play and independent mobility for children in Ireland are parents’ concerns about traffic. We know from the nationally representative sample of thousands of families in the Growing Up in Ireland study that 30% of parents of 5 year olds reported that there is heavy traffic on their street or road. A similar percentage of parents also reported that the state of footpaths, roads and street lighting in their neighbourhood was not good, and that there were not good parks, playgrounds or play spaces nearby. Approximately one in six parents also indicated that it was not safe for their child to play outside during the day.
Greenways such as the one in Castletroy can help alleviate these parental fears and support both outdoor play and the independent mobility of young children on foot or by bicycle. In addition to these benefits, access to greenways and linear parks also potentially bring economic benefits to local businesses. International research shows that neighbourhoods that have urban open spaces can see an increase in property values, rent premiums, as well as increased cash and credit card sales in local businesses.
The national and international research evidence highlights the benefits of outdoor community amenities such as the urban greenway. These benefits are wide ranging for children and adults for both physical and psychological health, as well as bringing benefits to the local economy and businesses. Additionally, spaces that are safe from vehicular traffic that are embedded in the local community and near schools also provide opportunities for outdoor education and enhance biodiversity. Given the multiple benefits of outdoor amenities such as the urban greenway, every neighbourhood should have one.
Dr Suzanne Egan is a Lecturer and Researcher in Psychology at Mary Immaculate College Limerick. She is a former Irish Research Council awardee. Dr Sarah O'Malley is EU Project Officer at Limerick City and County Council. She is a former Irish Research Council awardee. Dr Jennifer Pope is a lecturer at the Department of Reflective Pedagogy & Early Childhood Studies at Mary Immaculate College Limerick. Dr Anne Dolan is a lecturer in the Department of Learning Society and Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College Limerick. She is an Irish Research Council awardee
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
