Representation of multiculturalism in urban green spaces : a review of immigrants' experiences in Australia

Rapid population influx due to migration in Australia has produced diverse cultural landscapes, which become visible in cities as physical forms, settings and symbols produced by different ethnic communities. Scholars have argued that people moving away from the country of their birth, whether this be a necessary migration, labour mobility or voluntary migration, results in a difficult process of resettlement for families and individuals. To provide a cohesive multicultural society for all citizens, it is essential to understand how immigrants perceive their new environments and how they make connections in a new land in the process of cultural renewal. While the policy of ‘multiculturalism’ has had a rocky road since the optimistic 1970s, a drive through many suburbs in Australian cities shows buildings, festivals and communal gatherings of people that express and refer to diverse cultural backgrounds. Urban green spaces, ranging from private home gardens to public parks and botanical gardens, play an important role in the life of immigrants. Besides psychological and the restorative effects of urban green spaces, these spaces are public places that provide opportunities for recreation, social gatherings, and the celebration of collective cultural values and events such as festivals for many communities. This study aims to raise awareness of ethnicity as an important issue in park settings and spaces. It investigates the interrelationship between these cultural practices in the urban park environment, in relation to ethnic and cultural identity and physical settings. The concept of transculturalism – reinventing a new common culture as a result of migration to a new place – can help the analysis of the affects and the perception of urban green spaces. The paper will review different experiences of immigrants in relation to the use and perception of urban green spaces, developing alternative perspectives about the Australian landscapes.

Park availability and physical activity, TV time, and overweight and obesity among women: findings from Australia and the United States

This study examined relationships between three measures of park availability and self-reported physical activity (PA), television viewing (TV) time, and overweight/obesity among women from Australia and the United States. Having more parks near home was the only measure of park availability associated with an outcome. Australian women (n=1848) with more parks near home had higher odds of meeting PA recommendations and lower odds of being overweight/obese. In the US sample (n=489), women with more parks near home had lower odds of watching >4h TV per day. A greater number of parks near home was associated with lower BMI among both Australian and US women. Evidence across diverse contexts provides support to improve park availability to promote PA and other health behaviors.

Urban agriculture up-scaled: economically and socially productive public green space

'Space is fundamental in any form of commnunal Life; space is fundamental in any exercise of power' (Foucault & Rabinow, 1984: 252). Public green space has the potential to provide one our last remaining free sources of access to open land, clean air, vegetation, water and soil within the urban realm. In most developed countries, this space - due to complex, interconnected legacies of enclosure, privatisation, population growth, urbanisation and 'modernisation' - typically exists as controlled, contrived, scenic picturesque landscapes, unavailable for forms ofcivic, productive and generative activities at scale, such as public urban agriculture. Narrow assessment of green space's on-going financial and maintenance costs fail to recognise wider gains (such as physical and psychological wellness, increased property value , decreased crime rates) (Maller, 2002· Woolley, 2004; Sherer, 2006) and despite attempts, studies that present financial benefits of green spaces have not yet managed to stem the tide of budget cut and reduced spending. Perhaps more importantly, income-generating strategies within public green spaces have not been sufficiently explored. Such approaches could help to develop more convincing arguments analogous with the measurement metrics and quantitative language threatening green space's optimisation and survival. By 'up-scaling' public green space's productive capacity within an ethical framework, we have the potential to greatly enhance social and environmental performance - shifting the existing paradigm from passive to active, consumptive to generative and centralised to collective.

Feel blue? Touch green! Participation in forest/woodland management as a treatment for depression

Recent research by a team from Deakin University explored the health and wellbeing benefits of civic environmentalism – voluntary communal actions undertaken to promote ecosystem sustainability, typified by membership of a ‘friends of parks’ group. The research confirmed what was known intuitively: that belonging to such a group and undertaking the activities associated with such a group exposes people not only to the benefits of the natural environment, but also to other people and to opportunities to make a contribution which is socially valued.

On the basis of those findings, a pilot project involving intentional engagement of people suffering depression and related disorders in supported nature-based activities in a woodland environment is being implemented and evaluated. This article reports on that project and discusses the implications of its findings to date, and the findings of the three earlier projects, both for urban woodland/forest managers and for the health sector.

As this contribution indicates, there appears to be potential for the use of civic environmentalism to promote health, wellbeing and social connectedness for individuals and the wider population, as well as for groups with identified health vulnerabilities. However, the realization of the benefits of such an approach will be dependent on co-operation between the environment and health sectors to create and promote opportunities for increased civic environmentalism, and to identify and address the barriers to their effective use.

Double disadvantage : the influence of ethnicity over socioeconomic position on childhood overweight and obesity: findings from an inner urban population of primary school children

Objective: To examine the relationship between overweight/obesity in children, socioeconomic status and ethnicity/cultural background.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of children aged 4–13 years.

Setting: A total of 23 primary (elementary) schools in an inner urban municipality of Melbourne, Australia.

Participants: A total of 2685 children aged 4–13 years and their parents.

Main exposure measures: Ethnicity/cultural background – maternal region of birth; socioeconomic position (SEP) indicators – maternal and paternal educational attainment, family employment status, possession of a healthcare card, ability to buy food, indicator of disadvantage (Socioeconomic Index for Areas, SEIFA) score for school; parental weight status.

Main outcome measure: Prevalence of overweight/obesity.

Results: Prevalence of overweight/obesity approached 1 in 3 (31%) in this sample. Prevalence of overweight/obesity was greater for children of both North Africa and Middle Eastern background and children of Southern, South Eastern and Eastern European background compared with children of Australian background. This difference remained after adjusting for age, sex, height, clustering by school, SEP indicators and parental weight status; odds ratio, OR=1.57 (95% confidence interval, CI 1.12–2.19) and 1.88 (95%CI 1.24–2.85), respectively.

Conclusions: There is a clear independent effect of ethnicity above and beyond the effect of socioeconomic status on overweight and obesity in children. Further research is required to explore the mediators of this gradient.

Do green and golden bell frogs (Litoria aurea) occupy habitats with fungicidal properties?

The Green and Golden Bell frog Litoria aureo is in major decline in Australia, where its distribution is now confined mainly to the east coast of New South Wales (NSW). Infection by the newly emerged amphibian fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been identified as one of the main threats affecting L. aurea. Surprisingly, some of the sites in NSW sustaining the largest populations of this species are industrial and urban habitats that are often disturbed and polluted, which could protect L. aurea from chytrid infection if pollution had fungicidal capacity.The aim of this study was to characterise the trace metal concentration of several L. aurea breeding sites in the Sydney and IIlawarra regions of NSW and to evaluate the fungicidal efficacy of the main "'ace metals identified. Selected L. aurea sites were sampled throughout the breeding season (September to February) to establish the concentration of trace metals in both surface sediment and waters. Physico-chemical parameters including pH and salinity were also measured. Of the trace metals identified, copper and zinc were consistently elevated across sites. Over 50% of sites exceeded the National Sediment Quality Guideline for both copper and zinc concentration, and over 90% of sites exceeded the National Water Quality Guideline for these metals. Consequently, we evaluated their effect on the growth and survival of a laboratory culture of B. dendrobatidis,These tests were performed in media containing dissolved metal concentrations of 0.02 - 0.65 mgL^-1 Cu and 0.24 - 5.0 mgL^-1 Zn. Growth rates were inferred by total fungal density in liquid culture (based on spectral absorbance measurements), final dry weight, and the density of zoospores in fungal cultures grown for 28 days. Both copper and zinc were found to reduce the growth and proliferation of B. dendrobatidis, but in a non-linear manner. This suggests that L. aurea may be gaining some protection from B. dendrobatidis infection at several of the sites examined.

Residential housing and the green agenda

Australia’s residential development industry is at least superficially embracing environmental and sustainability issues in urban design. Rapidly emerging use of recycled water, lower impact outfalls, the use of roof water and water sensitive design for both housing and landscapes are all trends of interest to the property profession. There is particular interest in the cost of meeting end-user, local Government, State Government and development industry expectations for a green agenda for the residential sector.

Green planning heritage/industrial nature : the park lands or 'regeneration reserves' of Broken Hill

Freestone (1989+) has extensively surveyed town planning visions and model communities for Australia, but one settlement has been forgotten. The significant mining settlement of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales does not figure in his thematic and historical analyses yet its park lands are so integral to its physical cultural legacy and human health that it warrants enhanced standing. In the last 2 years the Commonwealth has been considering the potential nomination of the municipality of Broken Hill for inclusion onto the National Heritage List principally due to its mining, social and economic contributions to Australia’s heritage and identity. A component in their deliberations is the Park Lands, or ‘Regeneration Reserves’, that encompass this urban settlement and its mine leaseholds. Within these Regeneration Reserves, international arid zone ecological restoration theory and practice was pioneered by Albert and Margaret Morris in the 1930s that serves as the method for all mining revegetation practice in Australia today. This paper reviews the theory and evolution of the Broken Hill Regeneration Reserves, having regard to the Adelaide Park Lands and Garden City discourses of the 1920s-30s, arguing that the Broken Hill Regeneration Reserves have a valid and instrumental position in the planning and landscape architectural histories of Australia.

Australia's green economic potential

This Centre for Policy Development briefing paper looks at the issues raised in the Green Economy Report from an Australian perspective and provides a primer to the challenges involved in transforming our economy to operate within environmental limits. It also examines the opportunities of embracing sustainable economic policy solutions in four areas: water, energy, cities and urban transport, and waste management and recycling.

A comparison of Australian rural and metropolitan cardiovascular risk and mortality: the Greater Green Triangle and North West Adelaide population surveys

Objectives:
Cardiovascular (CVD) mortality disparities between rural/regional and urban-dwelling residents of Australia are persistent. Unavailability of biomedical CVD risk factor data has, until now, limited efforts to understand the causes of the disparity. This study aimed to further investigate such disparities.

Review on the impact of urban geometry and pedestrian level greening on outdoor thermal comfort

The number of hot days is increasing in many parts of the world because of the heat island phenomenon and global climate change. High air temperature greatly affects human thermal comfort and public health, particularly in urban areas. Therefore, the challenging task of, urban designers and urban planners in accommodating the increasing population is to make cities with the least level of vulnerability to future climate change. Interest in transferring urban climatic knowledge into urban planning practices, and developing mitigation strategies to adapt to climate change, has been increased in recent years. The use of vegetation and appropriate urban geometry are shown very promising in mitigating the adverse effects of heat island and providing a better pedestrian thermal comfort. This article reviews studies on pedestrian level urban greening and geometry in improving thermal comfort in cities. Such strategies can be applied at the preliminary stages of urban planning and thus directly affect the microclimate. The analyzed data include simulation and field measurement studies. The discussion of this research clearly reflects how urban design guidelines can be applied to enhance outdoor thermal comfort and minimize the heat island effect. This study is helpful in controlling the consequences of city design from the early design stage.

Do enhancements to the urban built environment improve physical activity levels among socially disadvantaged populations?

Background: There is growing recognition that the urban built environment influences physical activity at the population level, although the effects on disadvantaged groups are less well understood. Using the examples of open/green space and street connectivity, this paper explores whether enhancements to the built environment have potential for addressing physical activity-related health inequalities among Mori, Pacific and low income communities in New Zealand.

Method: A high-level review of the international literature relating open space and street connectivity to physical activity and/or related health outcomes at a population level was completed. Consideration was given to whether these features of the built environment have a disproportionate effect on disadvantaged populations.

Results: Findings from international studies suggest that open space and street connectivity have a beneficial effect on physical activity. Enhancing the built environment may be particularly advantageous for improving physical activity levels among disadvantaged populations.

Conclusion: It is likely that open space and street connectivity have a positive effect on physical activity behaviour; however due to the cross-sectional nature of existing research and the paucity of research among disadvantaged populations definitive conclusions about the effect in these populations cannot be made. Further research is required (e.g. natural experiments or quasi experimental research designs) to determine the effect of changing the environment on physical activity and obesity.

The effect of green roofs on pedestrian level air temperature

Man made alterations have resulted in higher air temperatures in cities, compared to their surrounding rural areas. There are many attempts to modify the urban design elements to ameliorate urban heat island effect. One among them is the concept of green roofs. There is a potential to incorporate vegetation to the large roof area of the buildings. Several studies investigated the effect of micro and macro scale implementation of green roofs. Most of these studies examined the impact of green roofs on the air temperature variation at the roof level, whereas studies are lacking on the effect of green roof at the pedestrian level. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of green roofs on the air temperature at pedestrian level, in the central business district (CBD), using Melbourne as a case study. A generic layout of Melbourne's CBD is modelled using ENVI-met 3.1 BETA 4. A number of different scenarios with different green roof coverages and building heights are examined. It was found that green roofs did not have significant impact on the temperatures at pedestrian level.