Human centered consultancy focused on green project development and community collaboration.
Paul Parrett's Project
Purpose:
The proposed project known as We-Green (WG) is an urban greening initiative aimed at developing functional green spaces within existing infrastructure. The infrastructure being utilized would include multi-family (apartment) homes and high rise buildings. The functional use of space would include the development of urban gardens or farms within communal space and on rooftops, the use of beehives, and small scale orchards.
Potential Impact:
The potential impact of WG is threefold. First, the wellbeing and health of individuals could be improved through the access to fresh produce and enlivened outdoor space. As noted in one article about the health effects of community gardens, the author states “Research has shown that participating in a community garden is also associated with improved health outcomes.5–9 One study found that people who joined a community garden ate 1.4 more times per day more fruits and vegetables than those who did not participate and were 3.5 times more likely to eat the recommended 5 servings of vegetables per day.6,9” (Citation) Second, these spaces would provide a nature based solution (NBS) such as micro-forestry, urban beekeeping, and urban farming as an effective mitigation technique to some climate change effects such as extreme heat (citation). Additionally, they would support secondary measures such as the energy use of food transport and the run-off of fresh water in cities (Ackerman et al., 2013) Third, these spaces would assist in rewilding the urban environment, which I believe will become a pivotal process in how we address climate change in the future. This rewilding process would provide natural diversity by bringing more species back into the urban environment (Citation) and cultivating a reverence for the natural world in urban dwellers.