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London's greenspace provides many benefits for residents
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In these difficult economic times many people are debating whether enhancing our natural environment is a luxury we can no longer afford. But in the case of green infrastructure, providing natural areas in our towns and cities is far from a drain on resources – in fact it can actually bring important savings for the public purse.
A number of studies in Britain and abroad have attempted to make the economic case for putting green infrastructure - such as parks, gardens, trees, allotments and open space – at the heart of our neighbourhoods. Now Natural England has carried out a comprehensive review of these pieces of research, casting a critical eye over their claims.
Following this year-long analysis, we believe that the evidence is increasingly clear that planning for the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and wildlife in our urban communities brings significant economic benefits. Firstly, people value green infrastructure and are willing to pay a premium for it. Research in Aberdeen found that people were willing to pay up to 19% more for a property on the edge of a park than one 450 metres away.
Furthermore, London’s house prices increase with the amount of greenspace in a ward, roughly equating to a 0.4% increase in price for each 1% increase in the amount of greenspace. The same holds true for commercial property – a survey of developers across Europe found that they would be willing to pay at least 3% more to be near open space.
Secondly, peer-reviewed research shows that people living in areas with more greenspace tend to be healthier, both physically and mentally, even when you take account of the tendency of wealthier people to live in more attractive areas. There are many studies which show that time spent in greenspace helps reduce stress and improve one’s mood. One study in Sweden found that use of greenspace reduced self-reported stress in the long term.
Turning now to physical health, it’s well documented that lack of exercise places a huge burden on the UK economy, estimated at £8.2bn a year. Encouraging gym attendance is much less likely to result in long-term behaviour change than developing the habit of walking or cycling from home. But this active travel behaviour is influenced by the local environment as research suggests that people are 24% more likely to be physically active if they have good access to greenspace. People are more likely to choose to travel on foot or bicycle in an open, pleasant city and the provision of green infrastructure is an important part of that picture.
Another health benefit of green infrastructure stems from the improvement in air-quality. It is estimated that poor air quality leads to an average life expectancy reduction of 7 to 8 months in the UK. Urban trees and greenspace help to intercept the particles which cause the pollution. Research in east London found that planting up 5% of an area 100 km 2 would prevent two deaths a year, and two hospital admissions.
Green infrastructure can also reduce noise disturbance and provide natural sounds which, research shows, improve people’s well-being. This is another example of the ways in which the wildlife benefit of urban greenspaces supports our health. Green infrastructure has also proved attractive to city planners because of the ways it can help save money at a city scale. New York is the most cited example, for two schemes.
The first involved agreeing with the US Environmental Protection Agency that it would invest in the protection of its main water catchment area – the Catskill Mountains in Delaware – instead of building a traditional filtration plant. This involved both buying land and securing agreements with land managers and cost the city $1.5bn over ten years, but avoided capital costs of $6bn for a new filtration plant and annual running costs of $300m.
In common with many other cities, New York also has a drainage system which mixes sewage and run-off water in the event of a major storm, known as combined sewer overflow. This leads to pollution in the harbour around the city. New York City Council has chosen a mixed approach to address this which includes green infrastructure. Street trees, green roofs and detention ponds all slow down the rate at which water rushes into the drains. The council estimates that it can achieve its harbour water quality targets for an expenditure of $5.3 billion this way - as opposed to $6.8 billion the traditional way. And this calculation doesn’t include all the additional benefits this ‘greenness’ will bring to the city.
Green infrastructure has an important role to play in preparing our cities for the challenge of climate change. Concrete and other hard surfaces retain heat much more than trees, plants and grass, which means that cities remain much warmer than the countryside at night. This substantially increases heatwave health risks because the human body does not have a chance to recover. Climate change will exacerbate this ‘urban heat island’ problem, potentially making cities very unpleasant during the summer.
Modelling at the University of Manchester showed that peak temperatures were very sensitive to the amount of greenery in the area. For example, current maximum temperatures in the centre of Manchester are 27.9°C. This is projected to increase by up to 3.7°C by the 2080s, but could be kept close to the current maximum by a 10% increase in the green cover in the area. Conversely, if 10% of the green cover is removed temperatures could be 7-8°C warmer.
Lastly, water availability is often taken for granted in the UK, but the south east of England has less water per person than Morocco or Egypt. Development in the south east increases this pressure, as will the projected drop in rainfall due to climate change. Green roofs and water butts capturing water for later use will become increasingly valuable. Rain gardens – where plants, soil and gravel are designed to regulate the flow into the water table – and permeable pavements, which avoid run-off by allowing water to soak through, will play an important role in protecting the local water table.
Tim Sunderland is an economist at Natural England
Further information
The examples given here are selected from the review of the evidence for Natural England, known as MEBIE (Micro-Economic Benefits of Investment in the Environment Review), which contains the relevant references. This will shortly be available from the Natural England website at www.naturalengland.org.uk.
This article was published in the November/December 2011 issue of Greenbuild magazine. For a free subscription click here.
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