Beneficial Impacts of Pocket Park Designs

Nobody can deny the role playgrounds play in promoting a healthy society. Whether you are choosing playground equipment Melbourne-wide or Brisbane-wide, the influence playground equipment has on children’s development is undeniable. However, in urban areas, it can be really difficult for people to find a nearby playground that is capable of fitting their requirements. Urban areas are quite low on available space when it comes to building playgrounds which is a serious problem. The solution to this problem is urban acupuncture. However, before understanding the term urban acupuncture it is necessary to understand the term acupuncture that is the root of this derived term.

Acupuncture can be defined as a traditional Chinese method of treatment that revolves around the insertion of fine needles into specific parts of the human body for the treatment of a range of ailments. Similarly, urban acupuncture is aimed to solve various issues in an urban area with the help of small interventions at particular localized sites. This will lead to the solution of various problems spread across the city. This term was first used by a Spanish architect and city planner Manuel de Sola, and later it was made popular by the Finnish architect Marco Casagrande.

The design and development of particular spaces as a pocket park while keeping a specific pocket park design is also a part of the urban acupuncture approach. In this blog, we will discuss some benefits of pocket park designs to help understand the beneficial impacts of pocket parks. Further details are given below:

Defining pocket Parks:

Before we discuss the benefits of pocket parks, it is necessary to understand the term ‘Pocket Park’. A pocket park can be defined as a park or garden of a small size that spans over a land of half an acre or even less. The purpose of a pocket park is to provide people who live or work nearby with a sophisticated green space. Some key features of a pocket park include a small-sized space, small scale, a focus on the nearby community, and location. Specifically, the location amongst all the aforementioned items holds utmost importance and is the key to the success of a pocket park. A pocket park works ideally if it is close to the focused community and the tenants don’t have to walk more than 10 minutes to reach it. Additionally, an ideally located park should be situated at a nodal place near local public transport links, footpaths, green ways, roads, and shops.

Benefits of pocket parks:

Here are some benefits of pocket parks that will help you understand their importance:

• These parks are quite affordable for the areas where residents belong to low-income communities. The utilization of derelict land for the development of pocket parks would cost as low as $150,000, which means it is very much possible for local communities to have their own pocket park. Additionally, residents can receive help from funding bodies, who would be very happy to allocate funds for this purpose.
• A pocket park would provide youth a better means to occupy their time rather than engaging in drugs and crime
• It is also observed that with the presence of pocket parks, local communities showed a considerable decline in lower cholesterol levels and depression issues.
• As mentioned earlier, the youth find a better way of spending their time in something productive instead of being involved in crime. This is why the neighborhoods with a pocket park showed a considerable decrease in the number of gun crimes.