Outdoor Health Should be A Priority for Cities Globally.
By: The Forward
Tags: Health, City Living, Urban Planning, Exercise, Outdoors

We in Calgary are blessed with our geography and weather compared to a large portion of the country. Just an hours drive away we have the ability to witness towering majestic landscapes few in the world are even blessed to see in person. The Trans Canada highway on a Friday afternoon is evidence that the mountains have a magnetic pulse that many of us are drawn toward regularly because there’s always something new to see and discover within the landscape.

Even in the winters we make an effort to get outside to enjoy the slopes we have been spoiled by. In some ways it feels as though the glory of The Rockies, and the ease in which we can escape city mentality, decreases the attention our urban development could really use. And despite this we still have some incredibly beautiful areas within our city limits.

One of my favourite activities is heading downtown to enjoy Princess Island Park or to Bowness Park for a walk with my children. It gives us a chance to observe our surroundings and imagine things that could make the parks better. With obesity on the rise it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to get people more engaged with their outdoor environments, especially since a lot of people despise the gym.

I’m not saying the parks are bad, but I’m the type of person who likes to look at things and wonder how they can improve. Why not improve things when we can? It would be great to inspire people to stay active by making the parks more interactive.

While living in Asia I experienced some incredibly beautiful parks on a regular basis. Imagine walking through a gorgeous archway, introducing you to an architectural style scattered throughout a massive land mass in the middle of an mega-metropolis. The sound of water in the background and people moving peacefully along interconnected lakes and streams. I was surrounded by a landscape design we simply haven’t put the effort into in most of Canada.

To the right I see a group of elderly doing Qi-gong in the park, to the left a massive outdoor rock climbing wall people are lined up to attempt with a trained professional looking over you. Behind me is an outdoor gymnastics type setup for calisthenics, people working doing dips and pull ups and chatting about their techniques and routines.

Throughout the park there are buskers playing their various instruments. The elderly playing chess or creating water drawings with long brushes on the pathways, catching the eyes and wonder of little children passing by. People are biking, floating by on scooters, flying kites, you name the activity, you’ll likely find it one day or another. The energy is peaceful yet electric.

And where people gather, money is spent. Small vendors are scattered throughout many of these parks, selling unique assortments of goods; rental companies offer access to fun activities.

These countries are thousands of years older, their histories more rich. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take part in creating our own rich experiences. By leaving a footprint the next generation can be proud of, we catalyze increased health and places of gathering where people can interact in a healthy manner. By taking more time to create environments that promote health, we improve the quality of our lives, which will have a marketable affect on the city’s quality of life and the individuals level of happiness. Neuroscience, and biology as a whole, has proven exercise and quality human interaction have a drastically positive affect on the health of the individual and the collective.

The beauty and thought put into the design of the parks in Beijing or Seoul, for example, is truly remarkable, Google the Summer Palace in Beijing for glimpse. Canada has so much undeveloped space and this isn’t a bad thing per se. But right now Calgary needs catalysts to spur activity and to rejuvenate a city, to spark economic growth and increase communication amongst citizens, why not foster such interactions through urban design? It’s certainly an opportunity to express our creativity. And while staunch conservatives tend to be uneasy about spending on “The Arts”, one could argue that creativity is the spark behind all economic success and sustains the market by propelling it toward further variability. This deepens the niches that people enjoy experiencing, entrenches the culture with new trends and spurs spending. The restrictive economic culture that is stifled by safety and excessive rules has, in many ways, hurt our ability to do things in an efficient matter. How can we be flexible and move quickly when there’s red tape around everything and common sense is being demoted to playing second fiddle. So Calgary, won’t you please give us some outdoor gyms? Some rock walls and invest in the health of our citizens?

Calgary is a beautiful city that enjoys escaping to the mountains on the weekends, the Trans Canada highway on a Friday afternoon is evidence of that. Even in the winters we make an effort to get outside to enjoy the slopes we have been spoiled by. In some ways the glory of The Rockies and our escape the city mentality decreases the attention our urban development could really use. And despite this we still have some incredibly beautiful areas.

One of my favourite activities is heading downtown to enjoy Princess Island Park or to Bowness Park for a walk with my children. While they aren’t hanging off me or bombarding me with questions I’m observing my surroundings and imagining things that could make the parks better. With obesity on the rise it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to get people more engaged with their outdoor environments, especially since a lot of people despise the gym.

I’m not saying the parks are bad, but I’m the type of person who likes to look at things and wonder how they can improve. It would be great to inspire people to stay active by making the parks more interactive. While living in Asia I experienced some incredibly beautiful parks on a regular basis.

Imagine walking through a gorgeous archway, introducing you to an architectural style present throughout a massive land mass. The sound of water in the background and people moving peacefully along interconnected lakes and streams. I was surrounded by a landscape design we simply haven’t put the effort into in most of Canada. To the right I see a group of elderly doing Qi-gong in the park, to the left a massive outdoor rock climbing wall people are lined up to attempt with trained professional looking over you, behind me is an outdoor gymnastics type setup for calisthenics. Throughout the park there are buskers playing their various instruments. The elderly playing chess or creating water drawings with long brushes on the pathways, catching the eyes and wonder of little children passing by.

People are biking, scootering, flying kites, you name the activity, you’ll likely find it on one day or another. The energy is peaceful yet electric. And where people gather, money is spent. Small vendors are scattered throughout some of these parks, many with unique assortments of goods, at least to those who are experiencing it for the first time.

These countries are thousands of years older, their histories more rich, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take part in creating our own rich experiences. By leaving a footprint the next generation can be proud of, we catalyze increased health and places of gathering where people can interact in a healthy manner. By taking more time to create environments that promote health, we improve the quality of our lives, which will have a marketable affect on the city’s quality of life and the individuals level of happiness. Neuroscience, and biology as a whole, has proven the effects of exercise and quality human interaction have a drastic positive affect on the health of the individual and collective.

The beauty and thought put into the design of the parks in Beijing or Seoul, for example, is truly remarkable. Canada has so much undeveloped space and this isn’t a bad thing per se. But to rejuvenate a city, to spark economic growth and increase communication amongst citizens, why not foster such interactions through urban design? It’s certainly an opportunity to express our creativity.

And while staunch conservatives tend to be uneasy about spending on “The Arts”, one could argue that creativity is the spark behind all economic success and sustains the market by propelling it toward further variability. This deepens the niches that people enjoy experiencing, entrenches the culture with new trends and spurs spending.

The restrictive economic culture that is stifled by safety and excessive rules has, in many ways, hurt our ability to do things in an efficient matter. How can we be flexible and move quickly when there’s red tape around everything and common sense is being demoted to playing second fiddle. So Calgary, won’t you please give us some outdoor gyms? Some rock walls and invest in the health of our citizens?

By Christopher Holwell

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