I recently attended the Green Pavlova conference in Rotorua. The conference is aimed at people working in the Parks and Recreation industry and gives an opportunity to find out about what’s happening throughout New Zealand and Australia. It is always good to be able to get a better understanding of the drivers of the industry from this forum.

There were some regular themes that ran across the programme including ‘What Parks should be doing in the face of Climate Change’ and some of the ideas that came out of this were around Park design including species diversity to allow for warmer climates, more planting to create heat sinks. It strikes me that the Bason is well positioned to go forward, in the face of climate change, but that future plantings should be considered in terms of how they can help build resilience. I would also note that botanic gardens come into their own by providing a diversity in species which also helps to build sustainability. The key words to take out of this topic were: resilience, adaptability, and sustainability.

Another topic that featured throughout the conference was how to get people interacting with nature and the environment. If there has been one positive from COVID, it’s that it showed that while most of us are very urbanised – it is estimated that 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050 – there is still a part of us that craves the outdoors. Parks make cities more liveable and are part of a solution to positive well-being. There are now studies that can quantify benefits – so it is no longer just a feeling.

The traditional narrative of how people interact with the outdoors which has been dominated by organised sport, is now being challenged and is likely to impact on design of open space. One very interesting programme that Auckland has started, was a night in the bush. This was a family based camping event that took place over one night in one of Auckland’s Reserves. There were night walks, exploration into stream life etc. It has been a huge success and has hopefully encouraged more people of all ages to undertake volunteer work. Auckland Council is fortunate to have two Rangers who are able to organise such events.

The current Parks and Open Spaces Strategy is being written. This is an overarching document that gives broad direction for all open space areas. Topics such as Climate Change and Accessibility to Open Space are particularly relevant with respect to the strategy. 

We sometimes take our access opportunities for granted as we do have a number of parks available to us within relatively close proximity. This is not the case for all people. During lockdown in Melbourne for instance it became apparent that many people did not have a park or greenspace within 5 km of where they live.

All food for positive thought.