Article
Greening cities in an urbanizing age: the human health bases in the 19th and Early 21st Centuries
Change Over Time
(2016)
Abstract
Defined here as the introduction or conservation of outdoor vegetation in cities, urban greening has bloomed
during periods of intensive urbanization. This was true in the nineteenth century and it seems to be the case
again today, as a range of greening practices is co-arising during a third, and perhaps final, period of global
urbanization. Human health has been a recurring theme underlying the enduring aspiration to integrate nature
with city. Using change over time as a conceptual frame, this paper offers a comparative assessment of municipal
greening in the nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries, focusing on the potential implications upon, and the
relationship between, such activity, urban design, and public health. In so doing, the narrative bridges theory,
science, and practice, and dovetails with discourse on urban ecosystem services. Part one assesses prominent
drivers and types of greening in nineteenth-century industrial cities, a pioneering period in this evolving narrative.
Part two reviews contemporary literature on the human health benefits of urban green spaces, and draws
comparisons to the Industrial Era. Part three explores potential links between contemporary greening practice
and scholarship on related health benefits, wherein proximal greening emerges as a distinct form, and possible
norm, for twenty-first-century urban design.
Keywords
- Urban Greening,
- Green Infrastructure,
- Urban Trees,
- Urban Forestry,
- Urban Parks,
- Landscape Urbanism
Disciplines
Publication Date
Fall 2016
DOI
10.1353/cot.2016.0014
Citation Information
Theodore S. Eisenman. "Greening cities in an urbanizing age: the human health bases in the 19th and Early 21st Centuries" Change Over Time Vol. 69 Iss. 2 (2016) p. 216 - 246 ISSN: 2153-053x Available at: http://works.bepress.com/theodore-eisenman2/25/