Note: Teacher’s notes are in red

“Green Spaces”

Through the process of mapping green spaces near their school, students will gain understanding of the different kinds of green spaces in urban areas, and of the functions and importance of these spaces. They also can predict the impact of population growth on the green spaces in their region.

Your Mission

Leave some green, please!

Learn to be a space-saver—a green-space saver, that is. “Green spaces” are places in urban and suburban areas that often are literally green: greenways, parks, gardens, median strips, greenbelts.

Breathing Room

Subjects: Geography, Earth Science

Relevant U.S. National Geography Standards: 1, 3, 14, 18

Materials

Color pencils or markers

Paper

Population map of city or region of school

Conduct an experiment to show students the importance of personal space. Ask a student to come to the front of the classroom and have that student invite a friend or acquaintance to come up. Choose a topic and instruct the two students to hold a brief conservation on that topic. Invite several more students to hold conversations. Finally, call two students whom you’ve briefed before class. (You will have called them aside and instructed them to stand very close to each other as they’re talking and to act as if that’s perfectly natural.)

Begin the experiment. After several volunteers have held conversations, call on the two “close-talking” students. Then ask the class: “Which conversing students seemed more comfortable? If people get close to you, does it make you uneasy? Have any of you traveled to another country in which people’s perception of personal space is different from yours?”

Explain to students that as more people move to urban areas, there’s not as much space to play or relax. Can students see the importance of personal space?

If you’re like most people, you need a little extra space around you. If you share a bedroom, you might have “your side” of the room. On a long car trip, it’s better to have elbowroom so you can stretch your arms than to be packed too tight. What happens if you don’t feel you have “room to breathe,” even outside?

Wild Space

Ask students what “wilderness” means to them. Must land show no sign at all of past or current human presence to qualify as wilderness? Does size matter? If so, how big must a place be to be considered wilderness? Can a city park be wilderness? What about an overgrown vacant lot? The 1964 U.S. Wilderness Act defines wilderness as “an area where the Earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” According to this definition, you wouldn’t find wilderness in any suburban or city neighborhood.

It’s important to have “breathing room” in urban areas. As the world’s population increases, urban and suburban areas grow and expand. There are lots of benefits to living in such areas: job opportunities, a choice of schools, better health care, access to conveniences. And there are drawbacks too, one of which is that people may not be able to find open, green spaces nearby. Green spaces in towns and cities may lack the ecological richness of true wilderness, but they benefit the environment, offer homes and shelter to wildlife, and provide enjoyment and a sense of peace for the people who visit them.

Have students research greenways. Teachers can find general information at most of the Web sites listed and a comprehensive overview of greenways in an online handbook at the Quebec-Labrador Foundation site (http://www.qlf.org/greenways/).

Corridors of open space called greenways are becoming increasingly popular in urban areas. These corridors are managed for conservation and recreation purposes. If there isn’t enough land for a park, people restore rivers, streams, old canals, and railroad tracks as greenways. Greenways often follow natural land or water features, and can link nature reserves, parks, cultural features, and historic sites with each other and with populated areas. Learn more about greenways at the Conservation Fund site (http://www.conservationfund.org/conservation/greenway/
green_intro.html).

After students have read about greenways, ask

Why is it important to have green spaces? Why do they need protection? (Green spaces contribute to healthy waterways and clean air; provide habitat for fish and wildlife, recreation for people, and scenic buffers between urban communities; and help define the character of a region.)

What factors impact the amount of green space in our town and around the school? (City population, housing demands, and economic value of the land.)

What have urban areas done to provide a “wilderness” setting? (Created parks, parkways, and greenbelts; and restored corridors along rivers, streams, canals, and rail beds.)

Mapping the Green Space

Students should examine the amount of green space around their school. To draw a green-space map of the school neighborhood, have students decide how big an area they want to cover. (An area about the length of one block in each direction from the school is as large as you need.) Decide on a scale.

Students should take their materials outside and walk the area to be mapped, drawing streets, buildings, and other features. After they have done a rudimentary map, can students tell what portions of each block are covered with buildings or pavement, and which are green?

Map the green spaces around your school. Your map should include streets, buildings, parking lots, and other features that aren’t “green.” Color developed or paved spaces red, planted spaces green, water blue, and extensive bare or rocky places brown; then add a legend defining the symbols. Walk the area again to verify your map.

Ask students: “What proportion of space is green? How much space on their maps is available to wildlife? What animals could live there? Does built-up or paved space offer any haven to wildlife? Is there any water—a creek or wet ditch or drain—in the neighborhood where animals can get water? What animals have students seen in the neighborhood?”

Is There Enough Space?

Have students look at the population map of their city or of a nearby urban area. Is there ample green space in the region of the school? How might an increase of population impact their city’s green spaces? Are green spaces important to people? Why? How do students use green spaces (hiking, picnicking, tree-climbing, sports)?

Look at a map of your city or a nearby urban area that shows the city’s human population. Locate the green spaces (parks, gardens, greenways, parkways, wildlife refuges). If the population increases in your area, how might that impact the green spaces in your community?

Keeping Some Space Green

You can find dozens of Web sites for organizations that have national, state, and local programs to create and maintain green spaces. Help students find an organization suited to their goals, whether it’s picking up trash in a neighborhood park or proposing a greenway to city planners.

Read the newspaper to find out if new developments (new homes, office buildings, a shopping mall) are planned. See if these proposed developments include some green space. If they do not, ask an adult to help you contact the developer. Explain how important green spaces are for people, wildlife, and the environment, and ask if the developer’s plan can be modified to include green space.

Creating green spaces is important, and so is keeping them clean. Join a local park’s cleanup day. Volunteer to pick up trash around your school, community center, church, or synagogue.

Join your state’s adopt-a-highway program. In many states you can also adopt a stream or adopt a beach.

A list of state departments of transportation is available at the U.S. Department of Transportation site (http://www.dot.gov/internet/usadots.htm). You can also find state programs by searching the Internet (i.e. “adopt highway Ohio”).

Mapping activity adapted from the 1994 Geography Awareness Week teacher’s handbook. Copyright © 1994 National Geographic Society

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