It is predicted that by the middle of the century, 70% of people will live in cities. That makes it imperative that we make them healthier.
I just returned from Portland, Oregon, where I visited family. It confirmed for me that Portland, a very green city, is a healthy place to live.
From what I’ve read, it can be attributed, in large part, to Mike Houck, founder of the Urban Green Spaces Institute; he had a passion for fierce activism in service of a nature that was right outside the door, an urban nature that wasn’t many miles away, accessible to only a few, but right outside. The idea of accessible nature nearby is foundational to any concept of urban environmental justice he advocated. He was an urban naturalist for 35 years at the Audubon Society in Portland and saw real progress in making it a green and livable city by ensuring nature is integrated with the built environment. He says, ‘Unless people have ready access to nature, parks, trails, and green spaces in the urban environment and in neighborhoods where they live, our cities will not be livable, lovable, or healthy, and our larger landscapes will be vulnerable.
He is currently Director Emeritus of the Urban Greenspaces Institute, which ensures that green spaces are integrated into the built environment in the Portland-Vancouver region.
In the past 40 years, he has worked to protect and restore the Willamette River’s four-island archipelago in the heart of Portland. I am reminded that the Quad Cities has many more islands than Portland, with Smith Island, Campbell’s Island, Sylvan Island, Credit Island, Big Island, and multiple islands in Andalusia Slough.
In 2010, Houck and David Maddox founded The Nature of Cities to provide an international platform of diverse ideas about cities as human, natural, and infrastructure ecosystems. It curates a network of more than 1.000 international leaders and contributors working to propel a transformative movement for cities. It is where I did much of my research after returning from Portland for this story.
River Action works to make greener cities by providing events and spaces for exercise, improving people’s mental health, helping children as they develop, and reducing exposure to pollution and extreme heat. People who live in areas with larger parks also have lower rates of lung cancer, fewer sleep difficulties, and lower mortality. We have this motivating factor for all of our work: greener cities make us healthier.