Why Should You Develop Community Greens in your City?

Whether they are incorporated into new developments or become part of the fabric of existing neighborhoods, community greens have a number of remarkable benefits both at an individual level and at the local, city level.

Individuals and their families benefit a lot from Community Greens which:

•     Provide easily accessible and safe play spaces for children.
•     Facilitates the building of strong communities as neighbors enjoy, manage, and protect their shared spaces.
•     Are places where all residents can interact on a casual basis and form friendships that improve the quality of their lives.
•     Unite the block visually, provide a substantial natural respite, and offer many opportunities for relaxing - quietly alone or with others.

Community greens are also beneficial to the surrounding neighborhood as a whole. Research has shown that green shared common spaces:

•      Increase property values.
•     Increase safety and security because neighbors know who does and who does not belong to their neighborhoods and can look after each other, especially in the absence of tall privacy fences.
•     Add stability because people on blocks with community greens move less often.
•     Foster the development of new community leaders and organizations and empowers the neighborhood to take collective action on various issues.

The aggregated benefits to the individuals and the neighborhoods have an immediate positive impact on the city as well.  Community greens indeed lead to:

•     Increased property tax revenues as home values rise.
•     Home improvement investments.
•     An increase in the city's tree canopy, which counters the urban heat island effect, reduces stormwater runoff, and provides habitat for birds and other small animals.
•     The slow down of sprawl by making city living more attractive, not least to families with children.

The Community Greens initiative will create (and has a track record of creating) positive change at the individual, interpersonal, communal, and systemic levels. Please consider investing in the Community Greens initiative today!