Green spaces include more than just playgrounds, hiking trails, and picnic tables. Green spaces help bring communities together and they have many benefits for the well-being of the people they serve.
By partnering with arts, humanities, religious and other community partners and hosting its annual festival, Spirit & Place has been a catalyst for community engagement by creating and supporting dynamic events for nearly three decades. And with the emergence of green spaces around Indianapolis, Spirit & Place hopes these spaces will continue to bring the community together.
“Without fail, Spirit & Place’s community partners have created festival events centered on the power, joy and communal aspects of nature and green spaces,” said Erin Kelley, the program director for Spirit & Place.
What are green spaces?
Green spaces, according to the World Health Organization, are classified as “all urban land covered by vegetation of any kind.” There are a wide variety of different types of green spaces, from large parks to community gardens and, even, small patches of open land around cities.
Why are green spaces important?
Green spaces can improve both physical and mental well-being. Green spaces encourage exercise and provide good quality air, which reduces the risk of many heart and respiratory diseases. They also enhance cognitive functions and reduce depression and anxiety symptoms, according to a study done at NC State.
Green spaces also have benefits beyond health; they create safer environments and aid in reducing the effects of climate change. According to the United Nations, green spaces with any small or large body of water can mediate extreme temperatures and reduce the effects of the Urban Heat Island effect.
The trees that are planted in these green spaces can also provide shade, which helps cool down areas and is efficient for helping heating and cooling costs, according to a report by Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment.
Green spaces in Indianapolis
Indianapolis has over 11,000 acres of green spaces, according to Indy Parks and Recreation. Indianapolis was even ranked in the top 50 cities with the most green spaces by “USA Today.”
Green spaces are also considered third spaces, which are places where people can gather and connect with one another. Third spaces are crucial to communities because they provide a place to relax and socialize that is not work or home. Third spaces also encourage community interaction and engagement, which is a key principle of Spirit & Place’s mission.
More and more green spaces are popping up around the Indianapolis area every year. Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, one of Spirit & Place’s community partners, is one of the many organizations trying to address the need for more green spaces.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIB) is a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide and protect the environmental areas in Indy. Jeremy Kranowitz, the president and CEO of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, has worked alongside Spirit & Place to present events such as 2020’s DEEP ROOTS.
This event gathered multiple faith leaders to share perspectives from their spiritual traditions and invited participants to encounter nature through the lens of faith.
“We [KIB] have a green space program and it is focused on turning vacant or abandoned lots into vibrant community spaces,” Kranowitz said.
To that end, KIB has helped organize three interfaith tree plantings, where leaders and followers of different religions gathered to help plant trees around local parks. KIB has helped build at least a dozen green spaces near worship centers to aid in the integration of faith communities and the environment.
KIB has built over 200 green spaces through their various programs. Kranowitz and the KIB team have turned old parking lots into butterfly gardens, abandoned RV parks into playgrounds, and unused spaces into fruit orchards.
“The goal is to create pockets of nature where everybody can engage and have a higher quality of life,” Kranowitz said.
Green spaces are crucial to the well-being of urban areas. They provide many benefits to the residents and surrounding environment but, to maintain these spaces, there needs to be people willing to invest in their upkeep.
Spirit & Place and their partners hope to drive more people to and provide knowledge about the benefits of green spaces. Spirit & Place is already looking forward to 2025 when they will be hosting its annual festival with the theme, Nature, for their 30th anniversary.
“I cannot think of a single festival year that did notinclude an event about or taking place in a green space!” Kelley said. “These shared natural spaces are important to artists, people of faith, neighbors … everyone. They bring us together by providing delight as well as moments of contemplation.”
