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#2014m13 #health #test

Fælled Parken is very well suited for children - it features a paddle lake (soppesøen) which has just been opened. It allows children to be children, playing with water and stimulates all their senses, all inclosed by a large fence to ensure the children's safety and to comfort parents coming there

SCOOTER TRACKS & SKATE PARKS

Fælledparken is currently building Northern Europe's biggest skate park and it's opening this month! Here are some facts :

•5 different skate zones

•Costs on 23 mio.

•Contributer: A.P. Møller Maersk and his wife

•Design Teams: Bisgaard Landscape, Nordarch

•North Europe’s biggest skate park with its 4.600 km2

Scooters have become a very common form of transport and recreational type of activity for the younger generation. A park is currently being built for their sporty activity

Sonne, K. (2011). Målet var at bygge verdens bedste skatepark. [Online] Alt Om København. Available at: <http://www.aok.dk/byliv/maalet-var-at-bygge-verdens-bedste-skatepark>. Accessed the 24th of September 2013

Reflection on learning processes

What has been particularly thought-provoking is how cars has taken over the space in cities. Where there use to be social interaction among humans, there are now cars and roads. However if you close a road in a city, it becomes lively with people again, wanting to interact. Humans are social beings as we all know and it is in our nature to seek out other humans. What really made me happy and proud was to learn that Copenhagen is one of the leading cities in urban sustainable development and is a role model for many major cities, such a New York.

Dag&Cities, 2012. København: Lommeparker – Grønne Åndehuller i Byen. Dag&Cities. Available at: <http://www.dac.dk/da/dac-cities/baeredygtige-byer/alle-cases/groen-by/koebenhavn-lommeparker--groenne-aandehuller-i-byen/> Accessed the 19th Septermber 2013

Why are we so attracted to parks and green spaces? Is the extra fresh air? Or is it more deeply routed in our instinct to be close to nature, as we use to be thousands of years ago?

Survival Tips - Urban Health

Some of the survival tips for the next lot of students include:

Have patience. Because streaming from Copenhagen to Turku is relatively new, technical difficulties may occur, and the lessons can sometimes be delayed due to this.

Do not start working on a project which requires too much work and is too specific. You only have about 3 weeks to prepare your project, so data collection will be limited!

Don’t pack a lunch –the educational institute at Tagensvej has a great cantine.

Strap up and be prepared – as with any module, reading ahead and having done background research before is always good.

Bring in the discussion – don’t be shy to bring a discuss to class, about Urban health policies. E.g. should there be restrictions to who may drive in cars and trucks in the urban area?

Linkage between Elective module and GNH

This project has been particularly challenging as it was not so much “Lifestyle Coaching and Health Promotion” related, but more “Public Health and Food Policy” related. However, what I was able to draw into the project was the participatory observation task. Namely an exercise we did with Christian Stenbak Larsen, where our class went to Torvhallerne at Nørreport and observe the clientel.

Thoughts and Ideas

My opinion about parks. I see parks as an excellent place to go to relax, to socialize, to read, to be stimulated through all the body’s senses, to play, to exercise, to eat, to celebrate and to do all this things which defines us as human beings – social beings.

Learning Objective of the Fælledparken Project

The following questions is a setlist of the learning objectives we wish to find the answer to at the end of our project (see results for final outcome)

To what extent does having a green area within an urban context improve social outdoor activity and engagement for overall urban health?

Which clientele uses Fælledparken?

Is the activity/usage equally distributed among men and women?

Does it exclude any minority groups?

What facilities have been built in Fælledparken as an attempt to improve overall urban health?

Are there any risks associated with the new developmental plan in Fælledparken?

Learning Outcome

In just over ten weeks I have already learnt the following of my learning objectives: To broaden my knowledge of what consequences there are with living in an urban area. What do government/ cities do to improve the health status of its population? And How does urban living affect social life?

However, actually having learnt how to promote health in an urban environment, I can not say I have learnt much of. That is the only objective I can put my finger on.

A particularly inspiring and relevant documentary for this course was “The Human Scale” on DR1. [http://www.dr.dk/tv/se/the-human-scale/the-human-scale/]

Thoughts and Ideas

Why are blogs good as a learning tool? I found an article which explains this question: “Blogs greatly expand the uses of journal making, because they allow students to not only record their experiences, but to share and collaborate. The converation that might go on in a classroom can now go on all day long, wherever students have access to their blog.” (Chou, N. 2012).

Chou, N. 2012. “Blogging as a tool for learning”. New Learning Institute. Aailable at: <http://www.newlearninginstitute.org/digital-media-programs/school-based-programs/blogging-learning-tool> Accessed the 25th September 2013.

RESULTS

These were the results of our obsevations. Thus we were able to make some assumptions:

• The park does open up for users to be active •The park is mainly used by dog walkers, runners and children with parents

• There were no significant difference between male and female users of the park

• No minority groups were observed (other ethnicity than danish) HOWEVER, THE BIAS OF THESE RESULTS:

• Ethnicity was taken into consideration, but is not shown in the charts

• Not considering why the minority groups are not using the park

• Limited data research (inadequate real-life picture)

• Schools, organisations and institutions use the park more than recorded

• Observations were only made in September.

• Schools and institutions are represented as one unit in the chart (obligatory usage), een those these were by far the biggest majority of users of Fælledparken

The tasks that were involved included, research finding, observation of the public, project analysis and powerpoint presentation. Much literature was found from what was assigned as home reading, as well as much of our findings were from individual research in the field of interest.

Storyboards at the park itself was useful too. We used telemarks to count the clientel

As part of the participartory observation we; sat on benches, swung on swings and played on the playground (surprisingly!)

Facts about Fælledparken, by Københavns Kommune:

Built and opened for the public in 1908-1914

Most visited park to date, with 11 million visitors each every year

Playgrounds, water parks, football courts, workout stations, dance arenas, quite parks, skate parks, events, concerts and festivals

Københavns Kommune, n.d. Fælledparken. [Online] Available at: <http://www.kk.dk/da/brugbyen/brug-steder-i-byen/groenne-omraader/parker/oesterbro/faelledparken>. Accessed the 24th of September 2013

Copenhagen leads the way

Proudly, Copenhagen has become a role model for many major urban cities, wanting to adapt to a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way commuting in the city. As an online article addresses, “Copenhagen has led the way in energy efficiency, sustainable transport, and overall livability. The city's bicycle system is a model of sustainability, with nearly 40% of commuters bicycling 1.2 million kilometers (745,645 miles) each day. City officials hope to boost that percentage to 50 by 2015, which would reduce the city's CO2 emissions by a further 80,000 tons per year”. (Examiner, 2013)

Examiner, 2013. Examiner.com. Copenhagen a better role model than climate summit. [online] Available at: http://www.examiner.com/article/copenhagen-a-better-role-model-than-climate-summit Accessed the 19th September 2013

To underline what a green area has for a urban environment, an architecture website describes the purpose of the increased focus on green areas in cities, stating ”København har en vision om i 2015 at blive verdens miljømetropol - den hovedstad i verden, der har det bedste storbymiljø. En forøgelse af byens grønne områder og elementer er en prioritet i forhold til at nå denne vision” (Dag&Cities, 2012)

Commenting on the qualities of what a sustainable city should feature, Gehl, J. (2008), interviewed by Ecotopedias, addresses that “among all the qualities that characterizes a sustainable city, I would put the must emphasis on it being a people friendly city, a city with good public spaces, a city which invites people to walk and bicycle as much as possible […]. Summaring up his interview, his three suggestions to what characteristics a sustainable city should have is:

1) it should be people friendly

2) the importance of bicycles becoming the main form of transportation/ commuting and

3) lastly, cities should be environmentally friendly and have an abundance of green areas.

Gehl, J. 2008. Qaulities of the sustainable city. Dag&Cities. Available at: <http://www.dac.dk/da/dac-cities/baeredygtige-byer/eksperter/jan-gehl-sunde-byer/?bbredirect=true> Accessed the 17th September 2013

#jan Gehl #Bikes

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