Green and Public Spaces

Green spaces in urban areas offer health benefits by reducing the ambient air temperature and improving air quality. Natural landscaping offers additional benefits to persons with disabilities. For example, trees can serve as directional cues to persons with visual impairments, and green spaces between the pavement and street can act as buffer zones for visually impaired pedestrians. Similarly, several studies have demonstrated that exposure to green spaces has mental health benefits for persons with dementia and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).[1] Green spaces also help alleviate both individual stress and environmental pollution, two problems that affect persons with disabilities in particular.[2]

Nonetheless, public spaces can facilitate interaction only if they are accessible. There are few public spaces in the Arab world, especially green areas and parks, contributing to high levels of spatial inequality. According to UN Habitat, public spaces in 2016 constituted a mere 2 per cent of Middle Eastern cities, compared with an average of 12 per cent in Europe.[3] This can be attributed partly to a lack of urban planning in the face of rapid urbanization, which has seen the growth of informal human settlements on the outskirts of cities, often unserviced by public infrastructure. In other areas, private development has encroached on public spaces, with officials prioritizing the monetary capitalization of land value over potential social and environmental benefits.

In the Arab region, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula, green spaces are expensive and resource-demanding. Traditional grassy green spaces require critical water resources in what is the most water scarce region in the world.[4] A study of 12 zones in the Greater Doha area of Qatar found that only two fulfilled the researchers’ public park standard of 8 square metres of green space per 1,000 inhabitants, short of the World Health Organization’s relatively low standard of 9 square metres per 1,000 inhabitants.[5]

The 2016 study also found that Doha’s green spaces were primarily concentrated in the higher-end seaside and central business districts, highlighting the common issue of spatial inequality in urban greenery. Long distances between green spaces and residential areas are especially challenging for persons with disabilities, who often have limited mobility. Spatial inequality is being combated in some cities with accessibility standards, which delineate maximum travel distances between dwellings and public green spaces; however, retroactive greenification is especially challenging in cities struggling with a crowded and unplanned urban landscape.[6] An example of positive greenification can be found in Ramallah, whose municipal government aims to build a safe park in each neighbourhood, in cooperation with private and non-governmental partners.[7] An early success in the project was the construction of Al Bayyara, a park built on previously barren and trash-laden land in the densely populated neighbourhood of Ein Munjid.[8] Similarly, the Garden of Nations was constructed in Al Masyoun, Ramallah, providing a public green space that includes outdoor art pieces from partnering countries.[9] Incorporated into the 2,200 square metre park is a hill made by planting grass over a pile of unused debris, exemplifying ingenuity in recycling resources while removing potential hazards from public areas.[10]


[1]   Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances E. Ming Kuo, Could exposure to everyday green spaces help treat ADHD? Evidence from children’s play settings”, Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, vol. 3, No. 3, 2011.

[2]   Klaus Seeland and Simone Nicolè, “Public green space and disabled users”, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, vol. 5, No. 1, 2006.

[3]   “No bed of roses”, The Economist, 9 June 2016.

[4]   Audrey Everist, “Revisiting approaches to water management in water-scarce Gulf”, IPI Global Observatory, 11 May 2018. Available from https://theglobalobservatory.org/2018/05/revisiting-approaches-water-management-gulf/.

[5]   Nadeem Hashem, “Assessing spatial equality of urban green spaces provision: A case study of Greater Doha in Qatar”. Local Environment, vol. 20, No. 3, 2013.

[6]   Public health England, “Local action on health inequalities: improving access to green spaces”, Health Equity Evidence Review 8, September 2014. Available from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/357411/Review8_Green_spaces_health_inequalities.pdf.

[7]   Anera, “A new park and playground for Ramallah, West Bank”. Available from https://www.anera.org/stories/new-park-playground-ramallah-west-bank/.

[8]   Ramallah Municipality, Vision and mission. Available from http://www.ramallah.ps/page.aspx?id=bE02G1a1939672614abE02G1.  

[9]   Ramallah Municipality, The Garden of Nations: where cultures converge. Available from http://www.ramallah.ps/page.aspx?id=uV0zuOa1948238391auV0zuO.

[10] Anera, “A new park and playground for Ramallah, West Bank”.