February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 25

classes for students around what the
plants are and why they are important in New York City to get the kids
engaged. So that would all be part of
the PopUP Forest project.
We're going to be especially targeting neighborhoods that have very
low amount of green space and typically those are socioeconomically depressed neighborhoods. There's a lot
of research that looks at nature from
an environmental justice angle and
shows that people who live in lower-income neighborhoods typically
see less green overall and the green
that they do see is less diverse. So this
would be a way of addressing some
of those issues.
Kids in the city don't think that
there's nature here or they have negative connotations of it. Education
for kids about nature is so huge. Even
just having them walk through the
woods. It's good for their little brains.
Every kid in New York City should
have an opportunity to do that and
there shouldn't be limitations on it
because they live so far away from
a park. There should be a way and
it should be part of the curriculum.
I don't know how to do that but it's
something I'm looking into and trying to figure out.
But also, what I'd like to see is
more greenery where people live. I
don't think nature should be a destination. It should be embedded in
people's daily lives. It behooves urban planners to think about ways
to weave ecological elements into
neighborhoods. I live very close to
Prospect Park...it's out the back of
my apartment building. Okay, first
of all I live in an apartment building,
as a lot of people in New York City
do, so I don't have a yard. My yard is
Prospect Park. But what if I lived a
little further from Prospect Park? In

window and they hear things like
" New York City has nature. " They
must look out their window and be
like, " Man, they are pulling my leg, "
because they don't see anything like
that out their window. So, how do
you help people make that kind of
mental leap? You have to bring nature to where they are. And it goes
back to all the studies that have been
shown how good nature is for people
to be around.

Marielle Anzelone

the front of my building, there aren't
a lot of trees on my block. It's moderate income and there aren't a lot of
garden spaces, so where are the green
things? How does anyone who lives
on my block or lives on any other
block like it when they look out their

To read part one of the conversation
in its entirety, go to www.parksandrecreation.org/2016/January/Part-OneMarielle-Anzelone-Plans-a-PopUPForest.
Sonia Myrick is the Managing Editor of Parks
& Recreation magazine (smyrick@nrpa.org).

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