Dear WSWA members,
There’s something special about watching the sun rise from Kings Park… when the surface of the river is like glass, the sky has a rosy tinge, and there’s a bit of chill in the air. The city emerges from the gloom and the trees along Fraser Avenue turn gold. Some parrots erupt from the canopy in a sudden assault of sound, and then the mournful call of a raven and some warbling magpies. And the flowers… the flowers in spring! All that colour and variety and beauty that words just can’t convey…
Kings Park has to be my favourite green space in Perth. But you probably have your own favourite – it might be a park, or some remnant bushland, even a backyard. These spaces will also be special to you for very individual reasons. It is something I’ve been exploring for my PhD as well as how important intangible things (like beauty or solitude or relaxation) are to people’s experiences of urban green space. I’m interested because I want to know if green spaces in a city like Perth are enough for users to feel connected with nature.
The American ecologist, Robert M. Pyle came up with the rather gloomy term, ‘extinction of experience’ which he used to describe an ever-diminishing connection between humans and common species of plants and animals in an everyday environment, especially in the developed world. He warned that “those who know and recognise less, care less, and therefore act less, leading to still more losses”.[1] So if people in cities can connect with nature in urban green spaces that would probably be a good thing!
If you’d like to hear more about connecting with nature in the city, I’ll be talking about my PhD research at the Murdoch branch on 2 March 2017 so please come along. You can also help me with my research! I’m collecting information at the moment in an online survey to see how Perth residents use and experience urban green space. It only takes about 15 minutes to complete and can be accessed here: http://tinyurl.com/GREENspacePerthSurvey Please share this link with your Perth friends too as every little bit of information helps.
Thanks and hope to see you soon!
Dawn Dickinson
(dawn.dickinson@research.uwa.edu.au)