The first thing that got me interested in this article was comparing a city as its own environment. Whenever I think of the word “environment,” the first things that come to mind are forests, marshes, etc. but not cities. I think it’s an interesting perspective to call a city an environment; it gives a city a different appeal — every aspect of it serves its function just like any living thing does in its natural state.
What I liked most about this article is that it focused on Stockholm, rather than on New York City. I found it surprising how green the city of Stockholm is, and how much effort is put into maintaining the green spaces. I think it is a great contrast to New York even though the two cities are similar in their location (both located near bodies of water). Even though Stockholm is more resourceful in terms of forestry, I don’t think this should serve as a setback for comparing it to New York. I also noticed that in Stockholm, people are more appreciative of their surroundings especially when the article mentioned that “citizens of Stockholm highly value their green spaces: more than 90% visit parks at least once during the year, 45% do so every week, and 17% more than three times a week” (298). There are many parks in New York City as well, but I don’t think that that many people (compared to those in Stockholm) visit the park even once a week. I think that the reason for that is the fact that the New York culture is very different; here, everyone lives in the “fast lane” and no one has the time to slow down and appreciate what is around them.
Another aspect of the article I found to be powerful was that Stockholm addresses different environments ranging from the air filtering to sweage treatment. They were able to pinpoint all the potential problems their city might have and decided to use the environment in a positive way. Unlike all our previous discussions regarding Europeans exploiting North America’s resources, the Swedes take on a different approach; once again, I think this is all about cultural values of the society.
Furthermore, I agree with the article that everyone is trying to use most of the limited space provided in the urban areas, but there are small things that may be done to significantly improve the quality of life. I think that adding vegetation to parking spaces and putting in strips of green space in between lanes on roads are great ideas, and there are many more ways to fix such issues. However, no change is going to take place if people don’t put in the effort to come up with solutions.
