Courtesy of HDR
St. Louis city’s southern half is a blend of commercial, residential, and green spaces—brick façades and storefronts abutting neighborhood parks and gardens. But make your way north, past Forest Park, and this harmony becomes off-kilter as trees and open space give way to lot after lot of dilapidated and abandoned buildings. Delmar Boulevard symbolizes the line not just between economic opportunity and the lack thereof but also between the haves and have-nots in terms of equitable access to neighborhood green spaces.
Exposure to nature has been proved to reduce stress, but not everyone enjoys the same access to quality outdoor spaces. One St. Louis initiative is working to address this issue while tackling others, including vacancy, sewer overflow, and community resilience—all of which contribute to residents’ health and well-being.
Borne of two efforts—one to reconnect city residents with nature, the other to increase stormwater absorption—the Green City Coalition is creating neighborhood green spaces to promote healthier, more engaged communities. In partnership with the city, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Metropolitan Sewer District, and the St. Louis Development Corporation, the initiative is transforming vacant lots (those designated for stormwater absorption) into quality outdoor spaces. With the removal of impervious surfaces such as vacant buildings, more open space is available to absorb stormwater, easing sewer overflow.
Laura Ginn, the coalition’s program manager, believes that tackling problems such as vacancy is a key to improving community health: “Concentrated vacancy is an environmental health challenge.” She notes that about 15 percent of parcels citywide are vacant; north of Delmar, it’s 30 percent. The coalition’s project sites are concentrated in this area, in the neighborhoods of Wells Goodfellow, Walnut Park East, and Baden, for a total of nearly 24 acres. Work began last fall on a 9-acre space in Wells Goodfellow. “It’s going to be a passive recreation space: low-lying native plants, lots of flowers, walking trails, and improved lighting,” Ginn says. “There is also an urban orchard going in this year, based on resident requests.”
Courtesy of Green City Coalition
In Walnut Park East, students at two area schools have planned much of the neighborhood’s 14 acres of green space, broken into two plots. Students at the Throwing and Growing Foundation designed and built a raised-bed garden on one parcel. They’ll create a larger community garden in the space. Blocks away, across from Northwest Academy of Law, Gregory J. Carter Park is getting new life thanks to students. Funds are being raised to replace a flood-prone baseball diamond with a rain garden, pavilion, and orchard that will provide outdoor learning spaces and fruit.
The coalition’s third project, a half-acre lot in Baden, links Dickman Park and a church’s community garden. “We’re converting that into a rain garden that will connect those two spaces,” Ginn says.
And more planning is underway. Throughout the process, Ginn says, community involvement has been integral to success. “We can’t just go in, raze a couple of blocks, plant some flowers, and call it a day,” she says. “It’s really about creating a space that folks are going to use, or those health benefits aren’t going to be realized.”
Tracy Boaz, regional supervisor of private land services for the Missouri Department of Conservation, echoes this sentiment: “Restoration of nature in cities is as much about people as it is about nature. Access to green space helps urban residents realize the value of these spaces and outdoor experiences in general.”
