Toolkit for Activation Well designed urban green spaces can provide a host of social, environmental, and economic benefits. As public open spaces, green spaces can be cultural destinations that help define a community, a neighborhood, and a city, connecting people to the outdoors and nature. They are places of outdoor activity and recreation and can be designed to enhance existing ecological services. Brockton’s green spaces are an untapped resource. Parks in the downtown area suffer from low usership and negative perceptions of safety, and they need improvements to infrastructure and amenities. The strategies below set cross-sector goals to connect the existing green spaces to their immediate urban setting and increase usership. They are guided by the social, environmental, and economic principles outlined in this report and work to address the City’s park revitalization goals.
Specific strategies to accomplish these goals are presented under six functional categories: • Accommodate Passive and Active Recreation • Improve Amenities and Infrastructure • Improve Environmental Conditions • Mitigate Stormwater Runoff • Build Partnerships Through Programming • Improve Aesthetics and Sense of Place In many cases, a strategy presented in one category can function in another category. For example, planting trees along a plaza can fulfill the ecological function of improving air quality and reducing surface water runoff. Those same trees can also contribute to the improved social function of the plaza by providing shade for users and increasing aesthetic appeal.
Street trees provide shade for pedestrians and improve air quality.
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BROCKTON URBAN GREEN SPACE PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS