Image: expoknews.com
Every day in any city in the world, there is a lot of pollution, in any of its forms, that deteriorates the environment or there is some new construction or building project that has a significant impact on the environment. For this reason, it is necessary to have ecological places that help to combat this daily pollution, thus the ecological parks arise.
From Ecologist Verde we explain in detail what is an ecological park and what are its goals and benefits. For example, in this cover image we can see the Wikado ecological park in the Netherlands.
What are ecological parks
Currently, there are already parks in cities, which are green spaces for public use and where there is usually abundant vegetation and different facilities, which allow you to enjoy moments of leisure and rest, both alone and with the family. The term "ecological" refers to all the interactions that living things have with the environment. So, in short, an ecological park is a green space characterized by its special care of vegetation, ecosystems and the species that inhabit it.
The main objective of ecological parks is to serve as protection for the ecosystems that host and that of raise awareness in the population on the importance of preserving the environment, making the population familiar with the nature that develops there. In addition, it serves as a place of leisure and allows scientific research and studies to be carried out, increasing our technical knowledge of animals, plants and various ecosystems.
According to its differential characteristics, we can classify an ecological park into different types and name them differently. Thus, among protected areas we can speak of national parks or ecological reserves, although these names depend on the existing regulations in each country.
Benefits of ecological parks
Normally, the management of these ecological parks depends on the governments of each place and they provide great benefits, both for the cities that host them and for the preservation of the environment.
The benefits of these parks are both in the carbon sequestration as in the preservation of plant species and people's leisure. This carbon sequestration helps reduce the effects of climate change and by harboring different species of animals, plant species and fungi, they help conserve biodiversity on our planet.
Important ecological parks in the world
Wikado, Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country with great use of the wind, which can be seen in this ecological park. This park arises when an architecture studio in the city of Rotterdam, decides to build a recreational place using about five mill blades that were to be turned into waste. Thus, they became slides, tunnels, towers and labyrinths. For this, the wikado park is an example of how to reuse materials that were to be discarded.
Rainwater Harvesting Park, United States
This park was created by one of the great problems that New York City has, such as sewage. And it is that in the New York City, the sewage system is so collapsed that an inch of water is enough for the entire system to be overflowed, with clear risks of environmental contamination and waterways in its streets. For this reason, the Department of Environmental Protection in that city found a solution, which consists of creating ecological parks that are prepared to contain this rainwater. Thus, a park was created with raised gardens, barrels, underground layers to contain water and a porous pavement, which allows this water to flow.
Kilburn Grange Adventure Play Park, UK
It is a park built by the Erect Architecture studio to offer a green space for fun and enjoyment of nature. It has climbing facilities, slides, towers and outdoor spaces. Being built near a botanical garden (in its time), the park is also home to trees. A part of the materials used in the construction of this park are recycled and present natural rocks.
Skinners Shipping Container Playground, Australia
This park located in the city of Melbourne is built on the basis of containers. It is a park where you can practice multiple adventure sports and take advantage of totally recycled structures.
In the image below we can see a part of the Kilburn Grange Adventure Play Park, UK.
Image: erectarchitecture.co.uk
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