PRESS PAUSE. How often do you feel well rested? If the answer is rarely, you’re not alone.
Recent reporting shows that more than 4 million Canadian workers are experiencing high levels of work-related stress, and seven in ten say their productivity is suffering because of it. We’re experiencing a crisis, but what if our cities could help us find a solution?
In last month’s Evergreen newsletter, we looked at the ways good public spaces can help us move through cities. This month is all about slowing down.
The great urbanist, Jan Gehl, once said, “It's not enough to create spaces that enable people to come and go. Favourable conditions for lingering must also exist.” Our cities don’t need to be just places of hurry and rush; they can be places of leisure too.
Leisure—spending time in nature and doing things purely for the pleasure of doing them—is good for us. It’s time that isn’t meant to be maximized or monetized; it’s time when we can just be. It’s walking through the ravines with no set destination in mind, slowly browsing a farmers market on a Saturday morning, catching a candlelight concert, or simply putting down the phone and playing with your kids in a park. Leisure reminds us that the world won’t stop if we take a break.
I once heard rest described as what adds the rhythm to our life. Without it, life becomes the incessant monotonous beat of productivity. Go-go-go, etc. It’s the pauses between those beats that turn the noise into music.
Great public places are like those pauses. They give us permission and opportunity to rest. Places like Toronto’s beautiful ravine system provide both activity and pause, keeping us connected to nature in the midst of busy urban life. Community festivals, events and markets—like the ones Evergreen hosts year-round—bring people together and create the social connection necessary to combat loneliness.
Public places that enable leisure and rest should not be considered optional infrastructure; they’re a vital investment to our public health. They turn the noise of modern urban life into something worth enjoying.
🖊️ BEN BARTOSIK, BRAND & CREATIVE MANAGER | EVERGREEN
