What space for public parks in sustainable consumption corridors? Conceptual reflections on need satisfaction through social practices

Abstract

Green public spaces support human health and harbor biodiversity, but does visiting the park improve human wellbeing? We draw on interviews with 40 respondents in 3 Chennai parks to examine how green public spaces serve as inclusive areas for synergistic need satisfaction. Through qualitative interviews, we studied wellbeing by uncovering social practices and relating them to a list of nine Protected Needs, and by discussing need satisfaction with people directly. We find that green public spaces are unique satisfiers of multiple needs for diverse social groups through the performance of social practices, which involve underlying material arrangements, meanings, and competencies. In the cities of South Asia, where space is limited and selectively allocated to serve elite consumption, we argue that a practices-to-needs approach renders more complex the importance of green public spaces as a common good, compared to commercial and privatized spaces. We contribute to wellbeing and sustainable consumption studies by expanding the forms of consumption examined within consumption corridors, with “going to the park” subject to upper and lower spatial limits in urban settings. Spatial planning in consumption corridors therefore requires maximizing aggregated need satisfaction for more people, while minimizing need destruction in the interests of the few.

Keywords

• social practices
• consumption
• green public spaces
• human needs theory
• wellbeing
• chennai