Developing Pocket Green Parks in the Philippines

How can we make our barangays green?

One low-risk, high-reward, quick win solution: POCKET GREEN PARKS.

The map by BA Racoma, a PhD student and a personal acquaintance, shows the sparseness of green spaces in the region.

Disclaimer from BA Racome: Data is from OpenStreetMap and the tagged areas would be dependent on how the users tagged them.

I believe the short-term, quick-win solution to our lack of with green spaces is right in our neighborhood: POCKET GREEN PARKS.

What are Pocket Green Parks?

Borrowing Allison Blake’s definition of pocket parks, I describe pocket green parks as

Pocket green parks are small scale urban open and green spaces in our neighborhoods. usually only a few house lots in size or smaller.

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PART 1: 3 Advantages of Pocket Green Parks

Pocket green park development has 3 advantages for local governments.

• Pocket green parks weaken the friction of distance.
• Pocket green parks increase the frequency of exposure to greens.
• Pocket green parks mean quicker wins because of less red tape.

3 Advantages of Pocket Green Park Development for LGUs

PART 2: 3 Steps for Barangays to Develop Pocket Green Parks

Barangays can start developing pocket green parks by following these 3 initial steps.

• Conduct greening on the buffers of existing government facilities, social gathering areas, and streets
• Enjoin residents in using idle lands for pocket green parks.
• Use funding wisely and coordinate for shared pocket green parks among barangays..

3 Steps for Barangays to Develop Pocket Green Parks

Key Resources for Developing Pocket Parks

• Public Spaces 101 by EnP. Jean Palma:
• Public Park and Open Spaces Guidebook by ASSURE, Inc.
• Pocket Park Toolkit by The Trust for Public Land
• ” Parks will save us: Pandemic highlights lack of Metro Manila green, open spaces (Rappler) “

Formulating Comprehensive Land Use Plans

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