How Can We Become More Resilient?

Parks and green spaces—through tree canopy shade, rainfall-absorbent surfaces and air-cleaning vegetation—are an asset to the city’s climate resilience goals, as they provide some of the most natural landscapes that remain within the city’s bounds.

At the individual level, there are many options for families to help build community resilience to climate change in their own backyard. Installing rain barrels and planting native trees and shrubs to replace your lawn are two ways to start treating your yard like a climate action laboratory.

For renters and those without the financial means to improve their landscaping, there are opportunities to volunteer with one of the many local organizations working to expand and improve green spaces in the Richmond community. Check out the HandsOn Greater Richmond volunteer portal or keep up with the events calendar on Southside ReLeaf's website to find an event near you.

Finally, we can all look for ways to limit and reduce the amount of driving we do as a way to limit heat-trapping gas emissions that are the root cause of climate change. We can do this through supporting compact and dense housing throughout the city and expanding the reliability, frequency, and connectivity of public transportation options like GRTC.

On the Science Museum's campus, we have begun construction on Phase 1 of a project that will reclaim two acres of asphalt surface parking and reestablish the front acreage of historic Broad Street Station as a new 6-acre public green space. The project aligns with the city’s Richmond 300 development plan, which prioritizes green infrastructure for Greater Scott’s Addition, one of the fastest growing, mixed-use neighborhoods in the city with one of the lowest levels of urban tree cover.

The Green will serve as both a welcoming park and a living classroom that will implement natural solutions to address the impacts of climate change in an urban setting.

The Vision for The Green

The Green will be accessible by public transportation, sitting directly on the Pulse BRT line that travels Broad Street. Until The Green is complete, you can visit other park space using public transportation within the city. Take a look at the options below provided by GRTC.

Richmond Region Parks Accessible By GRTC

Hungry For More?

Connect to the most cutting-edge understanding of how cities are using green spaces like parks to advance climate justice and resilience using these links:

• Creating green space in urban settings
• Resilient parks and open spaces
• Parks as a solution to climate change
• How cities use parks for climate change management
• The role of parks in disaster planning, recovery and response
• Building community resilience with nature-based solutions