Article What space for public parks in sustainable consumption corridors? conceptual reflections on need satisfaction through social practices SAHAKIAN, Marlyne, ANANTHARAMAN, Manisha 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 [...] Reference SAHAKIAN, Marlyne, ANANTHARAMAN, Manisha. What space for public parks in sustainable consumption corridors? conceptual reflections on need satisfaction through social practices. Sustainability, 2020, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 128-142 DOI : 10.1080/15487733.2020.1788697 Available at: http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:140589 Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version. 1 / 1 Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tsus20 What space for public parks in sustainable consumption corridors? Conceptual reflections on need satisfaction through social practices Marlyne Sahakian & Manisha Anantharaman To cite this article: Marlyne Sahakian & Manisha Anantharaman (2020) What space for public parks in sustainable consumption corridors? Conceptual reflections on need satisfaction through social practices, Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 16:1, 128-142, DOI: 10.1080/15487733.2020.1788697 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1788697 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the University of Geneva. Published online: 27 Aug 2020. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tsus20 SUSTAINABILITY: SCIENCE, PRACTICE AND POLICY https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1788697 RESEARCH ARTICLE What space for public parks in sustainable consumption corridors? Conceptual reflections on need satisfaction through social practices Marlyne Sahakiana and Manisha Anantharamanb aInstitute of Sociological Research, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; bSaint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, CA, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Green public spaces support human health and harbor biodiversity, but does visiting the Received 12 September 2019 park improve human wellbeing? We draw on interviews with 40 respondents in 3 Chennai Accepted 24 June 2020 parks to examine how green public spaces serve as inclusive areas for synergistic need satis- KEYWORDS faction. Through qualitative interviews, we studied wellbeing by uncovering social practices Social practices; and relating them to a list of nine Protected Needs, and by discussing need satisfaction with consumption; green public people directly. We find that green public spaces are unique satisfiers of multiple needs for spaces; human needs diverse social groups through the performance of social practices, which involve underlying theory; wellbeing; Chennai 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 sus- tainable consumption studies by expanding the forms of consumption examined within con- sumption 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. Introduction because cities are important sites for speculative investment in our current economic system Green public spaces in the cities of South and (Goldman 2011), where the needs of capital are Southeast Asia have a role to play in promoting “sustainable wellbeing,” bridging the gap between placed above all else (Wilhite 2016). Clean air or “what is needed for a safe climate and the prospects water, shaded respite from the heat, or spaces for for a just and flourishing society” (Gough 2017, children to play are not given the same importance 12).1 Compared to other uses of limited urban land, as commercial interests, and neither are the needs such as shopping malls which prioritize elite con- of the urban poor for places to live and work. We sumption and can be exclusive, green public spaces concur with Rao and Min (2017, 20) that adequate are potentially more accessible, less energy intensive, public space is a material prerequisite for human “ and less consumerist. Research has demonstrated wellbeing, to foster a sense of freedom, for the pur- that parks provide health benefits, and therefore suit of leisure activities, and to congregate for polit- ” lack of access, often experienced by lower income ical and social activities. The urgency for protecting groups, is a social justice issue (Lee and these spaces is demonstrated continuously, through Maheswaran 2011; Mitchell and Popham 2008; for example the wave of demonstrations and media Maas et al. 2006). Natural environments have been attention in 2013 around plans to build a commer- found to contribute to happiness (MacKerron and cial center in Istanbul’s Taksim square, one of the Mourato 2013) and urban green spaces have also few remaining green spaces in the city center. The been studied in relation to other forms of wellbeing social distancing measures implemented in the wake (Benton et al. 2018). Parks enable people to meet of the COVID-19 pandemic also reveal the signifi- and exchange freely, be in contact with natural envi- cance of green public spaces, in deepening the div- ronments, and gain livelihood. ide between those who could access outdoor private Despite these demonstrated social benefits, urban spaces and those who could not and were deprived green public spaces are under threat, primarily of parks and waterfronts in city centers. CONTACT Marlyne Sahakian [email protected] Institute of Sociological Research, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland This Special Issue is sponsored and supported by the University of Geneva. ß 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the University of Geneva. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 2 M. SAHAKIAN AND M. ANANTHARAMAN When urban space is both limited and selectively Anantharaman, Huddart-Kennedy, and Middlemiss allocated to serve elite consumption or for the 2019). We thus explore how need satisfaction by investment of surplus capital, we advance the notion one social group can conflict with need satisfaction that territorial development plans must consider by others, in relation to who is using the green pub- “consumption corridors” (Di Giulio and Fuchs lic spaces and in what way, and reflect on how these 2014), or upper and lower limits to the conflicts map onto existing inequities in access to “consumption” of space. Within consumption corri- space and voice in urban planning decisions. dors, human needs are satisfied in relation to avail- In the next section, we begin by outlining a con- able resources: upper limits denote the boundary ceptual framework that includes social practice above which satisfying the needs of one person approaches, notions of wellbeing, and a discussion would harm the ability for another to satisfy their of the processes and politics of park planning and needs; lower limits denote boundaries under which management. We then introduce our methodology no needs are satisfied (see the Introduction to this and the research site of Chennai in southeastern special issue). Our article advances the consumption India. In our discussion of research results, we illus- corridors concept by expanding the forms of con- trate how and in what way needs are satisfied in sumption that are included and examined within three urban parks. Finally, we conclude with a corridors, specifically the consumption of space reflection around the relevance of studying the con- (Urry 1995). By studying green public spaces within sumption of space in relation to upper limits and the overall framework of consumption corridors, we wellbeing, or consumption