Allow me to preface this letter by explaining that I have recently returned from South Korea, where I lived and worked for 18 months. Prior to that I was a resident of Guelph since 1993. The purpose of this letter is to share a couple of ideas I had on how Guelph might benefit from incorporating some Korean approaches to community planning.
The first idea is for the installation of a reflexology foot path. Here is a link to a picture of one from a blog my wife and I kept. As you can see in the picture, this is a path that is essentially designed to give a foot massage to people. There were roughly 12 or more of these spread throughout the city I lived in, Changwon. At any given point in the spring, summer, and fall this was a hive of activity. During the day, seniors would use the path and in the evenings families and young couples would come to use it. While my wife and I were in Korea we had three rounds of visitors from Canada and the reflexology foot path was one of the highlights for them. One of our friends has even vowed to install one in her backyard here.
I believe that a reflexology path would jive with Guelph’s emphasis on community. Installing something like this in a place like Riverside Park, or in another area that you want to increase traffic through, would certainly encourage people to be active in their community. And, to be honest, the massage benefits of this path are tremendous. Thus, I believe Guelph should sincerely consider installing a reflexology path in town.
The second idea is for an expansion of community gardening in Guelph. Because South Korea is largely developed in valleys, using space efficiently is essential. In contrast to this, I have found the waste of public space in Guelph, and North America in general, to be the most striking aspect of our approach to planning since I’ve returned. I understand that we don’t have the same space concerns as Korea, but that does not necessitate the waste of public space.
Here’s my idea: I used to live on Yewholme Drive, near Gordon and Kortright, which has a decent sized park. Part of this park is a baseball diamond, but it is in such a poor condition that it is not allowed to be used for any official games and, on top of that, it is almost never used. So, there is a large plot of land that sits underutilized, year after year. At the same time, there are organizations like Backyard Bounty, which exists to farm on donated land around the city, and the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming that would likely benefit greatly from increased access to urban land.
In addition to these points, I would also like to champion a related cause. In South Korea retired seniors could slightly increase their pension money by doing work around the city. So, teams like this one would be assembled to plant and tend community gardens. The city of Guelph might be able to organize something similar and the produce that is grown in a community garden could be sold at the farmer’s market.
There may be myriad reasons why these ideas are not tenable in Guelph, but I thought it was my duty as a citizen to bring this ideas to your attention. I would be honoured and delighted to meet with you, or anyone else at City Hall, to further discuss these ideas. Thank you for taking the time to consider these developments for Guelph. MG
