Green Spaces in cities Where do children play? Years ago, any open field, any vacant lot, any group pf trees--these were the places where children played. As families left family farms, small towns, and the countryside, and moved into cities, the places for their children to play in became rarer. Children in the cities had few options, fewer choices of places to play. In fact, all people's lives change a lot when they move to the city. (51) In cities, homes are built on top of one another--in enormous apartment buildings. (52) The feeling of private space and ownership no longer exists in houses literally piled one on the other. Psychologists have been studying the changes people experience when they leave rural area and move into urban environments. On clear findings from their studies is that people need green spaces for better mental health. Children can play on paved playgrounds. That's true. However, they just don't have as much fun as children in small towns. (53) Without grass and trees and bushes and, yes, dirt and mud to get dirtyin, children miss an important part of childhood. (54) The human soul, it seems, needs to stay close to its roots. Adults can plant lots of things like bulbs in window boxes and large containers. (55) However, tending window boxes isn't the same as being an amateur gardener and growing peas, tomatoes and salad greens in a backyard garden. The lack of green space is now recognized and understood as a problem. (31)