Sleman Regency, as one of the regencies in the Province of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, is one of the regencies with very rapid development. This is motivated by various factors such as economic factors, availability of demographic infrastructure, advances in science and technology (IPTEK), and others. These developments have had an impact on the physical development and spatial planning of the city as well as the socio-cultural life of the people in Sleman Regency. If these changes are not managed properly, in addition to having a positive impact, the development of a region can also have a negative impact.
The rapid construction of buildings and the high activity of activities has reduced the amount of green land and decreased environmental quality due to high pollution. In fact, as is well known, green land has important functions, including as a water catchment area so as to prevent floods and landslides, control air pollution, and beautify the environment. On the other hand, developments also have an impact on the social sector. Not a few social cases that occur in big cities such as high crime cases and citizen conflicts. This is due to high levels of stress, social inequality, high unemployment, and the nature of urban communities that tend to be individualistic and apathetic compared to rural communities.
The emergence of negative impacts from regional development in Sleman Regency can be anticipated by providing urban parks. City parks are public green open spaces owned and managed by the local city government which are used for the benefit of society in general. As a percentage reference for green public space, including city parks, it covers 20% of the total area (UU No. 26 of 2007).
Apart from being useful as a physical function for greening, city parks actually also have a social function for the community. City parks are one of the public open spaces for the community. Communities can use the city park area for recreation from routine. It is undeniable that urban residents need recreation in city parks, considering that housing in urban areas tends to be narrow and close together and has minimal green space. Thus the city park is a solution for the community in managing stress. In addition, the community can also carry out social interactions so as to erode individualism and apathy.
The function of city parks is still underestimated in the effort to realize public health, even though if they can be managed properly and are able to carry out their functions properly, city parks actually have a very large contribution. As we can see, many degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and stroke are caused by the deteriorating quality of the environment and people's lifestyles, especially the lack of physical activity. Efforts to treat these diseases require large costs and time. Not to mention that the disease has the impact of reducing life expectancy and people's productivity. City parks are the answer to this problem.
The existence of city parks with trees and green parks can be used to control environmental pollution. Plants are able to reduce air temperature by absorbing sunlight and CO2 (carbon dioxide) and producing oxygen. The existence of city parks can also attract people's interest in doing physical activities outside such as walking, running, cycling, and gymnastics. When compared to the costs that must be incurred to overcome health problems, the cost of managing urban parks as a preventive effort is actually much less. If you look at developed countries such as Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, it can be seen that they have beautiful city parks and are crowded with residents. Therefore it is necessary to manage urban parks so that they can function optimally in supporting development, especially in Sleman Regency.
The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of optimizing urban parks as green open spaces as a barrier to the negative impact of rapid development in order to create sustainable urban development, especially in the Sleman Regency area.
The idea of the importance of optimizing urban parks as green open spaces as a barrier to negative impacts is expected to provide an overview of the function of urban parks and special considerations for the government in making a policy in managing urban parks in Sleman Regency so that they can function optimally to support accelerated development in the Sleman Regency area