SOCIAL BENEFIT OF GREEN SPACES TO LOCAL COMMUNITY

The article deals with the concept of green spaces by highlighting its social benefit to the local community. Green spaces have become an important element in shaping rural and urban public spaces, creating attractive living surrounding, promoting integration, interaction and participation of locals, strengthening their health and enhancing overall wellbeing. Moreover, green spaces are often characterized as public spaces, so the interest in this topic implies that being in or using these spaces influences various social groups in any community. Unfortunately, the emphasis of social benefit of green spaces on the local level still lacks solid grounds in the social science discourse in Lithuania. In view of the above, the research methodology includes both theoretical and empirical research methods, where the following scientific problem is addressed: the ways or forms that the social benefit of green spaces manifests itself in relation to local communities? The aim of the research is to analyse manifestation of social benefit of green spaces to local community. The results of scientific literature analysis and interview with the specialists have provided some common insights such as how social benefit of green spaces can manifest itself on the local level. It has been acknowledged that, in terms of social benefit, green spaces are multifunctional, with their main purpose, however, being satisfaction of the needs of local community needs at the place they live in. Although green spaces are not fitted enough to support active participation, awareness of the variety of existing green spaces may contribute to promotion of various local community activities, interaction between different social groups, and appears as a "social bridge", influencing overall wellbeing of individuals and community.