Does the presence of urban greenspaces have an impact of mental health?

 

The field of environmental neuroscience has studied the relationship between “brain mediated, bidirectional relationships” and “organisms and their social and physical environments.” (Berman, Stier, & Akcelik 2019) Berman et al. (2019) discusses how when people are subjected to more nature or greenspaces, their mental health, cognition, behavior, memory, etc. will be impacted positively. Urban greenspaces have also contributed to one’s amount of social interactions in their living environment, thus also contributing to one’s mental health being improved. 

In other literature, it is discussed how “the association between urban green space and mental health has largely focused on the presence or quantity of green space, rather than on the spatial distribution of green spaces within the urban landscape.” The study sought to address if green space alone was enough and if all green spaces were the same. The study used mental health data that was collected by the Chicago Department of Public Health from 6405 residents in 61 Chicago communities as part of their Healthy Chicago Survey, and quantified landscape metrics related to the amount and configuration of green space within these community ‘landscapes’. “Using generalized linear mixed models that controlled for socio-economic confounds, [they] found that residents reported less psychological distress within urban landscapes that had small-sized water bodies and greater distances between forested areas, which tend to characterize the distribution of large forest parks throughout Chicago.” (Ha, Jaeyoung, et al. 2021)

According to the World Health Organization, greenspaces are essential for citizen’s mental health. Using previous research to uncover how greenspaces effected patients in a hospital, it was shown that COVID-19 studies have shown that people who live in areas with less green space were more impacted by the pandemic. Studies have also shown that participants also experienced enhanced mood states, favorable spatial experience, and perceived aesthetics in the IVE hospital with visible greenspaces than the same environment without window views. These results then showed that there was room for improvement with large hospitals and how hospital gardens and views of nature from windows could improve patients' experiences. (Tomasi, Patricia 2022)

The collaboration of all of these findings have shown the importance of green spaces for mental health in general, and for people in hospital settings. Environmental neuroscience has facilitated the importance of these findings and also helps discover the ways we can help increase positive brain functions. 

Berman, M. G., Stier, A. J., & Akcelik, G. N. (2019). Environmental neuroscience. American Psychologist, 74(9), 1039–1052. 

Ha, Jaeyoung, et al. “Urban Green Space Alone Is Not Enough: A Landscape Analysis Linking the Spatial Distribution of Urban Green Space to Mental Health in the City of Chicago.” Landscape and Urban Planning, Elsevier, 22 Nov. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204621002723. 

Tomasi, Patricia. “How Important Is Greenspace around Hospitals When It Comes to the Health of Patients?” Theravive, Theravive, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.theravive.com/today/post/how-important-is-greenspace-around-hospitals-when-it-comes-to-the-health-of-patients-0004821.aspx.