BBC News 22 Apr 13;
Parks, gardens and green space in urban areas can improve the wellbeing and quality of life of people living there, says a University of Exeter study.
Using data from 5,000 UK households over 17 years, researchers found that living in a greener area had a significant positive effect.
The findings could help to inform urban planners and have an impact on society at large, they said.
The study is published in the journal Psychological Science.
The research team examined data from a national survey that followed more than 5,000 UK households and 10,000 adults between 1991 and 2008 as they moved house around the country.
They asked participants to report on their own psychological health during that time to estimate the "green space effect".
Dr Mathew White and colleagues at the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health found that individuals reported less mental distress and higher life satisfaction when they were living in greener areas.
This was true even after the researchers accounted for changes over time in participants' income, employment, marital status, physical health and housing type.
Benefits for society
Dr White compared the scale of the effects of living in a greener area to "big-hitting" life events such as marriage.
"We've found that living in an urban area with relatively high levels of green space can have a significantly positive impact on wellbeing, roughly equal to a third of the impact of being married."
The effect was also found to be equivalent to a tenth of the impact of being employed, as opposed to unemployed.
Even when stacked up against other factors that contribute to life satisfaction, living in a greener area had a significant effect, the study said.
"These kinds of comparisons are important for policymakers when trying to decide how to invest scarce public resources, such as for park development or upkeep, and figuring out what bang they'll get for their buck," said Dr White.
While the effect for an individual might be small, he pointed out that the potential positive effects of green space for society at large might be substantial.
"This research could be important for psychologists, public health officials and urban planners who are interested in learning about the effects that urbanisation and city planning can have on population health and wellbeing."
Beth Murphy, information manager at the mental health charity Mind, said: "For people living busy lifestyles in densely populated areas, being able to get outdoors and access green space is a great way to escape the stresses of day-to-day life.
"Our research has shown that 94% of people who took part in outdoors 'green exercise' said it benefited their mental health and can have huge impacts on physical health.
"We believe this is food for thought for any policymaker involved in urban planning, or local authority developing its public health strategy."
Parks Pay Off: Green Cities Boost Happiness
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Yahoo News 23 Apr 13;
Avoid the concrete jungle: A new study finds that people who live in cities with more green space feel better than those surrounded by stone and steel.
In fact, the well-being boost associated with green space is equivalent to one-third the jump in well-being people get from being married and to one-tenth of the extra life satisfaction derived from being employed versus jobless, according to a study to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science.
"These kinds of comparisons are important for policymakers when trying to decide how to invest scarce public resources, e.g. for park development or upkeep, and figuring out what 'bang' they'll get for their buck," study researcher Mathew White of the University of Exeter Medical School said in a statement. [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]
It's no surprise that nicer areas of town might be populated by happier people, but previous studies had never been able to tease out whether the emotionally well-off simply moved to greener spots or whether greenery really boosts well-being. White and his colleagues dug into the question by using long-term, national data collected between 1991 and 2008.
That way, the researchers could compare the life satisfaction of the same people as they moved from more to less verdant areas and vice versa. They also controlled for income, employment, marital status, health, housing time and local area factors, such as crime rates, to ensure as much as possible that the effects were coming from greenery.
The results showed that people's life satisfaction, as assessed by questionnaire, did improve when they moved to greener urban areas and decreased in urban spots where nature was out of site. Greener spaces were also linked with lower mental distress in residents.
The study can't prove conclusively that the green space caused the happiness boost, because it's impossible to control for every variable that might be at play, the researchers wrote. But experimental studies have also found that parks are linked with psychological health. In one study, researchers followed residents of public housing who were randomly assigned to apartments with views of trees and grass or with views of barren courtyards. The people living in view of greenery reported less domestic violence and fewer aggressive conflicts. They were also less likely to view their problems as unsolvable.
Another study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in 2010, found that just a five-minute dose of nature could improve self-esteem. Green areas with water were deemed most beneficial.
Greenery may influence physical health as well as psychological. One 2002 study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that seniors in Japan had lower mortality rates in the five years of the study when they lived in areas surrounded by walkable green space.
