Biodiverse urban forests, happy people: Experimental evidence linking perceived biodiversity, restoration, and emotional wellbeing

Nghiem, Thi Phuong Le; Wong, Kelvin; Jeevanandam, Loshnah; Chang, Chia-Chen; Tan, Claudia L. Y.; Goh, Yong Wah; Carrasco, Luis

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127030

Cited by 50 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…On the contrary, this study found an insigni cant outcome regarding bird abundance and restoration. Similar to previous ndings, bird abundance was not correlated with mental and physical health across a country (Methorst et al, 2021), and perceived animal abundance was not associated with restorativeness level (Nghiem et al, 2021). This may result from bird abundance being distributed differently from species richness.…”

Section: Avian Diversity and Perceivedsupporting

confidence: 77%

Biodiverse Landscapes and Restoring Benefit: A Connection Through Naturalness

Chang

2022

Preprint

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Context Research has been associating urban nature with health and wellbeing; whereas many focus on the benefits of the availability of green spaces, only a few focus on the quality of natural environments. Moreover, the mental health of urban residents has become an issue in society. Therefore, thinking about ecological health and human health when designing green spaces is critical. Objectives This study asked the extent to which biodiversity of landscapes is associated with attention restoration and if naturalness is the characteristic shared between biodiverse landscapes and the restoring perception of landscapes. Methods This study conducted laboratory experiments. We used bird survey data of the Taipei Metropolitan area to represent the biodiversity levels of landscapes and took photographs on-site of those survey sites to be the intervention. Participants viewed the images and evaluated their restoring and natural perceptions of landscapes. Results There were 128 participants who attended the experiments. This study reported landscapes with greater avian species richness and the avian Shannon diversity index score were evaluated as more natural. Naturalness, the avian species richness, and the avian Shannon diversity index were all associated with higher attention restorativeness. Bird abundance did not find associations with either variable. The findings demonstrated that viewing landscape images of bird biodiverse landscapes reported with same restoring effects. Conclusion This study demonstrated direct and measurable mental wellbeing benefits of urban bird diversity from viewing images of landscapes. This research supports previous research findings and suggests the connections between bird diversity and mental wellbeing need more investigation.

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Section: Avian Diversity and Perceivedsupporting

confidence: 77%

Biodiverse Landscapes and Restoring Benefit: A Connection Through Naturalness

Chang

2022

Preprint

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“…The spike at BTNR was fuelled by a large proportion of first‐time visitors to the park (51% of survey respondents) who visited the parks to primarily enjoy the natural landscapes and not for exercise. Experiencing these green spaces allows for restoration of psychological health (Akpinar et al, 2016 ; Subiza‐Pérez et al, 2020 ) and the perceived animal diversity of the green space has been shown to improve emotional well‐being (Nghiem et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the demand for different shades of green

et al. 2022

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1. COVID-19 has heightened the dependence of urban dwellers on cultural ecosystem services provided by urban green spaces (UGS), specifically in regard to the provision of recreational opportunities, and psychological and physical health benefits arising from their use.2. As different types and levels of cultural ecosystem services are provided by different types of UGS, people may seek out different UGS to satisfy personal needs over various phases of COVID-19 mobility restrictions imposed by cities.We report on a study that took advantage of the different phases of COVID-19 mobility restrictions to assess the demand for and perception of different types of UGS in Singapore.3. The study utilised four datasets to compare demand for and visitorship patterns of UGS before the pandemic (Pre-Circuit Breaker), the duration of the strictest mobility restrictions (Circuit Breaker), and after the measures were relaxed (Post-Circuit Breaker). We used Google Search trends as a proxy for UGS demand, Google mobility data for an overview of population visitorship trends, visitor counts for granular insights on actual visitorship trends, and qualitative data on perception of parks by park visitors after restrictions eased. Parks were categorised as manicured and less manicured UGS for analysis. Search interest for UGS overall fell by more than 50% from during CircuitBreaker but the post-Circuit Breaker levels exceeded pre-Circuit Breaker, with a 70.9% increase for less manicured UGS compared to 20.8% for manicured UGS. This corroborated with Google mobility and visitor counts, which showed a steep decrease in park use followed by a rapid increase in the same periods, and with increased visitorship in the less manicured UGS. The perception study also showed that more than 50% of respondents reported visiting parks that they have never visited before, and there was a greater appreciation and use of UGS after the pandemic and preference for less manicured and more naturalistic landscapes.

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“…This direction corresponds with Attention Restoration Theory (ART) prosed in 1980s [8,9] which claims that people can concentrate better after spending time in nature or at least after visual perception of scenes of nature. However, as Nghiem et al [36] noticed there is a need to guarantee a proper ratio between green areas and the number of people spending time there, as the crowdedness limits the positive impact of spending time outdoors. The ART has been also a topic of research conducted in the case of academic campuses; however, Falsten focused his research only on visual perception of natural scenery [37].…”

Section: "Green and Blue" Therapy In Parksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redefinition of Park Design Criteria as a Result of Analysis of Well-Being and Soundscape: The Case Study of the Kortowo Park (Poland)

Jaszczak

Pochodyła

Kristiánová

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Well-being and soundscape analysis should be useful in re-design works involved in the planning of recreational areas and green spaces on campuses to improve the health of students, academics, and university staff. Proper space planning, for example, in campus parks, including the planning of soundscape zones, is important in relieving study and work stress. The aim of the study was to conduct a multicriteria analysis of the soundscape and well-being of users in the university park on campus in Olsztyn (Poland). It was important to redefine thinking about the re-composition of park space, including reduction of noise and improving well-being. The research included: 1. measurements of sound pressure levels (SPL) at selected points in two periods, 2. interview with park users and preparation of a mental map, 3. experts’ opinion on soundscape and well-being, and 4. design schemes for re-design of the park. The results of research regarding the perception of the soundscape and well-being in Kortowo park by respondents differ slightly from the results of SPL measurements. The results also confirm the difference between SPL in the leafless and leafy period. The results show a clear relationship between the perception of sounds and well-being in the park. However, in some areas near the water, where higher noise levels are reported the respondents felt quite comfortable. Finally, design schemes are proposed, based on experts’ opinions and results of the analysis.

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Biodiverse urban forests, happy people: Experimental evidence linking perceived biodiversity, restoration, and emotional wellbeing

Cited by 50 publications

References 67 publications

Biodiverse Landscapes and Restoring Benefit: A Connection Through Naturalness

Biodiverse Landscapes and Restoring Benefit: A Connection Through Naturalness

The influence of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the demand for different shades of green

Redefinition of Park Design Criteria as a Result of Analysis of Well-Being and Soundscape: The Case Study of the Kortowo Park (Poland)

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