Effects of urban parks on residents’ expressed happiness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cheng, Yingyi; Zhang, Jinguang; Wei, Wei; Bing, Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104118

Cited by 124 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Nevertheless, studies relating to the spread of epidemics in parks are still insufficient. As more results and data become available, one may be able to construct reliable infection rates [86,87] for these recreational areas and reliable risk analysis values [88,89].…”

Section: Connections To Existing Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Visitor Capacity Considering Social Distancing in Urban Parks with Agent-Based Modeling

Yue

Burley

Cui

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly influenced society in the past few years. Park accessibility and social distancing are considered important under the threat of a long-term epidemic. However, measures that can maintain park accessibility and diminish virus spreading synchronously have been seldom studied before, which may threaten public health in all major urban parks globally. This paper proposed a methodology based on an agent-based model to analyze capacities for parks by simulating park visitor behaviors when they all are social distancing. The model was derived from historical visitor data and realistic visitor behaviors in three park settings. Then, park capacities of varied contact conditions, different park policies, and layout adjustments were analyzed. First, congestions caused by social distancing without proper visitor control are found inside all parks. Second, 85 to 3972 square meters per person is predicted as a safe space in different parks. Third, the current results can be easily adjusted according to various concerns regarding infection distance and rate. Finally, it can be inferred that information provisions are more effective than space design adjustments and mandatory measures. The results can guide park managers and those who plan and design park settings. They are also helpful in improving knowledge of the mechanisms behind visitor behaviors. Moreover, these findings can be tested and verified in a variety of public spaces with many other contact-based illnesses.

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Section: Connections To Existing Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is widely believed that this epidemic may have profound consequences to life as it was before [88]. Mental pressures have been inspected and revealed [89]. Digital life has been encouraged; novel design and planning processes are being suggested and implemented [90,91].…”

Section: Connections To Existing Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visitor Capacity Considering Social Distancing in Urban Parks with Agent-Based Modeling

Yue

Burley

Cui

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Nature exposure and mental health associations included evidence that linked nature exposure to reduced depression (Dzhambov et al, 2020;Amerio et al 2020;Soga et al, 2020;Pouso et al, 2021), stress (Ribeiro et al, 2021;Cindrich et al, 2021;Gola et al, 2021), anxiety (Sapano et al, 2021;Dzhambov et al, 2020;Pouso et al, 2021), loneliness (Soga et al, 2020), and increased positive emotions (Lades et al, 2020;Rodríguez-González et al, 2020) and general mental health and wellbeing (Robinson et al, 2021;Lehberger et al, 2021;Stieger et al, 2021) (Table 2). The direction, and consistency of relations varied by types of nature exposure; in particular, a view of nature (e.g., window view green) consistently showed stronger associations with lower depression, stress and anxiety level (Pouso et al, 2021;Soga et al, 2020;Sapano et al, 2021;Ribeiro et al, 2021) than neighborhood-level measures of nature accessibility or availability (Poortinga et al 2021;Cheng et al, 2021 2). Nature contact in terms of increased duration and frequency of outdoor nature visits was associated with increased emotional and mental wellbeing (Lades et al, 2020;Lehberger et al, 2021;Cindrich et al, 2021;Browning et al, 2021).…”

Section: Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature’s contributions in coping with a pandemic in the 21st century: A narrative review of evidence during COVID-19

Labib¹,

Browning²,

Rigolon³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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While COVID-19 lockdowns have slowed coronavirus transmission, such structural measures also have unintended consequences on mental and physical health. Growing evidence shows that exposure to the natural environment (e.g., blue-green spaces) can improve human health and wellbeing. In this narrative review, we synthesized the evidence about nature’s contributions to health and wellbeing during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that during lockdowns, people experienced multiple types of nature, including both outdoors and indoors. Frequency of visits to outdoor natural areas (i.e., public parks) depended on lockdown severity and socio-cultural contexts. Other forms of nature exposure, such as spending time in private gardens and viewing outdoor greenery from windows, may have increased. The majority of the evidence suggests nature exposure during lockdowns was associated with less depression, anxiety, stress, and more happiness and life satisfaction. Additionally, nature exposure was correlated with less physical inactivity and fewer sleep disturbances. Evidence was mixed regarding associations between nature exposure and COVID-related health outcomes, while nature visits might be associated with greater rates of COVID-19 transmission and mortality when proper social distancing measures were not maintained. Findings on whether nature exposure during lockdowns helped ameliorate health inequities by, for example, impacting the health of lower-socioeconomic populations more than their higher-socioeconomic counterparts, were mixed. Based on these findings, we argue that nature exposure may have buffered the negative mental and behavioral impacts of lockdowns during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery and resilience during the current and future public health crises might be improved with nature-based solutions, interventions, designs, and governance.

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“…Whilst we advocate the need to not treat greenspace as homogenous spaces, for practicality reasons that green spaces in the West Lake had a significant weight in the total amount of green spaces in Hangzhou, China. Exploring more comprehensive types of urban green spaces and exploring the impact of green space quality on individuals' emotions is an important aspect for further research [7].…”

Section: Limitations and Future Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…UGSs provide relatively low-cost opportunities for residents to connect with nature in their daily lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest research has found that what many people missed most was close contact with nature, such as exercising outdoors and meeting other people [6][7][8][9]. In other words, UGSs are seen as vital places.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Emotional Responses to the Spatial Quality of Urban Green Spaces through Self-Report and Face Recognition Measures

Lin

Zhuang

Zhang

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Although creating a high-quality urban green space (UGS) is of considerable importance in public health, few studies have used individuals’ emotions to evaluate the UGS quality. This study aims to conduct a multidimensional emotional assessment method of UGS from the perspective of spatial quality. Panoramic videos of 15 scenes in the West Lake Scenic Area were displayed to 34 participants. For each scene, 12 attributes regarding spatial quality were quantified, including perceived plant attributes, spatial structure attributes, and experiences of UGS. Then, the Self-Assessment-Manikin (SAM) scale and face recognition model were used to measure people’s valence-arousal emotion values. Among all the predictors, the percentages of water and plants were the most predictive indicators of emotional responses measured by SAM scale, while the interpretation rate of the model measured by face recognition was insufficiently high. Concerning gender differences, women experienced a significantly higher valence than men. Higher percentages of water and plants, larger sizes, approximate shape index, and lower canopy densities were often related to positive emotions. Hence, designers must consider all structural attributes of green spaces, as well as enrich visual perception and provide various activities while creating a UGS. In addition, we suggest combining both physiological and psychological methods to assess emotional responses in future studies. Because the face recognition model can provide objective measurement of emotional responses, and the self-report questionnaire is much easier to administer and can be used as a supplement.

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Effects of urban parks on residents’ expressed happiness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 124 publications

References 54 publications

Visitor Capacity Considering Social Distancing in Urban Parks with Agent-Based Modeling

Visitor Capacity Considering Social Distancing in Urban Parks with Agent-Based Modeling

Nature’s contributions in coping with a pandemic in the 21st century: A narrative review of evidence during COVID-19

Assessing Emotional Responses to the Spatial Quality of Urban Green Spaces through Self-Report and Face Recognition Measures

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