The impact of potted street gardens on depression levels in a dense residential neighborhood: case of Beni-Makada, Tangier

Abstract

<p>The data used is from a face-to-face survey (N=388) we conducted in January 2019, in the Beni-Makada district of Tangier, Morocco. The neighborhood is one of the most disadvantaged (World Bank. 2012), with the smallest per-capita green space of 0.27m2 in the city (OPEMH, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundation, 2016).<br></p><p>The district is famous for the abundance of street potted gardens, widely mediatized during the 22<sup>nd</sup> conference of parties (COP22) organized in 2016 in Morocco. It houses more than 40% of Tangier’s population, mostly middle-low to low-income, living in individual houses (Modern Moroccan houses) built directly to the property line, 65% of urban families in Morocco live in the same housing type (RGPH 2014). All SPGs observed in the study area were present in the public domain, the vast majority were back to back with owners’ houses, except for two narrow streets where SPGs were at the center to barre access to cars.<br>The questionnaire was tested and verified with focus groups in Arabic before being conducted in Morocco. The final version was composed of four parts and 36 questions. </p><div>Part one inquired about PSGs size, age, maintenance, in addition to recreational activities done next to it. </div><div>Part two had eighteen questions measuring neighborhood satisfaction, cleanliness, safety, noise annoyance social capital, neighborhood life quality, and belonging pride perception. </div><div>In part three, we measured depression levels using the Arabic version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).</div><div>And in part four, we had demographic questions.</div><div>The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 25.</div>