Urban forest benefits to the younger population: The case study of the city of Belgrade, Serbia

Vujčić, Maja Tadić; Tomićević-Dubljević, Jelena

doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2018.08.006

Cited by 45 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Social is supported, for example, by both cultural artefacts in Cultural, and by variety, species richness and garden ponds in Diverse. Approximately one hundred studies with PSDs have been conducted in different parts of the world since 2010: for example, in China [46], Estonia [47], Canada [48], Denmark [49], Scandinavia [50], Iran [51], Malaysia [52], and Serbia [53]. These studies show that the PSDs are experienced similarly regardless of cultural context.…”

Section: Perceived Sensory Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Public health data on mental health were the measures of outcome, and they found that Serene was the most important quality of the outdoor environment regarding support of mental health, especially in women. Vujcic and Tomicevic-Dubljevic [53] found in a study in Belgrade that Serene, Open, Shelter, Social, and Diverse support young people's opportunities to restore their function and capacities. Palsdottir and colleagues [57] found in a study that Serene, Natural, Open, Shelter, and Cohesive, with little or no presence of Social, were the most essential supporting qualities of a rehabilitation garden for people suffering from stress-related mental illness.…”

Section: Questions and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

2021

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Natural environments have been shown to promote health, and are, therefore, important for achieving social sustainability in cities. As cities grow and become denser, it is important to develop knowledge about the characteristics of natural environments that work to promote health. Perceived Sensory Dimensions (PSDs) is a tool that defines eight different cultural ecosystem services. They correspond to different human needs (rest, exercise, socialising, pleasure, or security) resulting in rehabilitation and health and well-being promotion. An experiment was conducted to study the potential of PSDs to restore people who experienced stressful accidents. One hundred and fifty-seven participants were recruited and asked first to watch a film clip of serious accidents, then to look at the pictures, depicting one particular type of PSDs, while listening to its respective audio recording. Their stress levels were measured before exposure to the stressor (baseline), after exposure to the stressor (pre-test), and after exposure to a particular type of PSDs (post-test). The results show that all eight PSDs effectively provide mental recovery, but there are statistical differences in their potentials. As such, it is proposed that the combined potential of the PSDs is needed, and should be used to increase the capacity and supply of health-promoting urban green areas.

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Section: Perceived Sensory Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Questions and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

2021

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“…These all demonstrate how UGI has the potential to improve significantly the quality of the urban environment and the well-being of its residents. Reduced stress and improved physical health for urban residents have been associated with the presence of urban trees and forests (Carrus, 2017;Vujcic and Tomicevic, 2018;Vujcic et al, 2019). Urban forests also possess high educational values by representing nature and natural processes in cities and towns.…”

Section: Urban Green Infrastructure Its Values and Usesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tourist perceptions and uses of urban green infrastructure: An exploratory cross-cultural investigation

Terkenli

Bell

Tošković

et al. 2020

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

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Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) serves both inhabitants' and visitors' numerous and various needs. This research aimed to enhance knowledge regarding the role of UGI in urban tourism. The research questions addressed tourists' perceptions of UGI, their understanding and uses of UGI, and the ways that this understanding influenced their travel choice to specific urban destinations. A cross-cultural comparative study among urban tourists was carried out in eight European countries. The selection of case studies followed a roughly comparative logic, employing the same on-site questionnaire survey administered in a sample of large and medium size cities in Southern European, Central European and Northern European countries. Looking from the perspective of the tourists' countries of origin, our findings validate a well-established trend in international tourism, namely the fact that neighbouring countries tend to be the most significant tourist markets of an urban destination. The other major finding confirmed the most well-known tourist movement patterns of Northern and Central Europeans travelling to the Mediterranean for tourism purposes. While the study revealed that the majority of the tourists interviewed were not very familiar with the term 'Green Infrastructure', nor with specific UGI features offered in the visited cities, the importance of UGI was acknowledged and viewed in a mostly very positive light. The majority of respondents enjoyed visiting UGI and used it for some light physical activity or for purposes of relaxation, socialization, and in order to explore the culture and society of the destination city. The fact that most UGI in the case study cities is located around or within a short distance from important heritage sites provided UGI with an indirect possibility of being included in the tourists' visiting plans. In conclusion, the results of this study may prove to be very helpful to local and regional authorities in considering how to plan, manage and promote an urban tourism destination's green infrastructure as part of the tourism offer.

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“…The PSDs describe green areas based on whether people perceive them to be more or less open, sheltered, cohesive, diverse, tranquil, etc. These descriptions work well in many contexts around the world and can also be linked to human health and wellbeing (e.g., Lindholst et al, 2015;Mansor et al, 2017;Memari et al, 2017;Vujcic and Tomicevic-Dubljevic, 2018;Chen et al, 2019). However, these PSDs are not related to the specific conditions in a place regarding, e.g., certain animal and plant species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Oxytocinergic System as a Mediator of Anti-stress and Instorative Effects Induced by Nature: The Calm and Connection Theory

2021

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Ever more research results demonstrate that human health and wellbeing are positively affected by stays in and/or exposure to natural areas, which leads, among other things, to a reduction in high stress levels. However, according to the studies, these natural areas must meet certain qualities. The qualities that are considered to be most health promoting are those that humans perceive in a positive way. Theories about how natural areas can reduce people’s stress levels and improve their coping skills have mainly focused on how certain natural areas that are perceived as safe reduce the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and consequent reduction of cortisol levels. This article discusses studies containing descriptions of how participants in rehabilitation perceive and react to natural phenomena. The common core variable in the analyzed studies was the experience of calm and connection, and this experience was associated with a reduction in stress levels and with being able to develop health and coping skills. We suggest that this experience provides a possible role for the oxytocinergic system to act as a physiological mediator for the positive and health-promoting effects in humans caused by nature. The theory is mainly based on analogies framed by theories and data from the fields of environmental psychology, horticulture, landscape architecture, medicine, and neuroscience. Oxytocin promotes different kinds of social interaction and bonding and exerts stress-reducing and healing effects. We propose that oxytocin is released by certain natural phenomena experienced as positive to decrease the levels of fear and stress, increase levels of trust and wellbeing, and possibly develop attachment or bonding to nature. By these effects, oxytocin will induce health-promoting effects. In situations characterized by low levels of fear and stress in response to release of oxytocin, the capacity for “growth” or psychological development might also be promoted. Such an instorative effect of nature, i.e., the capacity of nature to promote reorientation and the creation of new coping strategies, might hence represent an additional aspect of the oxytocin-linked effect profile, triggered in connection with certain nature phenomena. We conclude by proposing that the stress-relieving, health-promoting, restorative, and instorative effects of nature may involve activation of the oxytocinergic system.

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Urban forest benefits to the younger population: The case study of the city of Belgrade, Serbia

Cited by 45 publications

References 69 publications

Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

Tourist perceptions and uses of urban green infrastructure: An exploratory cross-cultural investigation

The Oxytocinergic System as a Mediator of Anti-stress and Instorative Effects Induced by Nature: The Calm and Connection Theory

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