Urban Gardening and Wellbeing in Pandemic Era: Preliminary Results from a Socio-Environmental Factors Approach

Abstract

The nature and impacts of living in urban settings are gaining their saliences in developed and developing countries alike, particularly during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the crisis, the wellbeing of urban society became intertwined with a so-called “new lifestyle”, which involved quarantine and working in a home environment. Facing such challenges, urban gardening is deemed as an alternative intervention to enhance residents’ wellbeing and the environmental sustainability of urban areas, including Indonesian cities. A preliminary study was conducted to monitor the wellbeing of urban gardening practitioners, as well as investigate the motivation and any association between gardening and wellbeing with the COVID-19 pandemic situation by analysing data from Indonesian metropolitan areas. The study utilized instruments of “satisfaction with life scale (SWLS)” and “scale of positive and negative experience (SPANE)” to investigate the subjective wellbeing of 67 respondents. Amongst others, we identified that urban gardening practitioners tend to be in positive moods and have better overall wellbeing; 52.24% of the respondents were highly satisfied with their life. Furthermore, we observed a variety of motivations to start gardening, with hobby and utilization of free space as prominent reasons, followed by other motivations such as environmental benefit and aesthetic. Integrating the environmental benefits of urban gardening and the implications for an individual’s wellbeing can be reflected for sustainable urban development and policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceived COVID-19-related stress drives home gardening intentions and improves human health in Taiwan

“…Gardening behavior has multiple benefits in the COVID-19 pandemic, including well-being; mental, social, and physical benefits; quality of life; and food production ( [6.] , [20.] , [23] , [15.]…”

Natural environments, psychosocial health, and health behaviors in a crisis – A scoping review of the literature in the COVID-19 context

“…Managing mental and physical health were frequent reasons for spending time in the outdoors. Harding et al (2022) , Indonesia Urban gardeners (67, largest age group 51–60 years (58%), n.a., n.a.) NR Observational, cross-sectional, quantitative/qualitative, online survey Investigate well-being of urban gardeners during COVID-19 Gardening Gardens Subjective well-being Satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) Scale of positive and negative experiences (SPANE) Reasons for gardening 52% reported high and 40% reported medium life satisfaction, while 16% reported never experiencing negative emotions, while 83% reported mixed positive and negative emotions.…”

Dampak pandemi COVID-19 terhadap peningkatan hobi berkebun

“…Kegiatan rekreatif yang dimaksud antara lain untuk mengisi waktu luang (52 kali), hiburan (12 kali) hobi (14 kali), mengatasi kejenuhan saat karantina (11 kali). Hobi juga menjadi motivasi utama yang dipilih oleh 34,3% dari 23 responden ketika menekuni hobi berkebun di area perkotaan selama masa pandemi Covid-19 (Harding et al, 2022).…”