Wood, E, Harsant, A, Dallimer, M orcid.org/0000-0001-8120-3309 et al. (3 more authors) (2018) Not all green space is created equal: biodiversity predicts psychological restorative benefits from urban green space. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. 2320. ISSN 1664-1078
Abstract
Contemporary epidemiological methods testing the associations between green space and psychological well-being treat all vegetation cover as equal. However, there is very good reason to expect that variations in ecological "quality" (number of species, integrity of ecological processes) may influence the link between access to green space and benefits to human health and well-being. We test the relationship between green space quality and restorative benefit in an inner city urban population in Bradford, UK. We selected 12 urban parks for study where we carried out botanical and faunal surveys to quantify biodiversity and assessed the site facilities of the green space (cleanliness, provision of amenities). We also conducted 128 surveys with park users to quantify psychological restoration based on four self-reported measure of general restoration, attention-grabbing distractions, being away from everyday life, and site preference. We present three key results. First, there is a positive association between site facilities and biodiversity. Second, restorative benefit is predicted by biodiversity, which explained 43% of the variance in restorative benefit across the parks, with minimal input from other variables. Third, the benefits accrued through access to green space were unrelated to age, gender, and ethnic background. The results add to a small but growing body of evidence that emphasise the role of nature in contributing to the well-being of urban populations and, hence, the need to consider biodiversity in the design of landscapes that enhance multiple ecosystem services.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Wood, Harsant, Dallimer, Cronin de Chavez, McEachan and Hassall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms |
Keywords: | Green space; Psychological restoration; Biodiversity; park; Urban; city; Birds; Plants; Bradford; UK |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Nov 2018 11:46 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:36 |
Published Version: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02320 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:138768 |