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Effects of diversity within urban green spaces on students’ mental health and general wellbeing benefits

University of British Columbia. Urban Forestry; University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

Under rapid urbanization, urban green space is an important medium to reconnect humans and nature. It provides a both natural and healthy space for people to do physical and mental recreation. Qualities of greenspace can contribute to mental health benefits. I conducted a literature review to identify 14 greenspace qualities (for example plant richness, water accessibility and serenity) related to mental wellbeing. I used UBC Campus as the experimental site to confirm 8 observation greenspace that varies from good qualities (such as high plant richness, high serenity and high cleanness) to bad qualities and annotated locations in a map using GIS. I recorded site feature descriptions, assessed site quality based on 14 identified criteria and observed human behavior at 8 observation sites two times in consistent weeks, each site for 30 mins. I performed data analysis on site quality and behavioral variability (vigorous and passive activity) using histogram and GIS maps. I concluded that different human behaviors are associated with different greenspace qualities specifically; spaciousness and access to walking paths/trails are more likely to motivate vigorous behavior (mainly walking); color richness, smell, serenity, cleanness and vegetation cover are likely to induce passive behavior (mainly arts and rest); man-made facilities can motivate both vigorous and passive behavior; water can promote the intensity of human behavior but it is not a necessary quality; plant biodiversity, tree canopy, density & height are not actively related to the intensity of human behavior; perceived safety is not a significant quality in this study. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Report

eng

2023-09-07

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85854

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/