The connection between green space and human well-being is so intuitive as to seem axiomatic. Cities abound with stressors, countless studies suggest, and contact with natural environments can help residents take the edge off.
But according to a recent study published in PLOS ONE, it’s not as simple as “nature makes people happy.”
Scientists at the National University of Singapore surveyed students across the island state to determine the relationship between their use of natural parks and their self-reported well-being.
The respondents were asked for background information including age, income, physical activity, personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism), and emotional stability. They also provided their postal codes, allowing researchers to map their proximity to four types of green spaces: protected nature reserves, regional parks, neighborhood parks, and park connectors. Respondents rated their subjective life satisfaction and their positive and negative affect (measures of emotional state). Stress was measured on a separate scale.
[For more of this story, written by Vicky Gan, go to http://www.citylab.com/navigat...s-we-thought/401324/]
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