Improving a City's Mental Health with Parks Essay

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Mental Health and Green Space

Measuring Mental Health and Green Space

Grahn and Stigsdotter (2010) sampled 953 randomly selected informants from 9 cities in Sweden to respond to a questionnaire. The responses were assessed using factor analysis and regression analyses to measure the impact of green space on mental health. Their study found that environments rich with nature and abundant wildlife help to minimize stress. Their finding is supported by Wolf (n.d.) who shows that by incorporating green spaces into urban areas, communities can improve the mental health of their population.

The study by Fjeld, Veiersted, Sandvik et al. (1998) focused on measuring the neuropsychological symptoms, mucous membrane symptoms, and skin symptoms of participants in an office building before and after foliage plants were introduced into the office. The study measured all of the symptoms were lessened by 23% in total following the introduction of greenery into the office. Their study shows that green space helps to positively impact people’s psychology as well as their physical health.

Green Space in My Area

My city (Cincinnati) ranks 10th among the top 100 largest cities. 14% of the city is considered park land. The city has decreased its percentage of park land by over 1% over the past few years, but it is still well above the national average which is at 9% of urban space devoted to park land.

Part of the reason for the decrease in park land is because the city is undergoing urban renewal and new buildings are going up and green space is diminishing.

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There is a lot of construction going on in the urban areas where the city is trying to rejuvenate itself to attract more businesses and people who want to live downtown.

Predicting the Effect of Green Space in My Area on Mental Health

While my city already has a lot of green space available to its inhabitants, much of it is on the peripheral side and the downtown area could use more greenery. For example, the Fountain Square area in the shopping district could use some trees to go along with the fountain, as this could give the area a more park like feel which could alleviate stress for a lot of the employees of the shopping district. It could also give shoppers a respite from all the big high rises and allow them an opportunity to refresh after a busy day going to the stores.

One of the problems with the city, however, is that only 70% of its inhabitants live within a half mile of a park—and this is the lowest of any city in the top 10, according to….....

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