Designing Stress-Relieving Small Inner-City Park Environments for Teenagers

Abstract

All over the world, teenagers suffer from stress-related mental illness, and research shows that being in natural environments can bring about recovery. However, centrally located areas in cities where teenagers like to hang out are being densified at the expense of green spaces. The health-promoting function of small, centrally located parks is thus becoming increasingly important. This study examines Iranian teenagers’ assessment of the restorative potential of small, centrally located parks. Such parks include attributes typical of city centers, such as trees, lighting, park benches and flowers. A discrete sampling method was used to collect responses from a sample of 265 Iranian teenagers. They were asked to randomly rate the perceived recovery potential of digitally designed models of green spaces. The results show that the teenagers evaluated the presence of water in waterbeds to have a strong positive effect on recovery possibilities. The entire green area should also be screened off from the rest of the city and convey a soft impression. It should have lighting from tall lampposts, contain plant beds and, not least, have distinctive cultural attributes such as crescent arches and fountains. In the discussion of the article, we address the practical and theoretical implications of the findings.