Happiness in urban green spaces: A systematic literature review

Syamili, M.S.; Takala, Tuomo; Korrensalo, Aino; Tuittila, Eeva‐Stiina

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2023.128042

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…While the rule appears as a guiding principle for urban planners, the precise nuances in context regarding the relationship between happiness in UGS must be evaluated. Public health, urban planning, and natural sciences including meteorology and epidemiology have been central to studies aiming to clarify the potential links between UGS, happiness, and well-being [15].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Green-Blue Infrastructure on Enhancing Cities Happiness Indicators - A Comparative Study

Alhadedy,

Alomary

2024

IJSDP

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Many countries have shown interest in the happiness of societies due to its significant importance to citizens. This interest has been reflected through important indicators aimed at enhancing urban happiness, including economic factors such as per capita GDP, healthcare and educational services, as well as environmental factors. The research aims to explore one aspect of the reasons for the decline in the classification of Iraqi cities in the World Happiness Index. Green spaces have been the primary focus of studies in improving urban happiness, along with blue spaces. Due to instability, Iraq has experienced a decline in the ranking of its cities globally. The research utilized the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index) calculated using the Copernicus Open Access Hub, Sentinel2L1C. The study compared the reality of Iraqi cities (Mosul, Baghdad, Basra, and Najaf) with the two happiest cities in the world according to international happiness reports for 2023: Aarhus in Denmark ranked first and Amsterdam in the Netherlands ranked second. Data analysis was conducted using Land Viewer|EOS to extract the proportions of green and blue spaces for each city. The results indicated that green spaces in Iraqi cities were limited, with little attention paid to blue spaces or their preservation, resulting in their scarcity compared to Aarhus and Amsterdam. This has contributed to Iraqi cities lagging in their classification as happy cities.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Green-Blue Infrastructure on Enhancing Cities Happiness Indicators - A Comparative Study

Alhadedy,

Alomary

2024

IJSDP

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“…Happiness is another psychological construct assessed in a growing number of studies when examining the health benefits of urban greenspace [33][34][35][36] in the context of subjective wellbeing (SWB, [37]). Urban greenspace has been demonstrated to contribute to residents' happiness at different spatial scales [33]. At a global scale, a nation's happiness level and its amount of greenspace is found to have an implicit positive correlation [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Visibility is thus directly functional in the pathway to stress reduction, happiness, and positive mental health. Recent studies [33,47] have pointed out the importance of examining specific visual properties of the landscape and greenspace in promoting mental health and happiness. A systematic review [48] showed that higher tree density in neighborhoods was associated with a lesser degree of psychological distress among adult residents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychological Impacts of Urban Environmental Settings: A Micro-Scale Study on a University Campus

Qi,

Parra,

Block-Lerner

et al. 2024

Urban Science

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The environment’s psychological impacts on humans have been long studied, but many questions remain unanswered. We conducted a micro-scale study to examine the relationships among the objective characteristics of urban environmental settings, people’s subjective perception of such settings, and the related psychological responses. We employed a geo-enabled survey tool to gather data on individuals’ perceptions of the immediate environment within their daily activity space. The psychological processes assessed included emotional and affective states such as perceived stress and happiness. The data points were mapped on a high-resolution aerial image, which was classified to derive quantitative properties to examine the dose-response relationship between environmental exposure and psychological responses. Our results showed negative correlations between the momentary stress level and the amount of environmental elements such as water, trees, and grass. Positive correlations were detected between stress level and the amount of parking lot and barren land, as well as the distance to buildings. In terms of perceived happiness, positive environmental factors included water, trees, and artificial surfaces, with all other elements having negative correlations. Most of the correlations examined were not strong correlations. This could be due to the significant differences in how individuals respond to environmental stimuli.

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“…Moreover, existing literature reviews rarely focus on the perceived benefits of specific vegetation landscape characteristics, which limits the in-depth evaluation of green space benefits [35]. In recent years, some reviews have explored the relationship between urban green spaces and human well-being [12], as well as the impact of urban green spaces on residents' overall happiness [36]. Although limited evidence suggests the relative importance of subjective perception in the evaluation of urban green spaces [37], these reviews have not conducted a detailed analysis of the relationship between vegetation landscape characteristics and subjective perception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlation between Vegetation Landscape and Subjective Human Perception: A Systematic Review

Xie,

Jiang,

Wang

et al. 2024

Buildings

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Environmental perception is a key indicator for evaluating green space preference and satisfaction. The shift in urban green space research towards emphasizing human benefits over functionality has caused a gradual increase in the number of articles on green space perception in recent years. Studying the relationship between the vegetation landscape (a fundamental aspect of urban green spaces) and subjective perceptual dimensions have become a pivotal research topic. This paper delves into the correlations and influencing relationships between these two dimensions with the main focus being on vegetation landscape indicators and subjective perception. The perceived green benefits were categorized into four main groups in the 80 articles reviewed: perceived safety, visual aesthetics, restoration benefits, and preferences. In this study, green indicators were also defined and categorized. The results indicated that the guiding indicators had a higher frequency and that species diversity improved the perceived benefits in all aspects. Among the control indicators, plant color, plant height, and the vegetation composition structure received the most attention. Plant color accounted for the largest proportion of studies on perceived visual aesthetics. Vegetation characteristics related to perceived safety had a shared trait, and there was a lack of correlation studies between safety and aesthetics in perceptual dimensions. In the common methods for assessing human perception, a shift from subjective measurements to mixed measurements using emerging technologies is underway. As a pioneering scope review of how vegetation landscapes influence subjective human perceptions, this study has not only provided evidence of the perceived benefits of urban green spaces but also offers valuable insights and tools for future research and policymaking.

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Happiness in urban green spaces: A systematic literature review

Cited by 14 publications

References 96 publications

The Impact of Green-Blue Infrastructure on Enhancing Cities Happiness Indicators - A Comparative Study

The Impact of Green-Blue Infrastructure on Enhancing Cities Happiness Indicators - A Comparative Study

Psychological Impacts of Urban Environmental Settings: A Micro-Scale Study on a University Campus

Correlation between Vegetation Landscape and Subjective Human Perception: A Systematic Review

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