See or Be? Contact with nature and well-being during COVID-19 lockdown

Mintz, Keren Kaplan; Ayalon, Ofira; Nathan, Orly; Eshet, Tzipi

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101714

Cited by 30 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Twelve studies reported access to nature as an indicator for nature exposure assessment during COVID-19. Of these, five studies reported direct access to outdoor greenspace (e.g., outdoor nature, terrace, exteriors) (Groot et al, 2022;Hansmann et al, 2021;Kontsevaya et al, 2021;Mintz et al, 2021;Poortinga et al, 2021). One study reported accessibility to private green spaces from the lowest to the highest amount of private green space and the type of road where the house was located as a proxy for the natural outdoor environment (Spano et al, 2021).…”

Section: Access To Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Nature exposure and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Navigation Guide systematic review with meta-analysis

Patwary¹,

Bardhan²,

Disha³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Previous reviews concluded that nature contact was an important coping strategy against poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the quality of evidence in these reviews was not sufficiently documented in terms of the risk of bias in reviewed studies. We attempted to fill this gap with a Navigation Guide systematic review and meta-analyses on the associations between nature exposure and mental health during the pandemic. Searches in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, and PsycInfo retrieved relevant articles published between January 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022. Included studies reported observational findings from human participants with indoor or outdoor nature exposure and measures of mental health. We used the Navigation Guide methodology to assess the risk of bias and quality of evidence across the body of evidence for each mental health outcome. A total of 4,464 articles were initially identified. After the screening, 59 were ultimately included. Studies reported diverse variables of nature availability, green space visit frequency, green space accessibility, and green space type (e.g., indoor vs. outdoor) with 12 mental health outcomes. Meta-analyses found access to gardens was associated with lower odds of depression (OR=0.71, 95% CI=0.61-0.82, I2=0%, n=3) and anxiety (OR=0.73, 95% CI=0.63-0.84, I2=0%, n=2). Higher frequency of visits to greenspace during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with improved mental well-being (OR=0.10, 95% CI=0.07-0.14, I2=0%, n=2) and general mental health (OR=0.11, 95% CI=0.03-0.38, I2=82%, n=2). The quality of evidence was “very low” for all outcomes, and high levels of bias and between-study heterogeneity were observed in the studies of nature exposure and mental health (41% of studies had high, 24% probably high, and 35% had a low risk of bias). Nonetheless, given trends observed in the results, nature-based infrastructure that emphasizes exposure to nearby nature may have promoted psychological resilience during this public health crisis.

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Section: Access To Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Nature exposure and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Navigation Guide systematic review with meta-analysis

Patwary¹,

Bardhan²,

Disha³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The view from the window -whether rural or urban, whether marked by the presence or absence of passers-by -"served as a way of creating representations of life and help [individuals] engage and reflect on changes in lifestyles, it kept them part of society" (Musselwhite, 2018, p. 280). At the same time, looking from the window can also allow for indirect contact with nature, which enhances well-being (Kaplan Mintz et al, 2021;Kaplan, 2001). In fact, a quantitative study conducted during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Israel on adults of all ages demonstrated that individuals with high levels of nature views from windows reported higher subjective well-being than those with less nature views (Kaplan Mintz et al, 2021).…”

Section: Imaginative Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, looking from the window can also allow for indirect contact with nature, which enhances well-being (Kaplan Mintz et al, 2021;Kaplan, 2001). In fact, a quantitative study conducted during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Israel on adults of all ages demonstrated that individuals with high levels of nature views from windows reported higher subjective well-being than those with less nature views (Kaplan Mintz et al, 2021).…”

Section: Imaginative Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These feelings of inclusion in society enable people to experience a sense of belonging, even at a distance (Gehl, 2011), which in turn contributes to their life satisfaction (Massey et al, 2021). Despite this concept of belonging from a distance, and the importance of window views for individuals' well-being (Kaplan Mintz et al, 2021;Peters & Halleran, 2021), not many studies have investigated the role of these imaginative mobilities in older adults' life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Imaginative Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To the best of our knowledge, only one study (Kaplan Mintz et al, 2021) has investigated the relationship between window views and subjective well-being during COVID-19, but it focuses primarily on the presence of nature in the window views, rather than on the activity of looking outside the window itself. Moreover, the study does not specify the frequency of participants' window watching, and it includes adults of all ages instead of focusing on older adults, for which the implications of window watching on their subjective well-being may be different.…”

Section: The Importance Of Communicative Mobilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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(Im)mobilities and life satisfaction in times of COVID-19: The case of older persons in Switzerland

Dones

Ciobanu

Baeriswyl

2022

Int Health Trends & Persp

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in mobilities worldwide. Physical movement and social contact are shown to be correlated to life satisfaction. In this paper we are interested in how during the pandemic other types of mobilities relate to life satisfaction. The paper draws on a survey (N=643) among persons aged 65+ in Switzerland. Results show that engagement in communicative mobilities are related to higher life satisfaction, imaginative mobilities only partially relate to life satisfaction, and virtual mobilities have no correlation.

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The green window view index: automated multi-source visibility analysis for a multi-scale assessment of green window views

Bolte,

Niedermann,

Kistemann

et al. 2024

Landsc Ecol

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Context Providing accessible urban green spaces is crucial for planning and ensuring healthy, resilient, and sustainable cities. The importance of visually accessible urban green spaces increases due to inner urban development processes. Objectives This article proposes a new index, the Green Window View Index (GWVI) for analyzing and assessing visible vegetation, that promotes an integrated planning of urban green spaces and buildings at different scales and levels. It is defined as the proportion of visible vegetation area in a field of view when looking out of a specific window with a defined distance to the window. Methods The method for estimating GWVI consists of three steps: (a) the modeling of the three-dimensional environment, (b) the simulation of the two-dimensional window views using modern rendering engines for three-dimensional graphics, (c) the computation of the GWVI. The method is proposed and tested through a case study of the urban area of Bonn, Germany, using a Digital Terrain Model (DTM), CityGML-based semantic 3D City Model at level of detail (LoD) 2, airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, and 2D land use data from the official German property cadaster information system (ALKIS). Results With an average processing time of 0.05 s per window view, an average GWVI of 26.00% could be calculated for the entire study area and visualized in both 2D and 3D. Conclusion The proposed engine generates multi-scale visibility values for various vegetation shapes. These values are intended for use in participatory citizenship and decision-making processes for analysis by architects, real-estate appraisers, investors, and urban as well as landscape planners.

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See or Be? Contact with nature and well-being during COVID-19 lockdown

Cited by 30 publications

References 62 publications

Nature exposure and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Navigation Guide systematic review with meta-analysis

Nature exposure and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Navigation Guide systematic review with meta-analysis

(Im)mobilities and life satisfaction in times of COVID-19: The case of older persons in Switzerland

The green window view index: automated multi-source visibility analysis for a multi-scale assessment of green window views

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