Urban Green Parks for Long-Term Subjective Well-Being: Empirical Relationships between Personal Characteristics, Park Characteristics, Park Use, Sense of Place, and Satisfaction with Life in The Netherlands

Abstract

As our living environment is becoming increasingly urbanized, this puts the livability, health, and quality of life in cities under pressure. Due to the urbanization process, urban green spaces are under threat of becoming scarce, while it is recognized that these green spaces can positively contribute to the subjective well-being of citizens. It is thus important to maximize the use and benefits derived from green spaces by designing them as positively experienced places. The aim of this research is to gain more empirical insights on the relationships between personal and park characteristics, park use behavior, sense of place, and park visitors’ long-term subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction). An online questionnaire was administered to participants in two medium-sized cities in The Netherlands, namely Eindhoven and ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Data were analyzed using a structural equation model. The results of this study show that the appreciation of facilities and the absence of disturbances positively influence the use and sense of place of a park. Furthermore, the findings show that sense of place has a positive influence on life satisfaction. The findings can be used by designers and policy-makers as guidelines to improve existing parks or to design new parks that support the subjective well-being of individuals in The Netherlands.

Selective Daily Mobility Bias in the Community Food Environment: Case Study of Greater Hartford, Connecticut

“…By using large-scale human-mobility data, this study is one of the first to systematically demonstrate the existence of the SDMB in restaurant visits on the community level. Our results are in line with previous findings demonstrating the wide existence of the SDMB across various domains, such as choice of transportation mode, travel route, travel distance, daily travel-time, sports facility and general destinations in daily life [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. For example, several studies examined the influence of individuals/households sociodemographic factors on travel route and mode [ 22 ], daily travel-time [ 25 ], and travel distance [ 26 ], and found peoples’ travel behaviors differ according to individual characteristics.…”

“…The SDMB expands this concept to reflect the selective bias in peoples’ daily visited sites [ 17 ]. While the SDMB is an emerging issue that has been observed and identified across multiple contexts (e.g., choice of transportation mode, travel route, travel distance, daily travel time, facilities, and general choice of destinations in daily life [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]), to date, the SDMB has received scant attention in community food environmental research [ 15 ]. In addition, the issue has not been well discussed in the context of health inequity, meaning that people with different socioeconomic statuses could be affected by the SDMB unequally in their everyday procurement of food.…”

The influence of community park characteristics on satisfaction in Guangzhou: Moderating and mediating effects analysis

“…The first section asked for background information about the participants, such as age, gender, education level, and frequency of going to the park. The second part used assessment tools from previous studies to measure park characteristics [ 11 , 40 ], which consisted of three dimensions: spatial characteristics (five items), green characteristics (three items), and gray characteristics (six items). Examples include “the park location is close to my home”, “the vegetation in the park is well-maintained”, and “this park has sufficient opportunities to exercise”.…”

“… The park is big enough to do the things I want to do. [ 11 ] Gray Characteristics This park has enough benches. The quality of the facilities in this park is good.…”

“… There is no nuisance from litter in this park. [ 11 ] Park Satisfaction In most ways, my experience in the park is close to my ideal. The conditions of the park are excellent.…”