Fast Fact Library

According to a systematic review of 153 articles, biodiversity and naturalness are the characteristics of green spaces that are most strongly connected to positive social relations and improvements in health.

Reyes-Riveros, Rosa, Adison Altamirano, Francisco De La Barrera, Daniel Rozas-Vásquez, Lorena Vieli, and Paula Meli. “Linking public urban green spaces and human well-being: A systematic review.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 61 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127105

Time spent in nature may buffer the consequences of high "screen time" in children and adolescents, according to a systematic scoping review of 186 studies from the United States and Europe.

Oswald, Tassia K., Alice R. Rumbold, Sophie G. E. Kedzior, and Vivienne M. Moore. “Psychological impacts of ‘screen time’ and ‘green time’ for children and adolescents: A systematic scoping review.” PLOS ONE 15, no. 9 (2020): 1-52. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237725

In a study of 13 French urban green spaces, visitors reported improved mental restoration in spaces where they perceived more mixing of vegetation like woodlands, shrubs, herbaceous areas, flower areas, water areas...

Meyer-Grandbastien, Alice, Françoise Burel, Emmanuelle Hellier, and Benjamin Bergerot. “A Step Towards Understanding the Relationship Between Species Diversity and Psychological Restoration of Visitors in Urban Green Spaces Using Landscape Heterogeneity.” Landscape and Urban Planning 195 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.103728

Increased bird biodiversity and greater habitat diversity in urban green spaces were associated with increased human happiness according to a study of visitors to 945 green spaces in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Cameron, Ross W. F., Paul Brindley, Meghann Mears, Kirsten McEwan, Fiona Ferguson, David Sheffield, Anna Jorgensen, Julie Riley, Jon Goodrick, Liz Ballard, and Miles Richardson. “Where the wild things are! Do urban green spaces with greater avian biodiversity promote more positive emotions in humans?” Urban Ecosystems, 23 (2020): 301–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-00929-z

In an intervention-based study of 10 urban daycare centers in Finland, adding biodiverse material from the forest floor and sod to daycare yards diversified children's environmental and skin microbiota and made...

Roslund, Marja I. et al. “Biodiversity intervention enhances immune regulation and health-associated commensal microbiota among daycare children.” Science Advances 6, no. 42 (2020). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba2578

A cross-sectional study of almost 47,000 Australian residents showed that higher percentage of tree cover within one mile of their residence was associated with lower prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and...

Thomas Astell-Burt, and Feng, Xiaoqi. “Urban green space, tree canopy and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases: a multilevel longitudinal study of 46,786 Australians.” International Journal of Epidemiology 49, Issue 3 (2020): 926–933. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz239.

Level of residential neighborhood greenness is associated with less problematic behavior in children, particularly aggressive behaviors and attention problems, according to a study of 1,817 South Korean...

Lee, Mihye, Suejin Kim, and Mina Ha. “Community greenness and neurobehavioral health in children and adolescents” Science of The Total Environment 672 (2019): 381-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.454.

A study of 9,186 U.S. nursing homes found that increased tree canopy cover is associated with fewer depressive symptoms. This association did not vary by race or socioeconomic status of nursing home residents.

Browning, Matthew H.E.M., Kangjae Lee, and Kathleen L. Wolf. “Tree cover shows an inverse relationship with depressive symptoms in elderly residents living in U.S. nursing homes.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 41 (2019): 23-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2019.03.002