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Children with access to unsupervised outdoor play opportunities have more developed motor skills, social behavior, independence, and conflict resolution skills than children without access to these opportunities.

Marco Hüttenmoser. (1995). Children and their living surroundings: Empirical investigation into the significance of living surroundings for the everyday life and development of children. Children’s Environments, 12, 403–413.

A review of studies in environmental psychology and neuroscience suggests that natural environments contain many of the necessary ingredients for restoring individuals fatigued from prolonged, focused mental effort...

Kaplan, Stephen. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 15(3): 169-182.

Carbon sequestration rates are up to 90 times greater for healthy large trees than healthy small trees. In Chicago's urban forest, a typical 3-in diameter tree sequesters approximately 2.3 lbs annually, which is...

McPherson, Gregory E., David J. Nowak, Rowan A. Rowntree. (1994). Chicago’s Urban Forest Ecosystem: Results of the Chicago Urban Forest Climate Project. USDA Forest Service Northeastern Forest Experiment Station General Technical Report NE-186, 63-81.

Findings from monitoring and computer simulations suggest that a single 25-ft tall shade tree can reduce annual heating and cooling costs of a typical residence by 8-12% ($10-25).

McPherson, E. Gregory, and Rowan A. Rowntree. (1993). Energy conservation potential of urban tree planting. Journal of Arboriculture 19(6), 321-331.

Regular use of gardens reduced instances of aggressive behavior in dementia patients, according to a study that compared incident reports for facilities with various landscapes and exterior environments.

Mooney, Patrick. and P. Lenore Nicell. (1992). The Importance of Exterior Environment for Alzheimer Residents: Effective Care and Risk Management. Healthcare Management Forum 5, 2: 23-29.

In hospital recovery rooms, recovering surgery patients with window views looking out upon trees had 10% shorter hospital stays, took fewer potent pain killers during their recovery, and had fewer negative notes...

Ulrich, Roger. “View through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery.” Science 224, no. 4647 (1984): 224–225. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402.

An analysis of neighborhoods surrounding three greenbelt areas in Boulder, Colorado, indicated a $4.20 decrease in the price of residential properties for every foot moved away from greenbelts.

Correll, Mark R., Jane H. Lillydahl, and Larry D. Singell. (1978). The effect of greenbelts on residential property values: Some findings on the political economy of open space. Land Economics 54(2), 207-217.

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