Autumn '21
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ACADEMIC CORNER<br />
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE<br />
& MENTAL HEALTH<br />
Dr Tom Young looks over some of the evidence that highlights<br />
the positive impact green infrastructure and systems have on<br />
mental health and the overall well-being of individuals.<br />
The benefits of green space have<br />
been appreciated for millennia.<br />
The rise of dense urban spaces<br />
encouraged the development of green<br />
pockets within cities, to allow escape<br />
from hot, busy and noisy areas.<br />
Although the benefits of green spaces<br />
in cities have always been recognised,<br />
it is only in recent years that these<br />
benefits have begun to be fully<br />
quantified. This has started to allow<br />
policy and development strategies to<br />
place more emphasis on long-term<br />
human health outcomes of urban<br />
design. Much more work is needed<br />
to influence policy and planning<br />
legislation, but a wealth of knowledge<br />
and evidence proving the economic,<br />
human health and environmental<br />
benefits of incorporating<br />
green space into cities<br />
already exists.<br />
Placed under the banner<br />
‘green infrastructure’,<br />
urban green spaces range<br />
from parks, community<br />
gardens, green roofs, green<br />
walls, forests, landscaped areas<br />
and private gardens. Human health<br />
benefits are realised in a large number<br />
of interconnected ways, not all of<br />
which are immediately obvious. These<br />
can be broadly spilt into the following<br />
categories, Provisioning (natural<br />
resources produced), Regulating<br />
(maintaining the environment we live<br />
in) and Cultural (non-material benefits)<br />
(Coutts & Hahn 2015). I’ll focus on<br />
Left: Dr Tom Young is on the GRO<br />
Board and Environment Systems<br />
Manager at STRI Group.<br />
Regulating and Cultural<br />
benefits of green space.<br />
Regulating<br />
Air pollution: vegetation can<br />
absorb and capture air pollution,<br />
reducing levels in the air for humans<br />
to ingest. However, care must be<br />
taken as sometimes certain species<br />
can contribute to respiratory disease<br />
though the production of pollen,<br />
volatile organic compounds or through<br />
altering air movement (Pawankar et al<br />
2011, Hewitt et al 2020).<br />
Continued on page 16 >>><br />
14 GREENSCAPE AUTUMN 2021 • www.greenscapemag.co.uk
Change language