Green Spaces in Urban Areas - How They Impact Individual Climate Action

Introduction

Green spaces in urban areas have been shown to have many health benefits, both mentally and physically. They help cities ecologically, economically as well as the people and animals in them. But there is possibly another benefit - connection to nature. There still needs to be research done on the connection between humans and nature and how green spaces can increase that connection - but we do know that connected to nature increases individual climate action.

Research Question

Can green spaces in urban areas increase individual climate action?

The benefits of green spaces

Before diving in to green spaces and individual climate action, green spaces in urban areas have many benefits on their own that are important to acknowledge. They should be included in cities and will hopefully become more popular and valued over time. They can help people physically, mentally and they can help cities ecologically and economically.

Physical Benefits

Improve immune systems
Lower heart rates
They can lower or raise blood pressure depending on the need of the person
Help with recovering from hospital stays faster - those who had windows that looked out onto parks recovered faster than those who looked out onto other things
Exposure to green spaces can as a preventative medicine

Mental Benefits

They have been shown to decrease anxiety
They decrease stress levels
They increase relaxation
Increase connection to nature - which can also help mental health
Our bodies still recognize nature as our home so we tend to feel more comfortable in it

Ecological

They can help decreases air pollution - which can also help those who have breathing problems
Green spaces lower temperatures in the areas they are in
They also help to regulate humidity
They increase habitats for animals

Economic

Green spaces raise the property value around them
They help to increase tourism
Raise the overall quality of the cities

Climate Anxiety

Even though nature decreases anxiety, connectedness to nature can increase climate anxiety. This is because someone is paying more attention to what is going on with climate change.

Climate anxiety is when someone is anxious over the state of climate change and it's effects. It means that a person is in tune with how serious this problem is impacting their mental health. It has been shown to increase levels of anxiety and depression - especially when someone is being directly affected by climate change.

However, climate anxiety is not always a bad thing. Climate anxiety leads to individual climate action. It can lead to being more sustainable yourself, having more conversations with family and friends to increase their awareness and keeping the environmental in mind while voting.

Connection to nature and green spaces

When it comes green spaces and if they contribute to nature connectedness there is a bit of a research gap.

We do know that green spaces and how the quality of them can impact their effects - so it is important to have good quality parks, gardens, etc.

But we need to learn more about how much green spaces in urban areas impact nature connectedness and individual climate action.

Theroretical framework

I chose to use the analytical framework for this project. The analytical framework focuses on explaining the relationships of different concepts. It helps to logically explain each concept and how they work together.

Because there are so many concepts in my proposal - and rather than explaining each one - I want to explain how they interact and how multi-layered the topic is.

Key concepts

Human nature relationship

Climate anxiety

Individual climate action

Green spaces

How these all interact

Chosen methods

I have chosen a qualitative approach for this proposal.

I decided to use surveys, interviews and text analysis for this project.

I would choose my participants by using systematic sampling in green spaces so I can ensure the participants use green spaces.

Justification

I chose a qualitative approach because human experience plays a big part in the results. I need to know if people who visit green spaces feel connected to nature and if they take any individual climate action.

Surveys and interviews seem to be the best because they allow for human interaction - asking for further explanation, helping participants to feel safe so that they will answer honestly and I can ensure that the selection is random.

Refreneces

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