Emerald cities

Cities have come a long way from the torrid places they were in, say, the 16th century. Five hundred years ago London, for instance, was an aggregation of

narrow, smelly, muddy streets that were always crowded with people, carts and horses. Beside the streets, ditches served as toilets, and the streets themselves

were full of garbage and human and animal waste. A 21st century person transported to those times would no doubt first notice the smell above all else.

Today’s city is a far better place for humans to live and be well in: streets are wider, hygiene is immeasurably better and the need to meet basic human

requirements for wellbeing is acknowledged. Yet we can always do more and, according to a new study, a prime requirement for improving wellbeing in the city

setting is providing more green spaces.

A lot of research has already shown a link between wellbeing and living near green spaces, such as parks, in cities. However, the question remained whether

living near these green areas influences wellbeing or whether people with high levels of wellbeing are able to, or choose to, move near those green spaces.

This study overcame that question by taking surveys of 5000 households. Each household was surveyed once a year between 1991 and 2008. The survey used tools

that measure psychological wellbeing and the resulting data were correlated against the location of the house.

The results showed that even after adjusting for other factors, like income, marital status, employment status, physical health, type of housing and crime

rates, it remained true that people are happier if they have more green spaces nearby. People without green spaces near them reported higher levels of mental

distress and lower levels of wellbeing.

The researchers estimate that the impact of green spaces on wellbeing is about one-third that of marital status and one-tenth that of employment status

(whether you have a job or not). So green spaces have a significant impact on how people perceive their life.

It’s true then; the wonderful city that lies at the end of the rainbow is an “emerald city” after all (or at least emerald coloured).