Vitamin G: effects of green space on health, well-being, and social safety

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BMC Public Health. 2006 Jun 7;6:149.

Vitamin G: effects of green space on health, well-being, and social

safety.

Groenewegen PP, van den Berg AE, de Vries S, Verheij RA.

NIVEL--Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, POBox

1568 NL-3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Looking out on and being in the green elements of the

landscape around us seem to affect health, well-being and feelings

of social safety. This article discusses the design of a research

program on the effects of green space in the living environment on

health, well-being and social safety.

METHODS/DESIGN: The program consists of three projects at three

different scales: at a macro scale using data on the Netherlands as

a whole, at an intermediate scale looking into the specific effect

of green space in the urban environment, and at micro scale

investigating the effects of allotment gardens. The projects are

observational studies, combining existing data on land use and

health interview survey data, and collecting new data through

questionnaires and interviews. Multilevel analysis and GIS

techniques will be used to analyze the data.

DISCUSSION: Previous (experimental) research in environmental

psychology has shown that a natural environment has a positive

effect on well-being through restoration of stress and attentional

fatigue. Descriptive epidemiological research has shown a positive

relationship between the amount of green space in the living

environment and physical and mental health and longevity.The program

has three aims. First, to document the relationship between the

amount and type of green space in people's living environment and

their health, well-being, and feelings of safety. Second, to

investigate the mechanisms behind this relationship. Mechanisms

relate to exposure (leading to stress reduction and attention

restoration), healthy behavior and social integration, and

selection. Third, to translate the results into policy on the

crossroads of spatial planning, public health, and safety. Strong

points of our program are: we study several interrelated dependent

variables, in different ordinary settings (as opposed to

experimental or extreme settings), focusing on different target

groups, using appropriate multilevel methods.