Even if you live in a city, you can get health benefits from nature

Visiting city parks can give your health a boost, but not all green spaces are created equal.

 Even the smallest urban green spaces can have a big impact on mental health

There's no doubt urban green spaces are more pleasing to the eye than trash-strewn vacant lots that have been sitting in various stages of neglect for who knows how long. But can transforming scattered patches of urban blight into green spaces also help to alleviate the blues?

 Green space – how much is enough, and what’s the best way to deliver it?

Half of the world’s people now live in urban areas. This creates competition for resources and increases pressure on already limited green space. Many urban areas are still experiencing active degradation or removal of green space. To reverse this trend and ensure the multiple benefits of green space are realised, we urgently need to move toward on-ground action.

 Green spaces help combat loneliness – but they demand investment

Urban green spaces – including parks, woodlands, riverbanks, and gardens – are an essential part of a web of physical and mental well-being. They provide spaces to socialise and opportunities to connect with the natural world. They are restorative enclaves in stressful cities.

 Is it healthier to live in the countryside?

If research suggesting that people who live close to major roads could have a higher risk of dementia has prompted thoughts of clean, traffic-free countryside living, then you are probably not alone. But what is the reality? Is a rural existence better for our health?

 More Buildings Are Going Green. Literally

‘Biophilic’ designs incorporate elements of nature both outside and inside. It’s aesthetically pleasing—and makes people feel, and perform, better.

 To Woo Millennials, Atlanta Considers Covering Highways With Parks

As living and working in walkable urban centers becomes more popular, interest has risen in such projects, which are often called deck parks. Dallas completed a $112 million, 5.2-acre park over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway in 2012, sparking commercial and residential development around it. It now draws crowds for food trucks, a reading area, a playground and free concerts. Since then, dozens of deck parks have been proposed in about 30 cities including Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles...

 Transforming Communities with Nature

This fall, I had the pleasure of meeting Darrel Williams in Charlotte, North Carolina. Darrel is an architect whose life’s work is focused on exploring green, sustainable, and equitable neighborhoods in his adopted home town. Darrel has pioneered innovative projects that combine green spaces with affordable housing — focusing on the potential of green architecture to improve underserved communities.

Aquaponics: A Waterway to a Healthier Future?

If you haven't heard of aquaponics, join the very big club, as aquaponic farming is far from the status quo even in states with desperate water woes, despite the fact that aquaponically-farmed crops use over 90% less water than their traditional counterparts.

Green Heart Project Launches in Louisville

An ambitious research project that launched today in Louisville has the potential to create a new blueprint for cities around the world. The Green Heart Project will examine the link between neighborhood greenery and human health. This research, a collaboration led by the University of Louisville, The Nature Conservancy, Hyphae Design Laboratory and the Institute for Healthy Air Water and Soil, will inform a new municipal decision-making process, one that prioritizes health.

Green space, mental wellbeing and sustainable communities

The benefits of these green and blues space, and the mechanisms by which they work, are varied. Some are the physical benefits from green infrastructure, for example improved air quality, less noise pollution and reduced risks from flooding or heat-waves. There are also benefits to active users of these spaces, whether that’s physical recreation or through children interacting with nature.

Green spaces are linked to improved memory and focus in children

The benefits of green spaces to human health and the environment include slowing soil erosion and potentially even making us kinder. Now there’s evidence that they may help school children focus, too.

Head Out for a Daily Dose of Green Space

There’s a simple remedy — get outside and start moving around in green spaces near and far, most of which are free. A consortium of physicians, health insurers, naturalists and government agencies have banded together to help more people of all ages and economic strata engage in health-enhancing physical activity in parks and other natural environments.

How Nature Benefits Your Mental Health

Recently, scientists have been working out whether grass and trees could be used to treat depression and anxiety.

Multifamily Development Green Spaces Foster Sense Of Community

What developers have not done is shown an inclination to furnish common-area amenities for folks other than their residents. That is, they haven’t until now. Some are now going beyond their own borders to carve out spaces serving the public at large.

Study: Green Space Means More for Satisfaction Than a Neighborhood's Average Income

How strongly people's mental health and life satisfaction correlated with their proximities to parks and gardens.

The Power of Green Space

Put another way: Your local greenspace could be your own personal therapist’s couch.

There are more than 450 meanings behind “green” labels

All of those seals and certifications—not to mention the many uncertified claims—make it difficult for eco-conscious shoppers to trust what they’re buying. One label’s environmental standards might be vastly different than another’s. And recently, greenwashing—when an organization puts more work into green advertising and marketing than minimizing its environmental impact—became so pervasive in the US that the Federal Trade Commission has stepped in

Want to be happier and live longer? Protect green spaces

If vanity can trump direct commercial motives, perhaps one of the ways toward greener designs and environmental preservation on a broader scale is to appeal to that vanity more directly. Protect nature and you may well find yourself living a longer—and happier—life as a result, through no direct effort of your own.

What We Still Don’t Know about the Health Benefits of Nature

We know that connecting with nature is good for us, but there are still many questions that need to be answered through more credible scientific research: What is the ideal “dose” of nature?

Why planting more trees is one of the smartest things a city can do

Trees can make a city sidewalk prettier, sure. But that’s not even their best trick. A growing pile of research suggests that planting more urban trees, if done right, could save tens of thousands of lives around the world each year — by soaking up pollution and cooling down deadly heat waves.