Presentation on Green Space and Mental Wellbeing given by Catherine Ward Thompson, Professor of Architecture and Director of the OPENspace Research Centre, at the JISC GECO Open Source geo and Health Event (#gecohealth), held on Tuesday 9th August 2011, at the Edinburgh Napier University Merchiston Campus.

1. Green space and mental wellbeing:
does green space make a difference?
Catharine Ward Thompson
Professor of Landscape Architecture
Director, OPENspace Research Centre
Edinburgh College of Art
Universities of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt
www.openspace.eca.ac.uk

2. Research summary
Urban green nation:
Research Context:
green space in
Building the evidence base
England
Catharine Ward
Thompson, Jenny
Roe, Peter Aspinall
and Affonso Zuin
CABE Space 2010

3. Findings from Urban green na)on:
Building the Informa)on Base
(Glen Bramley, Caroline Brown, David Watkins, HWU)
• QuanFty of public green space in urban deprived
areas is generally worse than in affluent areas, and
saFsfacFon with local area is also worse in deprived
areas.
• Black and minority ethnic communiFes (BME) tend
to have less green space which is of a poorer quality.
• The higher the quality of the green space, the more
likely it is to be used.
• Poorer communiFes are less physically acFve and
have poorer health.

4. Research ques@ons from CABE Space
• How is the quality of urban green space
important and significant to the health and well‐
being of different ethnic communiFes living in six
deprived urban areas of England?
• What is the impact of varying quality of urban
green space on health and well‐being in these
areas?
• What are the implicaFons of these findings for
naFonal and local policy?

5. Methodology
• Literature review
• Project review
• IdenFficaFon of case study areas
• Focus groups (n=44)
• Environmental audiFng of local green space
(with local community members, n=30)
• Household survey (n=523)

6. Iden@fica@on of case study areas
High levels of deprivaFon
(IMD)
High percentages of black and
minority ethnic populaFons
With same percentages of
urban green space but varying
quality
6 ‘paired’ case study areas
• Greater Manchester A & B
• West Midlands A & B
• London A and B

7. Household Survey Part A: the role of
urban green space in making an area
the best place to live
AdapFve conjoint analysis

8. Results: what is important for a good place to live
• Area safety and security
are most important
(16.3%).
• House/flat suitability
(15.2%), is c. 1.5 times
as important as access to
green space (9.79%)
• Availability of public
transport is only 1.2 times
as important.
• Green space
contributes comparatively
c. 10% to making the
area a good place to live
• Ethnicity was related to
having more concern with
safety Average utilities for each attribute in the ACA
analysis

9. Sta@s@cally significant differences
between ethnic groups on 3 key
variables
• SaFsfacFon with local neighbourhood, p<0.001
• SaFsfacFon with local green space, p<0.001
• Safety when visiFng local urban green space, p<0.001

10. Many highly significant rela@onships between key health
and well‐being variables and percep@ons of neighbourhood
green space quality

11. Evidence from GreenHealth – a Scottish
Government commissioned study – and
OPENspace ongoing research
Catharine Ward Thompson1, Jenny Roe1, Peter A.
Aspinall1, Angela Clow2, Richard Mitchell3
1OPENspace Research Centre, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot‐Wai
University, UK
2Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, UK
3Centre of PopulaFon Health Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK

12. Key drivers for the research
• Urban green space more closely associated
with health for those living in poverty/
deprivaFon (Mitchell and Popham 2008) and
those spending much of their Fme at home
(de Vries et al 2003).
• Lack of evidence using physiological measures
‐ biomarkers ‐ of stress to measure impact of
urban green space on health encountered as
part of ‘everyday life’.

13. Study framework
1. Using salivary cor@sol as a biomarker of
stress
2. Exploring the effect of green space on
cor@sol paTerns
• Early, exploratory corFsol study, January 2010
(n=23)
• Main corFsol study, May‐June 2010 (n=106,
incorporaFng early study parFcipants)

14. Principal research ques@on
1. Among residents of deprived urban areas in
Scotland, is the presence of different
amounts of green space in the home
environment associated with stress as
measured by levels and/or diurnal paierns of
corFsol secreFon and self‐reported stress
and wellbeing?
2. Are there any sub‐group paierns?

15. Early, exploratory cor@sol study,
n=23

16. Early, exploratory cor@sol study
Main objecFves :
• To test recruitment efficiency;
• To test parFcipant adherence to unsupervised
collecFon of saliva samples, within the
domesFc seong.
• To explore sensiFvity of green space data to
corFsol levels.

17. Pilot cor@sol study
Study design
Cross‐secFonal study, city‐
wide in Dundee (highly
deprived neighbourhoods
with varying levels of green
space).
Low green space
Target group
People not in work, aged
45‐55, male and female
recruited via unemployment
training centres in Dundee
over a 4 week period in
January 2010.
High green space

18. Outcome measures
1. Paierns of corFsol secreFon (derived from
mulFple saliva sampling across 2 consecuFve
days);
2. Self‐reported stress (PSS, Cohen et al 1983)
3. Mental well‐being (SWEMWBS, Stewart‐
Brown et al 2009).
4. Levels of physical acFvity (BHFNC 2008).

19. Results: Demographics
• Age: mean of 43.4 years (SD 8.2)
• Gender: 12 males, 13 females.
• Socio‐economic status: 72% unemployed,
Carstairs score*, mean of 6.09 (high
deprivaFon).
• Subjec@ve income: 61% finding it ‘difficult or
‘very difficult’ to cope on current income
levels.
* indicator of area‐level socio‐economic deprivaFon based on
prevalence of household overcrowding, unemployment
among men, low social class, and not having a car

20. Percentage green space in
neighbourhood
• ResidenFal environment was defined by CAS
Ward
• % of green space in each parFcipant’s
residenFal environment based on data from
the Centre for Research on Environment
Society and Health (CRESH) (Richardson &
Mitchell, 2010; Mitchell et al., 2011)
• parks, woodlands, scrub and other natural
environments included, but not include
private gardens.

21. Percentage green space in
neighbourhood

22. Typical high green space
neighbourhood
The "Fintry" ward
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23. Typical low green space
neighbourhoods
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24. PaTerns of cor@sol results
The difference
between groups
is significant
(p=0.039).
• The flatter slope (blue) indicates exhaustion/dysregulation of the cortisol secretion
system, & lower mean cortisol level for participants in this group
• The steeper slope (green) indicates healthier diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion

25. Results: cor@sol, self‐report measures of
health and green space rela@onships
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!)+-/$>-/'2$
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26. Main cor@sol study, n=106
Preliminary Findings

27. Main research ques@ons:
• Does sampling in the wider populaFon of unemployed
people in the same context of deprivaFon
demonstrate similar associaFons between stress
(corFsol) and green space?
• Are there sub‐group variaFons?
• Is there any effect of seasonality?
Study Design: replicaFon of pilot (i.e.cross‐secFonal, city‐wide
in Dundee, five week period (May‐June 2010)).
Recruitment method: door‐to‐door (via market survey
company) with follow‐up briefing session in city‐centre by
research team.

28. Results: demographics
• Age: mean = 44.74 years (SD 0.67)
• Gender: 53 males + 53 females
• Socio‐economic status: 72% unemployed,
average Carstairs score* = 6.64 (SD 0.21).
• Subjec@ve income: difficulFes in income
coping = 61%
* indicator of area‐level socio‐economic deprivaFon based on
prevalence of household overcrowding, unemployment
among men, low social class, and not having a car

29. Summary
• Levels of green space in the residenFal environment
can significantly predict self‐reported stress and
corFsol (average levels and diurnal slope paierns) –
a biomarker of stress – in deprived urban
communiFes;
• The effect of green space on stress may be mediated
by gender, with a stronger posiFve effect of
increasing green space on corFsol concentraFons in
women;
• Development of an ecologically valid and objecFve
measure to further evidence for a salutogenic
environment‐body interacFon.

30. Acknowledgements
• Scoosh Government Rural and Environment
Research and Analysis Directorate (RERAD).
• David Miller and staff, James Huion Research
InsFtute, Aberdeen and BiomathemaFcs and
StaFsFcs Scotland
• Facilitators and parFcipants in Dundee.

31. Front garden, Fintry, Dundee
www.openspace.eca.ac.uk

32. Landscape and Health
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For more info contact
openspace@ed.ac.uk
www.openspace.eca.ac.uk