The website ScienceDirect publishes reports relating to greenspace from around the world, the site publishes peer reviewed research across a range of topics. In November the site has published a number of papers relating to greenspace and its impact on how people live their lives.

How do childhood nature experiences and negative emotions towards nature influence preferences for outdoor activity among young adults?

Highlights 

• Emotive responses towards nature may be key to understanding the decline in contact with nature.
• Experiences decreased levels of disgust sensitivity and fear expectancy later in life.
• Disgust sensitivity influenced outdoor activity preferences, whereas fear expectancy did not.
• Childhood nature experiences were a strong predictor of perceptions of outdoor activities.

Read more

Health-oriented vegetation community design: Innovation in urban green space to support respiratory health

Highlights

• The relationship between green space and respiratory health remains controversial.
• Several probable mechanisms of green space on respiratory health were verified.
• The adsorption capacity of plants achieves a protective effect on respiratory health.
• A highly complex vegetation community has additional benefits for respiratory health. We advocated health-oriented vegetation community design.

Read more

“It made me feel brighter in myself”- The health and well-being impacts of a residential front garden horticultural intervention

Highlights

• Significant improvement in self-reported health were recorded after the introduction of the plants.
• Residents reported significant decreases in perceived stress post-intervention.
• The proportion of ‘healthy’ cortisol patterns increased from 24% to 53% after the intervention.
• The role of residential gardens in influencing health and well-being needs greater prominence in the public health agenda.

Read more

The role of ‘nativeness’ in urban greening to support animal biodiversity

Highlights

• Effects of plant origin are often related to species-specific and resource-dependent relationships.
• Native plants are more likely to provide resources for urban animals and increase biodiversity in urban green space.
• Studies comparing origin effects do not consistently measure or define ‘nativeness’.
• Origin effects persist despite socially-derived variation in ‘native’ definition.

Read more