The presence of people and over-crowding in urban greenspaces: Examining the impacts on social connectedness and restoration

Reece, Rebecca; Bray, Issy; Elliott, Lewis

Abstract

Urban greenspaces can provide multiple benefits including stress restoration, facilitating social cohesion, and improving mood. Most research looking at the effects of urban greenspaces often focus on spaces free from people. This is a problem for generalising real world effects as visits to urban greenspaces are rarely in solitude. There is a gap in the field, which this experiment aims to fill, to investigate whether other people in an urban greenspace can impact restoration and feelings of state social connectedness. A secondary aim of this experiment is to test whether age has an impact on these effects. Sixty-two healthy adults, split across two age groups, will be recruited. After first viewing stress-inducing traffic videos, participants will view three virtual reality urban greenspaces which vary in the amount of people present. After viewing each environment, stress, restoration, and state social connectedness will be measured. This experiment is currently underway and results will be presented at the conference. The results from this study can have implications on crowding and the impact that the number of people in urban greenspaces can have, as well as loneliness and how seeing other people in urban greenspaces may have an influence. Prior to this experiment, social connectedness has not been considered as an outcome in greenspace exposure experiments and the presence of people in these spaces is often overlooked. This experiment aims to provide insight into the importance of considering other people in urban greenspaces and how they may impact the experience and benefits received from the space. This experiment also looks at two different adult age groups which will provide knowledge about whether any effects are impacted by age.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: International Conference Association People-Environment Studies
• Start Date: Jul 2, 2024
• End Date: Jul 5, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Feb 28, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 23, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/12364819