Virtual Tours of an Urban Park Produced Stress Recovery and Emotional Well-Being, 2022

The interest in urban green space as a provider/supporter of mental well-being is still growing. The question has largely moved on from “Will a walk in the park help with mental well-being?” to “Will a walk in any park do?”

Over 1700 participants from the UK and China reported their affective states before and after virtually exploring the same urban park but with lower (5 species) or higher (18 species) biodiversity. In addition, half of the participants received a minor stress induction before exploring the park. Finally, all participants rated their perceived biodiversity (i.e. how many kinds of plants and animals they guessed to be present)

The results showed that both parks with low and high biodiversity produced improved mood, especially in those participants who received the stress induction.

The dataset includes three PANAS-X dimensions of the Affective States (Joviality, Serenity and Negative Affect) reported by the same participant at three points in time. Further, it includes Demographic information (gender, age and ethnicity), Nature connectedness, and subjective perceptions of biodiversity (i.e. how biodiverse the participant thought the video to be).<p>This PhD project investigates how urban biodiversity (i.e. the number of different species in a given urban environment) may play a role in providing recovery from psychophysiological stress. Urban green spaces, such as parks, woodlands and gardens, provide opportunities for relief from stressful city life. However, research suggests that not all that is green is good and equally beneficial to city dwellers, but that quality matters. For example, the extent of biodiversity of urban green spaces has interesting relationships with mood improvement and physiological stress reduction, although experimental evidence is limited.</p>