Urban green spaces in times of COVID-19 pandemics, 2020

Public green spaces have numerous benefits for individuals and society. Spending time in these areas can help to cope with the negative physical and mental health impacts of various stressful events. In times of social crises, these effects can be increased. In 2020, visiting these areas was affected by restrictions to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This period was characterised by pronounced health risks and behavioural changes. The latter led to significant changes in people’s mobility patterns. The aim of research, that was carried out in spring 2020 using a representative sample of the JazVem.si web panel, was to investigate how social isolation measures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the use of public green spaces during the partial lockdown in Slovenia, both in urban and rural areas. The authors also identified the factors that typically attract visitors and assessed the effects of social isolation on the use and perception of public green spaces. Among other things, they wanted to find out how the type of housing influenced people’s use of public green spaces: whether people used them more often during the pandemic than before, whether they did different things on them than before, whether they stayed longer, how those who had previously recreated indoors used them, how much visitation was influenced by agroforestry activities and how much by own green spaces or balconies, and how visiting public green spaces influenced quality of life.

公共绿地（public green spaces）对个人与社会均具有多重益处。在这类空间中停留，有助于缓解各类应激事件给身心健康带来的负面影响。社会危机时期，这类积极作用可能会进一步凸显。2020年，为遏制新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情扩散而实施的管控措施，对公众前往这类绿地的行为造成了影响。这一时期兼具显著的健康风险与行为模式转变两大特征，后者引发了公众出行模式的显著变化。

2020年春季，研究团队依托JazVem.si网络面板的代表性样本开展本项研究，旨在探究在斯洛文尼亚实施局部封锁期间，新冠疫情第一波冲击下的社交隔离措施，如何影响城乡居民对公共绿地的使用情况。研究团队同时明确了通常吸引访客到访的各类影响因素，并评估了社交隔离措施对公共绿地使用与认知的影响。此外，研究还试图厘清以下问题：住房类型如何影响公众对公共绿地的使用；疫情期间居民是否比此前更频繁地使用公共绿地；他们在绿地中的活动是否较以往有所变化；停留时长是否有所增加；此前偏好室内休闲的人群如何使用公共绿地；农林活动与自有绿地或阳台分别在多大程度上影响了公众到访公共绿地的意愿；以及前往公共绿地对生活质量产生了哪些影响。