"Importance of Urban Green Space"

Harvard and Stanford research confirms previous study regarding nature exposure has mental health benefits. A new mapping and modelling app now helps developers create urban plans that include more urban green spaces. 

Read the article: 
https://hsph.harvard.edu/environmental-health/news/for-city-dwellers-even-15-minutes-in-nature-can-improve-mental-health/

Learn more about Personal Rewilding online at www.rhnaturereconnect.com 


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Truth Be Told about Going Wild. I'm your host,
Robert Hensley, and this is the podcast inspired by the
principles of Personal Rewilding. Now, if you've been listening over
the past six months, you know that I've spoken about
the previous studies that suggested that humans require two hours
of exposure to nature over the period of a week

(00:29):
in order to experience the full mental and physical benefits
of nature. Right, And that doesn't have to be two
hours all in one clip. That can be broken down
into four thirty minute sessions. That could be eighteen minutes
a day for seven days, But two hours per week
is what is required for us to be able to
experience those benefits. Now, new research coming out of Harvard's

(00:55):
at th Chan School of Public Health and the Natural
Capital Project at State University is suggesting that just fifteen
minutes of passive time and nature can improve mental health.
Not really news, right, We've been saying that for a
while now. It's already been proven. But what they are
telling us is that this is especially true in growing

(01:18):
urban areas. Remember that by twenty fifty, it's projected that
seventy percent of the world's population will be living in
developing urban areas, and with that means that there are
increases in mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and

(01:38):
that there are measurable benefits again after just fifteen minutes
of spending time in a green space in an urban area. Now,
what's really new about their study or their research that
they've published is that they have created a new computer
mapping and modeling tool called invest that can be used
to quantify ecosystem serve aka the benefits that people can

(02:03):
get from nature, and that this is really important for
urban development. Developers can use this tool to look at
the percentage of green space in an area, and most
cities have about twenty percent of green space, but if

(02:23):
that were to increase by ten percent to thirty percent
of green space in an urban area, the benefits to
those communities grow exponentially, and these are things like pocket parks,
lining streets with trees. And they're finding that this is

(02:43):
most important to people who are under the age of
twenty five. Remember that most mental illnesses or mental disorders
are diagnosed before the age of twenty five, and that
they're finding that this is in incredibly effective in Asian
countries which have cultures that have a more, they're more

(03:09):
deeply tied to their green spaces. Those spaces have a
cultural and a traditional meaning to them, so they're primed
for this idea of nature being beneficial to their health. Okay.
They also found that low cost programming in these communities
to include things like guided park meditation really helped to

(03:32):
promote the use of those space among young people. Right, So,
thank you so much for listening. I know that this
wasn't exactly new information, but this new tool invest is
new and that's exciting. The idea that people are thinking
about urban planning and urban development in a way that

(03:56):
includes green spaces, parks, ways, bringing nature into those areas
so that people are not deprived of those benefits is
really important. Okay, so again, thank you for listening. If
you are looking for more content from the Truth Be
Told Family of podcasts, there are three opportunities each week.

(04:17):
Tony Sweet on Friday with your Original Truth Be Told,
Bonnie Burkert on Wednesdays with Truth Be Told, Transformation the
more metaphysical side of Stuff, and Me with Truth Be
Told About Going Wild every Monday, and each of those
shows goes live at three pm Pacific six Eastern. You
can listen on the Club Paranormal channel on YouTube or

(04:39):
on your favorite podcast channel now. If you'd like to
know more about what I'm working on, or have questions
or comments about this particular episode, please feel free to
reach out. You can contact me via the contact page
on my website that is www dot rh Nature reconnect
dot com. Again, that's our h Nature Reconnect dot com.

(05:00):
I'm altogether and until next time, m m mmm