Urban green space is good for your health, claims researcher

Chris Smyth
Urban green spaces are “essential to our wellbeing” and must be protected against a wave of “garden-grabbing” developers.
Ross Cameron, an environmental biologist at the University of Reading, said gardens had a range of social, physical, environmental and even psychological benefits and should be given the same protection as virgin countryside.
He told the festival that an estimated 32 sq km (7,900 acres) of gardens had been lost in London alone in the past five years as developers tried to squeeze more homes into areas by building on gardens, which were designated brownfield land.
At the same time, millions of homeowners were paving over their front gardens, with as many as half vanishing under the asphalt in some cities.
Dr Cameron said studies with patients suffering mental health problems also showed that gardens helped to reduce stress.
He warned that garden-grabbing could even “cost lives” if it worsened depression and other conditions. The researcher said: “A recent report from Australia suggests gardening helps delay the onset of dementia in the elderly.”
He also cited social benefits, such as crime reduction: “There is evidence from a study in Chicago that areas with greater greenery have less crime. The greatest reduction was in domestic violence, a stress-related crime.”
He said the Chicago studies found that in otherwise similar areas, those with more trees had less crime, and a significant part of the difference could not be accounted for by any other cause.
Green spaces could also help to cool cities as climate change warmed up our urban environments.