Are better streets and parks a route to better mental health?
| Pages | 6-9 |
| Date | 01 December 2005 |
| Published date | 01 December 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200500026 |
| Author | Julia Thrift |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Julia Thrift
Director
CABE Space
Correspondence to:
Julia Thrift
CABE Space
CABE
1Kemble Street
London WC2B 4AN
jthrift@cabe.org.uk
GUEST EDITORIAL
6journal of public mental health
vol 4 • issue 4
©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd
Public spaces – streets, parks, squares – are one
of the few services that we pay for through
taxation that almost everyone uses, every day.
Despite this ubiquity, the quality of the public
realm has been of little interest to policy
makers in the UK (particularly during the 1980s and
early 1990s) until quite recently. However, politicians
have now started to take notice. CABE Space
(www.cabespace.org.uk), which was established in 2003
with funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister (ODPM) and a remit to champion
improvements to the urban public realm, is just one
example of the government’sresponse. In part this new
interest can be attributed to the fact that the public,
when asked what concerns it, repeatedly lists factors
that are closely connected to the quality of the public
realm – litter, graffiti, run-down parks, lack of places for
kids to play etc (Mori, 2004). The public, it seems, is
one step ahead of policy makers when it comes to
recognising the fundamental influence that our streets
and parks have on the quality of our lives.
In his influential book Mental Health and the Built
Environment, David Halpern (1995) suggests that what
he calls the planned environment – that is, buildings,
streets, cities etc – has the potential to influence mental
health in the following ways:
●as a source of stress
●as an influence on social networks and support
●through symbolic effects and social labelling
●through the action of the planning process itself.
The effects of living in poor quality environments have
been heavily researched. The routes through which the
environment affects mental health are complex and
much debated in the academic literature (see Chu,
Thorne & Guite, 2004 for a useful literature review).
There is, however, increasing evidence that access to
high quality green spaces can produce measurable
improvements to stress levels in a relatively short space
of time (Ulrich et al,1991; Takano et al,2002; Bird,
2003; Pretty et al, 2003).
Research by CABE Space suggests that the public
perceives a link between the quality of public spaces and
several of the factors linked to mental health and well-
being. In this, too, the public may well be one step ahead
of UK policy makers, who have yet to make such a clear
connection. Wanless’ Securing our Future Health
(2002) barely mentions the public realm, and the idea
that government should aim to improve the public
realm in order to improve health is largely ignored. (The
publication by the government of a UK sustainable
development strategy in March 2005 does, however,
indicate a welcome if belated recognition of how the
well-being of the population and the environment are
fundamentally intertwined.)
The public, in contrast, seem to have an instinctive
grasp of the importance of the public realm. In spring
2004, CABE Space published a Manifesto for Better
Public Spaces, listing ten reasons why public spaces are
important, and should be valued and invested in. We
asked the public to respond by signing up to support the
manifesto and by providing us with their own views.
Thousands of individuals and more than 400
membership organisations signed up: a total of more
than 4.5 million people. With help from the University
of Manchester we analysed the public’sresponse, and
Are better streets and parks
aroute to better mental
health?
Public parks are good for our mental and physical health.They provide a sense of community for local
people and passers-through.They provide social role valorisation for the dispossessed. They
contribute to improving urban environments and combating the stress of city life.And they are highly
valued by the public, argues Julia Thrift. But recognition of their many benefits may come too late to
inform the government’s sustainable communities plan and its plans to construct thousands of new
homes throughout the south east.
Key words:
Public space
Parks
Mental health
Stress
Environment
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