Green Spaces An Urban Mental Health and Environmental Solution by Shani Lyubomirsky A grey, looming skyline peeking through the fog. Towering skyscrapers with smog blanketing everything in sight. Cars honking, traffic lights blinking, seas of people winding through concrete jungles, focused on getting to their next immediate destination. While these strike up an universally-recognized image of a modern city, this style of living is relatively recent. Population growth has necessitated urban living with the expansion of civilization booming with innovation across all fronts. However, these advancements come with an increasing price to pay for space. Green spaces are becoming a luxury that many are increasingly becoming unable to afford. They are becoming harder to come by in cities, and the
resulting impacts of those losses may already be impacting human and environmental health in distinct ways. An increasing number of studies are finding that the decreasing amounts of green spaces may be a critical factor in the growing issue of poor mental health. According to Environmental Psychologist Susan Clayton, humans experience changes in their mental health when placed in “extreme environments,” which can be found in cities where excessive noise and pollution is the norm. A 2019 study found that some urban populations hold nearly a 50% increased risk of developing “psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and mood disorders compared with their rural counterparts.” Fall 2020 / Perennial 24
