Geography and Human Relationships

Geography and Human Relationships

Measuring the factors affecting the adaptation of urban parks with the approach of improving the mental health of citizens in the post-corona era

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Hossein Nazmfar 1
Davood Vafadari Komarolya 2
1 Professor of Urban Planning, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili,, Ardabil, Iran.
2 Ph.D candidate of urban Planning, university of Mohagegh Ardabili , Ardabil, Iran
10.22034/gahr.2024.434098.2021
Abstract
urban parks, are considered to be the most important urban spaces that many citizens tend to spend part of their free time in these places. The aim of this research is to measure the effective factors on the adaptation of urban parks with the approach of improving the mental health of citizens in the post-corona era. To collect data, library sources and interviews were used in two stages. In the first interview, the experts were asked to introduce the main actors and important goals related to the purpose of the research, and in the next stage, after forming the actor-actor matrix and the actor-target matrix, they were provided to the experts and they were requested to use the mentioned matrices according to the guide to complete. In the analysis phase, the completed matrices were entered into Mactor software and then the required tests were applied on them. The results showed that the Islamic councils are the dominant actor among other actors and exert the greatest influence on the actors, and at the same time, the Islamic councils of the city have the highest competitiveness among the actors. In relation to the objectives of the research, the use of happy colors and the increase of greenness in urban parks have the highest positive scores in terms of the level of agreement and opposition of the actors towards the objectives. In general, it can be said that Islamic city councils and municipalities play the most important role in providing the process of achieving goals in order to adapt urban parks to improve the mental health of citizens in the post-corona era and landscape engineers, urban designers, landscape architects and urban planners show a high effectiveness of the decisions of the two institutions mentioned in order to achieve the research goals.
Keywords
urban spaces
urban open spaces
urban landscapes
urban green spaces
mental health

Subjects

مفیدی شمیرانی، سید مجید. علوی‌زاده، الهام. (1389). تحول رویکرد بصری به اکولوژیک در طراحی پارک‌های شهری، منظر، 2(10)، 60-62.
نظم فر، حسین. برکباف، نرجس سادات. وفاداری کمارعلیا، داود. (1403). بررسی نقش پارک های شهری در آرامش شهروندان با رویکرد افزایش سلامت روان، مطالعات علوم محیط زیست، 9(2)، 8440-8429.
وفاداری کمارعلیا، داود. (1401). بررسی میزان رضایت شهروندان از پارک های شهری در شرایط پاندمی کووید۱۹: یک نظرسنجی آنلاین، جغرافیا و روابط انسانی، 5(3)، 43-31.
Beyer, K., Kaltenbach, A., Szabo, A., Bogar, S., Javier Nieto, F., M. Maleck, K. (2014). Exposure to Neighborhood Green Space and Mental Health:Evidence from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 3453-3472.

Carrus, G., Scopelliti, M., Lafortezza, R., Colangelo, G., Ferrini, F., Slabitano, F., Agrimi, M., Portoghesi, L., Semenzato, P., Sanesi, G.(2015). Go greener, feel better? The positive effects of biodiversity on the well-being of individuals visiting urban and peri-urban green areas, Landscape and Urban planning, 134, 221-228.
 
De la Fuente, F., Saldías, M.A., Cubillos, C., Mery, G., Carvajal, D., Bowen, M., Bertoglia, M.P., (2021). Green space exposure association with type 2 diabetes mellitus, physical activity, and obesity: a systematic review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health 18, 1–18.
 
Freeman, Sh., Eykelbosh, A. (2020). COVID-19 and outdoor safety: Considerations for use of outdoor recreational spaces, National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, 1-15.
 
Fusar-Poli, P., de Pablo, G. S., De Micheli, A., Nieman, D. H., Correll, C. U., Kessing, L. V., van Amelsvoort, T. (2020). What is good mental health? A scoping review. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 31, 33-46.
 
Grahn, P., K Stigsdotter, U. (2010). The relation between perceived sensory dimensions of urban green space and stress restoration‏, Landscape and urban planning, 94 (4), 264-275.
 
Grigoletto, A., Toselli, S., Zijlema, W., Marquez, S., Triguero-Mas, M., Gidlow, Ch., Grazuleviciene, R., Van de Berg, M., Kruize, H., Maas, J., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. (2023). Restoration in mental health after visiting urban green spaces, who is most affected? Comparison between good/poor mental health in four European cities, Environmental research, 223, 115397.
 
Jim‏, Ch. )2004(. Green-space preservation and allocation for sustainable greening of compact cities‏, Cities 21(4), 311-320.

Kondo, M.C., Fluehr, J.M., McKeon, T., Branas, C.C. (2018). Urban green space and its impact on human health. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health 15, 445.
 
Mytton, O.T., Townsend, N., Rutter, H., Foster, C. (2012). Green space and physical activity: an observational study using Health Survey for England data. Health Place 18, 1034–1041.
 
Patel, V., Saxena, S., Lund, C., Kohrt, B., Kieling, C., Sunkel, C., Herrman, H. (2023). Transforming mental health systems globally: principles and policy recommendations. The Lancet, 402(10402), 656-666.
 
Peters, K., Elands, B., Buijs, A. )2010(. Social interactions in urban parks: Stimulating social cohesion, Urban forestry & urban greening 9 (2), 93-100.
Reinert, M., Fritze, D., & Nguyen, T. (2021). The state of mental health in America 2022. Schindler M, Texier M, Caruso G. (2022). How far do people travel to use urban green space? A comparison of three European cities , Applied Geography, 141, 102673.
 
Shalaby, R. A. H., Agyapong, V. I. (2020). Peer support in mental health: literature review. JMIR mental health, 7(6), e15572.
Ugolini, F., Massetti, L., Calaza-Martínez, P., Carinanos, ˜ P., Dobbs, C., Ostoi´c, S.K., Marija Marin, A., Pearlmutter, D., Saaroni, H., Šaulienė, I., Simoneti, M., Verlič, A., Vuletić, D., Sanesi, G. (2020). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use and perceptions of urban green space: an international exploratory study. Urban For. Urban Green. 56, 126888.
 
Vujcic, M., Tomicevic-Dubljevic, J., Zivojinovic, I., Toskovic, O. (2019). Connection between urban green areas and visitors’physical and mental well-being, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 40, 299-307.
 
Wang, P., Zhou, B., Han, L., Mei, R.(2021). The motivation and factors influencing visits to small urban parks in Shanghai, China, Urban forestry & Urban greening, 60, 127086.
 
Ward Thompson, C., Roe, J., Aspinall, P., Mitchell, R. (2012). More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns, Landscape and Urban Planning, 105, 221-229.
 
Xie, J., Luo, Sh., Furuya, K., Sun, D. (2020). Urban Parks as Green Buffers During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sustainability, 12, 1-17.
Zhai, W., Yue, H., Deng, Y. (2022). Examining the association between urban green space and viral transmission of COVID-19 during the early outbreak, Applied Geography, 147, 102768.
Geography and Human Relationships
Volume 7, Issue 3 - Serial Number 27
Winter 2025
Pages 518-532

  • Receive Date 05 January 2024
  • Revise Date 14 February 2025
  • Accept Date 15 January 2024