TY - JOUR
T1 - The benefits of discrete visits in urban parks
AU - Schnell, Izhak
AU - Harel, Neta
AU - Mishori, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier GmbH
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - It is well accepted that visits to parks improve peoples' well-being. Numerous studies highlight the positive social consequences of more intensive visits to parks, and thus its impact on well-being. Other studies emphasize the relaxing effects of parks visitors. Some studies are rooted mainly in deep ecology and Biophilia and focus on the relevance of park visits to eudemonic aspects of well-being, which may be fulfilled more by discrete visits to parks. However, their arguments are rarely empirically tested. In this study that is based on Internet and face to face samples of more than four hundred visitors to parks in Israel, we test the contribution of discrete visits to parks on well-being in general and in its eudemonic aspect, particularly, with respect to social visits. The results show that once mediated by connectedness to nature, discrete visits improve a person's well-being compared to a social visit. This result hints at the possibility that while all visitors to parks enjoy improvement in well-being, discrete visitors to parks who were socialized to feel strong sense of connectedness to nature enjoy higher levels of well-being relative to the rest of the visitors.
AB - It is well accepted that visits to parks improve peoples' well-being. Numerous studies highlight the positive social consequences of more intensive visits to parks, and thus its impact on well-being. Other studies emphasize the relaxing effects of parks visitors. Some studies are rooted mainly in deep ecology and Biophilia and focus on the relevance of park visits to eudemonic aspects of well-being, which may be fulfilled more by discrete visits to parks. However, their arguments are rarely empirically tested. In this study that is based on Internet and face to face samples of more than four hundred visitors to parks in Israel, we test the contribution of discrete visits to parks on well-being in general and in its eudemonic aspect, particularly, with respect to social visits. The results show that once mediated by connectedness to nature, discrete visits improve a person's well-being compared to a social visit. This result hints at the possibility that while all visitors to parks enjoy improvement in well-being, discrete visitors to parks who were socialized to feel strong sense of connectedness to nature enjoy higher levels of well-being relative to the rest of the visitors.
KW - Connectedness to nature
KW - Hedonic and eudemonic well-being
KW - Stress reduction in parks
KW - Subjective well-being
KW - Visits to park
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063950819&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ufug.2019.03.019
DO - 10.1016/j.ufug.2019.03.019
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AN - SCOPUS:85063950819
SN - 1618-8667
VL - 41
SP - 179
EP - 184
JO - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
JF - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
ER -