![]() Studies on the mental benefits of nature exposure have typically taken one of two approaches. Urban greenspace, and specifically urban parks, are a policy instrument that can help reduce the impacts of ‘nature deficit disorder’ (Louv, 2011). While cities provide access to significant economic and social opportunities, researchers have identified an urban health penalty that arises from the pace of life, exposure to environmental stressors and chemicals, and disconnect from diverse natural environments in which human evolution occurred (Bettencourt, Lobo, Helbing, Kuhnert, & West, 2007 McDonald, Beatley, & Elmqvist, 2018). There is a growing interest in understanding the connection between mental health and exposure to biodiversity, due to the simultaneous growth of urban areas globally and rising rates of mood disorders (Murray et al., 2012 United Nations, 2014). These results can be used by urban planners and public health officials to better target nature contact recommendations for growing urban populations.Ī free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.Negation words such as ‘no’, ‘not’, and ‘don't’ decreased in frequency during visits to urban parks. Finally, we analysed word frequencies to explore several mechanisms theorized to link nature exposure with mental and cognitive benefits.Tweets during visits to Regional Parks, which are greener and have greater vegetative cover, exhibited larger increases in sentiment than tweets during visits to Civic Plazas and Squares. Leveraging differences in vegetative cover across park types, we explored how different types of outdoor public spaces may contribute to subjective well-being.We found that sentiment was substantially higher during park visits and remained elevated for several hours following the visit. Here, we used Twitter and the Hedonometer, a world analysis tool, to investigate how sentiment, or the estimated happiness of the words people write, varied before, during, and after visits to San Francisco's urban park system.A growing body of research has demonstrated an association between nature contact and improved mood. With more people living in cities, we are witnessing a decline in exposure to nature.
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