Abstract

The health effects of under-utilized and passive greenspace with specialist functions, for example the urban cemetery have been rarely studied. In this study, we aim to examine the differences in the associations between greenspace attributes and perceived restorativeness (defined as recovering from mental fatigue) across two urban greenspace typologies; namely, parks and cemeteries. Among sub-samples of the study participants, this research further explores if social (i.e., having knowledge of or a previous relationship to a deceased person interred in the cemetery) and geographical distance (i.e., residential street distance to the cemetery) had significant beneficial effect upon participants’ perceived restorativeness. A face-to-face on-site survey was conducted in Edinburgh comprising N1 = 113 and N2 = 120 participants from parks and cemeteries respectively. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to measure the distance from interviewees’ home to the study sites, while multivariate linear regression models adjusting for sociodemographic covariates assessed the strength and significance of the associations. Among the greenspace attributes, pleasantness and aesthetic quality remained significant predictors of perceived restorativeness in case of both parks and cemeteries. In addition, safety was significantly associated with perceived restorativeness in the park-exposure group, whereas presence of good paths was significant only in the cemetery-exposure group. Significant effects of greenspace attributes upon restorativeness were reported only among participants without a deceased person interred in the cemetery and those residing beyond a distance of 800 meters. The study findings advance our knowledge of the restorativeness of specific greenspace features in the parks and cemeteries and point to the need to integrate cemetery strategy with the local authority’s urban greenspace planning and policy for optimizing the use of these thus far passive green areas.

摘要

       关于城市墓地这类未得到充分利用、具有特殊用途的被动绿地的健康效应相关研究较少。本研究旨在考察两种城市绿地类型中绿地属性和感知恢复性(定义为从精神疲劳中恢复)之间联系的差异，即公园和墓地。本研究在参与者的子样本中，进一步探讨社会距离(即认识墓地中埋葬的逝者或以前与其有关系)和地理距离(即居住街道与墓地的距离)是否对参与者感知恢复产生了显著的有益影响。我们在爱丁堡进行了面对面的现场调查，参与者分别来自公园和墓地，n1 = 113人，n2 = 120人。研究利用地理信息系统(GIS)测量受访者的家到研究地点的距离，并通过多元线性回归模型调整社会人口学夫的协变量来评估相关性的强度和显著性。公园和墓地的宜人性和美学质量在绿地属性中仍然是预测感知恢复性的重要因素。此外，在公园接触组中，安全性与感知恢复性显著相关，而只有在墓地接触组中，良好路径的存在才是显著的。只有当参与者没有已过世的朋友被埋葬在墓地或参与者居住在800米外时，才能发现绿地属性对感知恢复性的显著影响。这一结果有助于我们认识到公园和墓地特殊绿地特征的恢复性，同时也指出地方政府应将墓地策略与城市绿地规划和政策相结合，以便使这些被动绿地被最优利用。

DOI：10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126720