Urban Forests and Mental Health

Urban forests play a vital role in mental health and well being for its citizens.

They provide accessible and natural environments of engagement, rest and recreation. Urban forests are a collective asset that set the stage for slowing down and taking mental health breaks in a stressful and active lifestyle. It is imperative to build more urban forests, as they have a plethora of mental health benefits. These benefits include stress reduction, improved moods, increased physical activity, increased stimulation of social connections, more mindfulness, an escape to nature, a sense of purpose and a greater connection to the natural environment.
There have been many studies regarding this topic, most notably those which were carried out by Gregory Bratman after his graduation from Stanford University. Bratman held many experiments, discovering the relationship between the presence of urban forests and mental health, including the study, Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation | PNAS, where two groups were asked to walk similar distances, yet in different settings. One of the groups walked in an area with lots of nature and the other walked near a major highway instead. Following the experiment, Bratman performed brain scans on the two groups, to determine the amount of blood flowing towards the section of the brain associated with negative thinking, and those in the group that walked in the nature had significantly less blood flow to that area which signified that they were thinking and feeling more positively than those who walked in the nature-deprived environment. Gregory Bratman believes that these results occurred due to the involuntary attention being activated in the brain when in nature, as opposed to directed attention, allowing the mind to go to a more calm and relaxed state of mental recharge. This also caused those who were in more natural environments to perform better on cognitive assessments which focused on their capacity to use directed attention. These findings prove that there is a direct correlation between increased mental well-being and increased forestry.
Additional resources conclude that the presence of urban forests has been known to lower crime rates, most likely due to the increased sense of serenity caused by the natural environment, induced by the change in types of attention necessary. These environments are grounds for healing and restoration, whether it be physically or mentally and the lack of urban forests is detrimental to society. This project will also bring greater tree equity, allowing for further forestation of less fortunate areas.
Overall, it is clear that urban forests play a vital role in mental health and well being and are therefore necessary to protect the health of the community.