New study unlocks secret to happy urban parks

Scientists have found that the arrangement of environmental features in urban parks is as important as the features themselves in determining public happiness.

The study, published in the Landscape Ecology journal, analysed data on parks in China to explore the links between features, their organisation, and user opinions.

Using social media data, it found that the quality of features has more influence on user satisfaction than the quantity, with flowers, animals, and water quality among the most important.

Satellite imagery was also used to link public satisfaction with less fragmented and less complex landscapes, where features like impervious surfaces and water bodies are more concentrated.

But the headline finding was that the nature and organisation of park features have equal impact on user satisfaction – an original finding according to the paper.

The authors say that this finding highlights the value of strategic initial layout planning for park designers, but it could also apply to other landscapes which BALI members work on.