Can parkland mitigate mental health burden imposed by the COVID-19? A national study in China

Yao Yao; Yi Lu; Qingfeng Guan; Ruoyu Wang

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127451

Can parkland mitigate mental health burden imposed by the COVID-19? A national study in China

Urban For Urban Green. 2022 Jan:67:127451. doi: 10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127451. Epub 2021 Dec 18.

Authors

Yao Yao^{1

2

3}, Yi Lu^{4

5}, Qingfeng Guan^{1

2}, Ruoyu Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, Hubei Province, China.
² National Engineering Research Center of GIS, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, Hubei Province, China.
³ Department of Data Technology and Products, Alibaba Group, Hangzhou, 311121, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁴ Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
⁶ Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

Abstract

The worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has seriously affected not only physical health but also mental wellbeing (i.e mental stress and suicide intention) of numerous urban inhabitants across the globe. While many studies have elucidated urban parkland enhances and mental wellbeing of urban residents, the potential for parkland to mitigate mental health burden imposed by the COVID-19 has received no attention. This nationwide study systematically explored the association between parkland, the COVID-19 pandemic situation and mental wellbeing from 296 cities in China. The study innovatively used big data from Baidu Search Engine to assess city-level mental wellbeing, thereby enabling comparisons among cities. The results show that the provision of parkland is positively associated with mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 epidemic. For COVID-19-related indicators, the geographical distance to Wuhan city, work resumption rate, and travel intensity within the city are also positively associated with mental wellbeing, while the number of COVID-19 infections and the proportion of migrants from Hubei Province for each city are negatively associated with mental wellbeing. Last, the most important finding is that parkland reduces the negative effect of COVID-19 on mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 epidemic. To achieve the goal of promoting mental wellbeing through urban planning and design during the future pandemics, policymakers and planners are advised to provide more well-maintained and accessible parkland and encourage residents to use them with proper precautions.

Keywords: Big data; Buffer effect; COVID-19; Mental wellbeing; Parkland.