Snippe, David (2023) Impact of access to urban green space on social and emotional loneliness. Master thesis.
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Abstract
Loneliness has been linked to an array of physical and mental health problems. It consists of two dimensions: social and emotional loneliness, which refer to lack of social network and lack of close relationship respectively. There are various factors contributing to loneliness; this research focuses on the factor urban green space, in terms of size, function and accessibility. Various studies have found that green space impacts loneliness, but there is no research on whether and how this impact differs for social and emotional loneliness. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by answering the following research question: “How does the accessibility of green space impact social and emotional loneliness in the Dutch urban context?”. This is done by a combination of GIS and statistical analyses. This thesis uses two separate indicators: the percentage of neighbourhood area that consists of green space, and an indicator based on a distance decay function. The analyses are repeated considering only green spaces of certain sizes and functions. The indicators are assessed using Pearson’s correlation test and a multiple linear regression that accounts for a range of built environment and sociodemographic factors, and compared using Dunn & Clark’s z-test. Results indicated that, although access to urban green space is correlated with both social and emotional loneliness, there is no significant effect on social loneliness once other factors are controlled for. For emotional loneliness, the evidence is mixed, with green space that has a function other than sport, play or nature having a significant effect. Size was not found to be a relevant factor. Overall, the impact of urban green space access on social and emotional loneliness is found to be limited. Hence, future research should focus less on the links between these factors, and more on how to incorporate broader health objectives into spatial planning processes.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Environmental & Infrastructure Planning |
| Supervisor: | Ramezani, S. |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Jul 2023 09:35 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Jul 2023 09:35 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4207 |
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