A growing body of research indicates that time spent in nature is a valuable wellness tool. You don't even necessarily need to go to a formal park to reap the benefits of green spaces, according to new research.
Grist reported on the study, where researchers in the Greater Melbourne area analyzed land-use data and how people interacted with it. They found that people were utilizing "informal green spaces" — like a strip of grass growing between a sidewalk and street or overgrown greenery running along a railway — just as much as formal parks.
The publication also noted that these oft-forgotten areas provide the same benefits that planned spaces do, such as wildlife habitat and opportunities to reunite urban populations with the outdoors.
That's great news, considering what we already know about the effects of nature on people. For instance, one study found a correlation between long-term exposure to green spaces and reduced risk of anxiety and depression.
Another study found that spending just 10 minutes in nature can help adults who are coping with mental illness, and this study found that people living near green spaces age more slowly.
Plus, green spaces — whether formal or informal — offer benefits for wildlife by providing habitat and food for a variety of species, including pollinators.
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The new study highlights the importance of preserving informal green spaces alongside their formal counterparts.
"The fact that people are using informal green spaces, at least to me, indicates there's something special about them that's not provided by other formal green spaces," Hugh Stanford, an urban sustainability researcher at Australia's RMIT University and lead author of the paper, told Grist.
Alec Foster, an Illinois State University urban geographer who researched unmanaged green spaces in Philadelphia in 2019, told the publication: "These are things that the city might not necessarily be aware of. So thinking about how these green spaces perhaps provide opportunities for people to utilize them who might not have access to a park otherwise."
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