A new study by a team based at Bangor University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology sought to specifically identify which natural elements are beneficial to city dwellers. To do this, the researchers used eye-tracking technology to record their volunteers’ visual attention to both natural and human-made elements in urban areas and assessed the impact of what the volunteers saw upon their well-being.
The researchers recruited 117 urban residents to go on a 45-minute urban walk, resembling a typical commute, whilst wearing eye-tracking glasses. The researchers also measured cognition, affect (mood), anxiety, and perceived restorativeness before and after the walk.
The study volunteers were directed to focus their gaze on trees, plants, lawns and flowers (green elements), man-made structures (grey elements) or a mix of both, and the researchers analyzed their eye movements to understand how visual attention relates to well-being measures.
“We found that the individuals who were guided to direct their gaze more frequently at green elements reported a significant reduction in anxiety, with trees showing the most substantial positive effect,” reported the study’s lead author, Environmental Scientist Whitney Fleming, a lecturer in Human Geography at Bangor University.
This unique eye-tracking methodology revealed that a volunteer’s focus on nature was associated with improvements in various mental health metrics, including reduced anxiety levels and increased feelings of restorativeness.
“The study highlights a strong link between observing green elements, especially trees, and an increase in perceived restorativeness, suggesting that even brief interactions with nature can provide mental health benefits,” Dr Fleming noted.
This study presents yet more data to urban planners. It suggests that integrating more natural features — especially trees — into cityscapes could play a crucial role in improving the mental well-being of city dwellers. Further, creating urban spaces with prominent natural elements could encourage people to engage with nature during their daily routines, and thus, could potentially reduce the mental burden on city residents.
Although the eye-tracking technology used in this study did encounter some limitations, it still provided enough practical information to be useful. Of course, future studies should refine these data and also explore other sensory interactions with nature. For example, is birdsong particularly beneficial? or the smell of flowers?
Nevertheless, this study is a first step to providing interesting and practical information for how cities can support improvements to urban residents’ mental and physical well-being.