2.1.2. Mental health benefits
Blue-green spaces can provide good social benefits and greatly affect
the livability of modern cities and the well-being of urban residents.
The frequency of exposure to the natural environment and vegetation
coverage may be important for improving human well-being, especially
mental health (Wentworth, 2017). The exposure to the natural environment
can increase social cohesion (Kaczynski and Henderson, 2007), reduce
stress, improve attention, relieve fatigue (Grigsby-Toussaint et
al. , 2015), improve mood, and decrease the symptoms of major depressive
disorders (Hartig et al. , 2014). For example, a good park
environment has the functions of attention recovery and stress relief
effects (Tan and Li, 2009). Blue-green spaces are associated with
children’s cognitive development, inhibition of impulsive behavior,
prosociality enhancement, and stimulation of imagination and creativity
(Dadvand et al. , 2015; McCormick, 2017). There is a significant
correlation between urban blue-green space and depression in the elderly
(Helbich et al. , 2019). In 2021, World Health Organization (WHO)
released a survey report on blue-green spaces and mental health. The
short-term and long-term effects of different types of green spaces and
blue spaces on mental health
(Table 2) demonstrated the overall
positive relationship between blue-green spaces and mental health.
Especially, under the background of COVID-19 pandemic, blue-green spaces
can serve as a sanctuary for interactive leisure.