How Covid-19 Impacts How We Feel About Green Space

The research “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of and attitudes towards urban forests and green spaces: Exploring the instigators of change in Belgium” is a study that was done in order to gain a better understanding of people’s understanding and use if urban green space (UGS), specifically in the context of Covid-19 and the policies created to address it. The study is based almost entirely off of surveys of 1987 Belgium residents that was administered over the course of the first lockdown as a result of Covid-19. These surveys were administered via mail and because of this provide far less conclusive results when it comes to socioeconomic factors as well as ignoring some of the most vulnerable groups of society like the homeless. The lack of data provided is a real constraint on the amount of conclusive results that can be drawn from this research. However, this study does a good job of explaining the “complaints and desires” of mostly urban people, when dealing with a global pandemic like Covid-19.

Despite the shortcomings of this research they were able to reach many conclusions regarding UGS and peoples use of it. One thing they found is that Low income people, people who live alone, men, and people with low education are all less likely than their counterparts to interact with UGS. They also found that young urban populations saw the largest change in attitude regarding UGS since the pandemic. This is important because it reflects that many higher income, higher educated and socially supported individuals know how positively interacting with UGS can impact your life. This contrasts with their counterparts who, only after COVID-19 restrictions were implemented, realized just how important this is until it was one of the few activities available.