Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor

Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor. Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor Visitors to urban green spaces in Sheffield feel better in areas they perceive to have greater biodiversity. A recent study, carried out as part of the University of Sheffield´s Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agenda (URSULA) project, examines how people´s feelings of well-being are related to both the numbers of species they think are present at a site, and to the actual number present. By carrying out s in parks, woodlands and on footpaths, along rivers in the city, researchers from the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences investigated the relationships between measures of psychological well-being of visitors to the sites and the perceived biodiversity of birds, butterflies and plants there. They also surveyed the actual number of species of each group at the same sites. The results showed that people experienced increased well-being at locations where they thought there were more species. When it came to actual biodiversity, however, only in the case of birds was there any positive effect and there was no relationship between what people thought the biodiversity was at a site and the actual biodiversity recorded in the surveys.