Back in 1901, one in 10 Indian citizens lived in a city. Today, one in three do, according to the World Bank. Between 1971 and 2008, the country’s urban dwelling population increased by nearly a quarter of a billion; the next 250 million will only take until 2028. But it’s not just in India that the world is urbanising: by 2050, more than two-thirds of us will live in urban areas.

That comes with tremendous opportunities — by living closer together in cities, we’re able to travel further and work harder than before, as well as connecting with more people in vast urban agglomerations — but it also has drawbacks. Evidence of mental illness is higher in city dwellers than in those living in rural regions. The fast-paced, always-on city lifestyle can electrify people, but it can also burn them out. And as cities rapidly, chaotically expand to meet the increasing urban population, their development can be haphazard.

Connecting with nature

There’s a public health challenge in keeping cities sustainable, and the people within them healthy. And one of the major pinch points is people’s connection with nature. Rapidly sprawling cities tend to throw up buildings in close proximity, and bulldoze natural environments. That is a problem. “It’s widely known that getting outdoors and connecting with nature is good for people’s health,” said Leanne Martin of the UK’s Plymouth University, who has researched the benefits of connecting with nature. “The more connected people feel to nature, the more they felt their life was worthwhile.”

People who visit green spaces weekly feel a closer connection to them, and report better physical and mental wellbeing, according to Martin’s research. “in the context of urbanisation it’s really important to recognise these benefits of green space and connecting with nature more generally, so we can protect and promote these natural resources and maximise the effects that they have on public health,” said Martin. Another interesting wrinkle: those who live close to and visit green space more often feel more empowered and engaged with recycling or other environmental initiatives.

The right resources

Yet there’s a conflict between the development of cities and the ability to build out vital resources needed, while maintaining the importance of natural space. Over the last two decades, several cities in the global north have acknowledged the importance of parks and natural idylls, and put public and private funding together to promote it.

The Highline in New York City, a 1.5 mile-long park built above the urban sprawl of west Manhattan, aimed to reinject some greenery into a densely populated city. It required the financial and political support of former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to be built – something that can often be difficult elsewhere.

“City agencies are the major providers of these green spaces, and every year we say we need to fund schools, fire stations and the police,” said Alessandro Rigolon of the University of Utah, who has researched the benefit of natural development in cities. “It’s a hard conversation to say we should start to defund the police and fire stations to build more parks,” he adds.

It’s for that reason that private initiatives have helped part-fund such green spaces in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. The global south finds it much more difficult, for many reasons.

One is simple economics. “The populations are generally the poorest and end up living in those areas unlikely to have access to formal nature that is built for recreation purposes,” said Rigolon. Their major urban developments are often also built on the basis of informal settlements, where it’s far more complicated to produce public space – never mind green space.

There’s also the challenge of priorities. “In many places of the global south, access to fresh water and food are less well-met,” said Rigolon. A park is a luxury too few can afford when considering priorities.

However, it’s important that we make more effort. “As we move increasingly into urbanised areas, we have to be more intentional about incorporating green space into our lives,” said Matthew Browning of Clemson University, who co-authored a paper with Rigolon.

“It will often be a lesser priority that will directly economically benefit that city” – at least on the face of it. But if installing a park in the centre of a city can prevent hospital admissions and ease the strain on mental health provisions, then the cost may not be too high. — Chris Stokel-Walker

Further reading:

Cities and mental health(Academic study)