Dynamic greenery exposure and residents’ mental health in Hong Kong

Keywords: greenery exposure, mobility, mental health, Hong Kong
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 3

Abstract

Greenspace plays a vital role in promoting people's mental health. However, previous studies on the relationship between green environmental exposure and mental health have traditionally taken a residence-based perspective, ignoring the dynamic nature of daily mobility. In addition, most studies assess greenspace from an overhead perspective, while an eye-level perspective may better capture people's experience of greenspace. Using street view images and deep learning methods, we investigated the importance of people's eye-level green space exposure based on each participant's movement path and location, then compared it to overhead greenspace exposure (NDVI) and residence-based assessment. Those green space measurements are not correlated with each other, suggesting that they capture different aspects of green space that may have different effects on mental health. In addition, we examine the associations between multiple greenspace exposure and residents’ mental health using survey and EMA(Ecological momentary assessment) data collected from citizens living at Sham Shui Po and Tin shui wai in Hongkong. The results show that not all greenery measurements are equally important to residents' mental health, and they are mediated by different environmental exposure. Urban planners should take the dynamic environment that people encounter in their daily lives into consideration.