The relationship between quality of life, sense of belonging, and green spaces in urban environments in the city of Durango, Mexico

Introduction: Green spaces are important sources of ecosystem services in urban environments; however, human and economic resources and climatic factors significantly affect management.  Objective: To analyze the relationship between density of green spaces, quality of life, and sense of belonging in the city of Durango, Mexico.  Materials and methods: Green spaces were quantified and their density per inhabitant was estimated. A principal component analysis was made to reduce the number of variables that could explain the quality of life and the sense of belonging. Through factorial analysis and generalized linear models, the variables that best explain the quality of life, sense of belonging, and their influence on the density of green spaces were analyzed.  Results and discussion: The density of green spaces is 3.7 m2 per inhabitant, which is less than the 9 m2 per inhabitant recommended by several studies. The analysis of variance of generalized models indicates that the higher the density of green spaces, the higher the quality of life (P < 0.01); however, no significant evidence (P > 0.05) of a relationship between the density of green spaces and the sense of belonging, individually or combined with quality of life, was found.    Conclusion: The availability of green spaces decreases and worsens as marginalization increases.