Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas

BACKGROUND: Urban parks play a noticeable role in city areas for making connections between nature and the residents of cities, especially from a mental health perspective. This paper investigated how the number and types of urban parks impact city residents’ mental health. METHOD: This study used the data collected by the Community Health Survey in Seoul, South Korea in 2020 (n=22915). The type and number of local parks were categorized based on each district, and three variables of mental health were selected, including ‘subjective health awareness’, ‘stress awareness’ and ‘depression rate’. Correlation and interaction analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between variables. RESULT: The data indicated that both the quantity and types of the urban parks were associated with mental health of the residents. Positive mental health is likely to be associated with higher density of local parks in a district. It seems that parks characterized by children’s activity and have nature-focused design, are more effective in changing the mental health of residents. DISCUSSION: The research demonstrates a positive relationship between the quantity of urban parks and mental health in the scale of city districts. However, such a correlation can differ based on the type of parks, as well as the quantity of greenery in an area.