Do green spaces have an impact on our health? A study launched among the inhabitants of Besançon and Dijon
Academics are launching a survey on the perception and use of green spaces, public and private, in Besançon and Dijon. This knowledge and new tools to make decisions to better urbanize our cities, to “renature” them.
Better understand green spaces and their uses, to improve the quality of life of residents
Since Tuesday, September 21, if you live in Besançon or Dijon, you are invited to participate in a major study on green spaces, public or private. A questionnaire is available online or the investigators will meet you in your neighborhood until mid-October. “ We wish to obtain all the profiles of the population, in particular with a good geographical and social distribution. In some neighborhoods, we know that people will not answer the questionnaire, so we will ask them the questions face to face. »Explains Hélène Houot, lecturer in geography and planning at ThéMA Laboratory from the University of Franche-Comté.
The questions ? Here are a few: What do you see from your home? Green? Do you have a garden? Are you going to a park? How many times a month? To practice a sport? Sleep there? Does he eat there? At least a thousand questionnaires, on the two cities, must be completed to draw lessons.
Several organizations, from the University of Bourgogne – Franche-Comté to the CHU Minjoz via the Region which funds the research, are associated with this operation.
What data are we looking for?
Researchers want to know everything about our green spaces. They are already analyzing them using satellite images to find out their composition: trees, low vegetation, gardens… “awith an accuracy of one meter »Explains Hélène Houot. They also want to know if locals can access it easily. In addition, they wonder about their qualities: the plantations, the age of the place, the calm. And also the uses of it by the inhabitants.
Thus, this survey should make it possible to show the benefits of green spaces, public or private. Green is not just an aesthetic issue, not negligible, it is also a certain idea of well-being, of quality of life.
Mapper of green spaces
And since geographers are leading this study, they will make maps of it. “Our goal is to improve scientific knowledge, like any researcher, but also to try to explain these benefits of” connection to nature “. We will be able to locate the gaps, identify needs. This desire to put green in cities is called “renaturation” or “renaturalization”. We will offer tools that lead to decision-making for land use planning ” detail Hélène Houot.
Questionnaires should be completed by mid-October. A young researcher analyzes them to better understand the perception and uses of green spaces in the Bisontins and the Dijonnais. Results of this work: mid-2022.
This survey is part of a larger research program on the management of public and private green spaces and its ecological, economic, environmental, social and health consequences.