Earlier this week Hiroto Mitsugi - Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations wrote an article for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The focus of the article was to highlight the importance of city design, especially that as little as 10 trees can significantly “boost mental health” as well as improving physical health by filtering air pollution and insulating homes from the cold.
 
Our core Global Health module also looks at this topic, specifically exploring research by Chanuki Seresinhe (WBS) on the impact of scenic environments on our health and happiness, and the importance of how including beautiful natural elements, such as trees, within a city plan can improve mental health and wellbeing, reducing the stress and anxiety and make a big impact on the health of those leading an urban life.

 
"The beauty of our everyday environment might have more practical importance than was previously believed"
Chanuki Seresinhe, Warwick Business School

Chanuki's research highlights that certain types of greenspace might actually have a negative impact on our health e.g. unmaintained flat grass.

Have a go at deciding what is scenic via the online game, ScenicOrNot, hosted by the Data Science Lab, Warwick Business School.

• Read the full article by Hiroto Mitsugi HERE
• Find out about Chanuki Seresinhe and her research HERE
• Explore our Introduction to Global Health module HERE