Perceived Benefits to Human Well-being of Urban Gardens

Private gardens occupy a significant proportion of the total surface area of a British city. For many people, the garden represents their only contact with nature and their chance to express themselves creatively. Yet relatively little research has been carried out on the role and value of such gardens to human well-being. We report in this paper on a major survey on the role of private, urban gardens in human well-being, conducted with a wide cross-section of randomly selected garden owners from the city of Sheffield, England, over the summer of 1995. In particular, we discuss the perceived value that gardens have to the well-being of people, both individually through the enjoyment of their own gardens and collectively through the contribution of city gardens to environmental enhancement. We relate these values to age, gender and social demographics.