Towards quantifying forest recreation: Exploring outdoor thermal physiology and human well-being along exemplary pathways in a central European urban forest (Augsburg, SE-Germany)

Abstract

Contact with nature can help to reduce stress, enhance stress resilience, promote mental and physical health and has a positive impact on people’s mood. Beside urban park and residential green, recreation in urban forests can act as therapeutic means. From a climatological point of view, urban and periurban forests and green spaces provide a number of benefits particularly including air temperature and humidity control as well as air pollution reduction. Due to their compensating thermal effects urban green and urban forests may help to counteract potentially health relevant effects of urban warming. The main objective of our study is to explore the quantification of forest recreation based on measurement campaigns for the combined simultaneous recording of relevant features along routes comprising varying urban structural types (ranging from built up to densely forested areas). Combining data on subjective well-being and objective data on human physiology can help to quantify health effects of varying environments. The study area is the urban forest of Augsburg, in the German Federal State of Bavaria, Southern Germany.Our results substantiate clear cut and statistically significant climatic differences among varying urban environments (i.e. local climate zone categories) and prove the potential positive effects of urban forests/urban green on bioclimatic conditions (e.g. via a reduction in maximum air temperatures during summer). Moreover, the beneficial effects of urban green structures on human physiological parameters (e.g. reductions in heart rate) could be verified.