Do green spaces make us healthier?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2021
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One of the more surprising consequences of the pandemic has been the trend for people wanting to move out of cities and back to the countryside. Not everyone has that privilege of course, but undoubtedly for some living in urban areas during lockdown, the lack of access to green spaces took its toll on their mental health and physical well-being. Now, with renewed hope of a global vaccine roll-out, ensuring more people have better access to nature is more important than ever, especially in cities of glass, steel and concrete.
Italian CrowdScience listener Enrica loves nothing better than walking along the verdant riverbank near her home after a hard week at work. But is this activity doing more than making her feel good? Is it having an actual effect on her health? Presenter Anand Jagatia meets Enrica and visits a radical scheme in the city of Milan, where officials have been working hard to increase urban green features and have committed to planting 3 million trees and building twenty new parks by 2030.
One such idea is the innovative Bosco Verticale - or vertical forest, planted up the side of two high rises apartment blocks. Amongst other benefits It’s hoped it could provide cooling microclimates to reduce the dangers of summer heat, and improve resident’s mental health.
Produced by Jennifer Whyntie. First broadcast October 2019.
(Photo: Tree lined "tunnel" in the English countryside of West Sussex. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.5 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.6 | Hello and welcome to Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. I'm Annan Jagatia and on this |
| 0:36.8 | episode we're revisiting a story that we first covered in 2019 about the impact of |
| 0:42.1 | green spaces on our health and well being, something that's taken |
| 0:46.1 | a bit of a battering during the pandemic. |
| 0:49.2 | Over the past year of lockdowns and restrictions, many of us have rediscovered the power of nature to soothe |
| 0:55.1 | our stresses and reconnect us with something greater than ourselves. |
| 0:59.4 | So with that in mind, we're going back to a question from our listener Enrica in Italy who wonders if |
| 1:04.6 | green spaces make us healthier. I don't think it's a spoiler to tell you the answer is |
| 1:10.0 | yes so perhaps this is an episode you could listen to while out on a walk or maybe in your |
| 1:15.6 | garden or perhaps just looking at some plant life. Enjoy. |
| 1:22.2 | Oh wow. It's hard to miss isn't it? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. |
| 1:33.0 | Picture this, you're in Milan, the fashion and financial capital of Italy, |
| 1:38.0 | driving through the business district, |
| 1:40.0 | and suddenly you see a forest. |
| 1:42.0 | That is crazy. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.