Exploring green, blue, grey infrastructure and neighbourhood satisfaction, quality of life, health and wellbeing in Bristol, UK

Abstract

The health and wellbeing of urban populations is an urgent issue for public health. Mental and physical health of urbanites is reported to be lower than their rural counterparts (Schwartz, 2017; Graafland and Lous, 2019). However, there is evidence that of green (e.g. parks, trees), blue (e.g lakes) and grey (e.g. travel routes) infrastructure provide benefits for people’s health and wellbeing. However, often these elements of our cities are examined independently.

In this study, funded by the RECLAIM Network, we use data from a repeat cross-sectional survey to explore the relationships between Green-Blue-Grey Infrastructure (GBGI) and self-reported neighbourhood satisfaction, health, wellbeing and quality of life. We use data from the Bristol Quality of Life Survey collected between 2011-2022, from a random sample of residents from across the city. The survey receives responses from around 6000 residents each year on their levels of satisfaction with a variety of facilities, services and amenities in the city (e.g. greenspace, cultural venues, public transport), levels of safety and maintenance as well as their behaviours (e.g. greenspace use, travel modes) and sociodemographic characteristics. These subjective measures of GBGI were combined with a suite of objective measures such as tree density, distance to quality green and blue spaces, and the presence of historic buildings and transport infrastructure in GIS. Using GIS and logistic regression we explore relationships between objective and subjective GBGI features and the outcomes neighbourhood satisfaction, health, wellbeing and quality of life. Accounting for sociodemographic characteristics and neighbourhood deprivation, we find that there are statistically significant relationships between many of the GBGI features and neighbourhood satisfaction, but that only satisfaction with access to greenspace is significantly related to health and wellbeing measures. It appears that GBGI features are important in determining neighbourhood satisfaction, but that relationships with general health, wellbeing and quality of life are indirect.