Considering Nature: An Examination of Student Perceptions towards Manicured Green Space Environments at Dalhousie University

Abstract

Scholarship surrounding the impact of urban green spaces on the wellbeing of populations has provided rich insights that can help further our understanding of interactions between natural and built environments. However, there are few studies of green spaces within the context of learning environments. This study's purpose was to identify Dalhousie University student perceptions of green spaces and their local biodiversity composition within a university campus. Previous studies have focused on general aesthetic and health benefits of green spaces. Our research intends to characterize how students perceive the status of green environments on Dalhousie University’s Studley, and Sexton campuses. By performing a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative analysis on data collected via a survey, we were able to develop insights into student priorities for green spaces. We determined that there is moderate evidence (R2 = 0.3206) to support a relationship between students who perceive green spaces as positively contributing to their learning experience and students who feel that accessibility to green spaces increases their willingness to engage in environmental or sustainability related initiatives or organizations across campus. Using involvement in student societies and other initiatives focused on conservation and sustainable lifestyles as a maxim for positive impact from green spaces, we attempt to draw connections between students’ experience with green spaces and how willing they are to participate in their community. It is our hope that decision makers, like urban planners and campus administrators, will use the data we collected in this study to inform how they design the built environment at Dalhousie, in Halifax, and beyond. With an understanding that green spaces positively contribute to student well-being, building greener campuses comes with another benefit.