UWS Government Publications Blog

These research findings were published in July 2010.

“This report summarises the key findings and conclusions from a study exploring public perceptions of their local area and greenspace. The report is intended to inform policies on the development of ‘Sustainable Places’ – places where people want to live and that support people’s physical and mental wellbeing. It is based on data from the 2009 Scottish Social Attitudes survey, and explores the key features that make somewhere a good place to live, the particular role of greenspace in making somewhere a place people want to live, and the relationship between perceptions of local greenspace and health, subjective wellbeing and social trust.

Main Findings

■ The most commonly-mentioned feature that makes somewhere a good place to live was the area being quiet and peaceful, chosen by 50% of people as either their first or second choice.

■ However, when asked what things were most in need of improvement locally, people were more likely to mention features associated with service provision or economic conditions. The top five choices were availability of good jobs locally, good public transport, quality of places for children to play, good quality affordable housing and condition of pavements/footpaths.

■ Over half (56%) of people in Scotland rated their level of satisfaction with their local area as 8 or above (on a scale of 0 to 10). Below average levels of satisfaction were associated (independently of deprivation and income) with feeling that an area is not nice to walk around in and feeling bad about the availability of green and pleasant places to walk or sit.

■ Feeling disempowered, unable to do much about improving things in the local area, is linked to feeling dissatisfied with the local area: 39% of those who agreed that it is difficult for them to improve their area were dissatisfied with their area compared with only 15% of those who disagreed.

■ Two-thirds (66%) of people in Scotland live within a 5-minute walk of their local greenspace. However, only 53% of people in the most deprived areas of Scotland live within a 5-minute walk of their local greenspace, compared with 67% of people in the least deprived areas of Scotland.

■ There is a strong link between the distance people live from their local greenspace and how often they use it. Half (50%) of those who live less than a 5-minute walk away from their local greenspace visit it more than once a week, compared with only 16% of those who live more than a 10-minute walk away.

■ In terms of what people think makes a good local park or greenspace, features that require more active management, such as being well maintained, play facilities, lighting and security and good paths, were chosen more often than features relating to the overall ambience of the area, such as having lots of plants, trees or flowers, being peaceful and having attractive views.

■ A third (33%) of people are very satisfied with the quality of their local greenspace; 46% are fairly satisfied.

■ Being very satisfied with the quality of your local greenspace is associated with better self-assessed health, higher life satisfaction, greater social trust and a higher sense of community cohesion. 43% of those who are very satisfied with their local greenspace say their health is very good compared with 26% of those who are neither satisfied or dissatisfied or fairly or very dissatisfied.”

The full version of these research findings are also available.