CRPL Research Methods Seminar Series - Lauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui (Sheffield) - Front gardens and human health and well-being

CRPL Research Methods Seminar Series

Abstract:

The results of a recent study indicate that adding even small quantities of ornamental plants to front gardens within deprived urban communities had a positive effect on an individual’s stress regulation. The research highlights the importance of residential front gardens to human health and well-being, and thus their contribution to the wider debates around city densification, natural capital and urban planning. This talk will introduce the horticultural intervention conducted in Salford, Greater Manchester and focus on the research design. The quasi-experimental method added ornamental plants to 38 previously bare front gardens in a waiting-list-control design. Measures of perceived stress and diurnal salivary cortisol profiles were taken pre- and post-intervention over the course of a year. Semi-structured interviews were also held for richer qualitative data.

About the Speaker:

Lauriane is a postdoctoral Wellbeing Fellow at the Royal Horticultural Society and the University of Sheffield Landscape Architecture Department. Her current research focus is on the influence of gardens and gardening on human health and wellbeing. Lauriane holds a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD in Landscape Architecture from the University of Sheffield. During her doctorate, she was also a visiting scholar to the Center for Design and Health at the University of Virginia School of Architecture.