HSE Researchers Experimentally Demonstrate Positive Effects of Urban Parks on the Brain

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Scientists at HSE University have investigated the effect of parks on the cognitive and emotional resources of city dwellers. The researchers compared brain electrical activity in 30 participants while they watched videos of walks through parks and along busy highways. The results showed that green urban environments with trees produce a consistent effect across individuals, helping the brain calm down and relax. By contrast, walks along busy streets were found to be distracting. The findings have been published in Scientific Reports.

The more greenery people are surrounded by, the better they tend to feel. Previous studies have shown that adding just ten more trees to a city neighbourhood can make residents feel several years younger. However, scientists continue to investigate the underlying reasons for the positive effects of green urban environments.

Researchers at the HSE International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology have examined the impact of green urban spaces on human cognitive resources. For the first time in this type of study, electroencephalography (EEG) was combined with inter-subject correlation analysis, enabling comparison of EEG data across participants and the identification of brain-to-brain synchrony—that is, shared patterns of neural activity observed while participants watched a long video of a city walk.

The researchers recorded videos of walks along highways, boulevards, and through city parks in various districts of Moscow and St Petersburg. Thirty volunteers then watched these videos while their brain activity was recorded using EEG. The researchers compared participants’ neural responses to walks through parks and along busy highways. When the participants were similarly engaged with the scenes, their brain activity exhibited common patterns.

The results revealed that participants’ brains responded in a similar way to walks in parks, with synchrony observed in the delta frequency band—the slowest brain-wave rhythm. Delta activity is associated with the brain’s oldest structures and indicates relaxation, restoration, and a restful state.

During video walks along busy highways, the opposite effect was observed. The researchers found little to no synchrony in participants’ brain electrical activity, reflecting constant distraction and attentional overload.

Vasily Klucharev

'This result was unexpected for us. We had assumed that people would "read" the city like a book, paying attention to the same details—such as signs, landscapes, and buildings. However, it turned out that attention in urban streets is more likely to be scattered, with no universal pattern of environmental perception, as the city distracts each individual in a different way,' explains Vasily Klucharev, Head of the International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology at HSE University.

The study highlights the importance of planting more trees in cities and of creating, preserving, and expanding green spaces, including parks and urban forests, in megacities.

Nadezhda Kerimova

'Large green spaces—such as urban parks and forest parks—can trigger universal cognitive processes in the brain associated with motivation and positive emotions,' comments Nadezhda Kerimova, Head of Neurourbanism Research at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience.

The authors of the article are the first in Russia to launch a series of studies in neurourbanism aimed at exploring how urban environments influence the brain.

'We want not only to live a long life but also to maintain a sound mind and body, which requires special therapeutic qualities in the urban environment that help the brain recover from constant stress,' says Vasily Klucharev.