2019

Into the Wild

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In my project ‘Into the Wild’, I am exploring how important and vital green spaces are to the community as well as our physical and mental health. In order to do this, I photographed two community gardens; Canton Community Garden and The Grow Well Project at the Lansdowne Surgery.

 

The Grow Well Project, as stated on their website, is a project that gives GP's the ability to prescribe social and low-level physical activity at gardens based at local community hubs in Cardiff South West GP Cluster, or at GP surgeries themselves. The garden meets weekly to learn new skills and meet new people.

 

Canton Community Garden also meet every week to maintain the green space developed outside Chapter Arts Centre. Members of the garden said that attending weekly was their way of giving back to the community and providing a green space, something that was important to them especially when living within a city.

 

In a variety of studies it has been shown that access to green spaces is beneficial in a multitude of ways. Our general mood and happiness has shown to increase when we spend time in green environments in comparison to urban ones. In a study in Denmark by Van Den Berg it has been shown that participants with a high volume of green spaces within 3km of their home were not as physically and mental affected by stressful life events than those with less nearby greenery. Alongside this there has been links between a reduction in the frequency of GP visits and sick leave when people incorporated time in nature into their lives, such as gardening.

 

On a personal level spending time in these community run green spaces over the duration of this project has been beneficial to my own well-being. I was able to experience, first hand, how important it is to have somewhere that the community can work together and socialise in. These spaces not only provide mental and physical benefits but they also bring the community together.