Sense of Well-Being from Experiencing Green Infrastructure Network in Small Towns

The paper explores the significance of residents’ experience with an array of green infrastructure in Taiping, a small town in central Peninsular Malaysia. It argues that the existence of a composite of greenery and open spaces in a town contributes to the sense of well-being of its residents. The green composite is termed green infrastructure network that consists of various types of greenery and open spaces linked by streets, waterways and drainages encircling and connecting urban areas, at all spatial scales (Tzoulas et al. 2007). In Taiping, the green infrastructure network consists of the Lake Gardens (town park), river corridors, street plantings, school playfields, neighbourhood open spaces, home gardens and loose-fit spaces such as pocket spaces in between buildings and shop houses. Questionnaires (n=335) and semi-structured interviews (n=33) explore the attributes of the green infrastructure in the town and the relationships to sense of well-being—cognitive, physical and social. The attributes are diversity and naturalness of the green infrastructure network. Diverse experiences of green infrastructure network, physically and visually attract residents to participate in active activities, to socialize and to perform other transactional activities outside their homes. Therefore, the effects from the participation trigger many positive moods such as serenity, cheerfulness, relaxation, comfort and satisfaction. Moreover, in physical and social terms, experiencing urban green spaces such as parks and gardens afford town residents active living, and community participation and harmony. Hence, the results implicate that urban green spaces are essential amenity for towns and cities that afford an individual and a community cognitive, physical and social well-being. Provision for such spaces for necessary, optional and leisure recreation is an important aspect of urban design and planning.