Relationships between loneliness and soundscapes in urban greenspaces
With 4 million adults in the UK reporting feeling lonely, developing interventions that can help reduce this is essential. Evidence indicates that access to urban greenspaces can reduce loneliness by helping people feel more connected to their community and the non-human world and affording opportunities for social interactions. Urban greenspaces also promote psychological restoration from stress and cognitive fatigue and help to develop attachments to place, factors also related to reductions in loneliness. To date, relevant research has investigated the wellbeing benefits of access to greensapces through a predominantly visual lens. While natural sounds (such as birdsong) are thought to encourage social connections and interactions and anthropogenic ones (such as traffic noise) hinder them, there is a lack of evidence supporting the link between soundscapes and loneliness. This proposed mixed-methods research aims to address this gap across four studies which will: provide a review of existing literature to help explore pathways which might link soundscapes with loneliness (Study 1); qualitatively explore these pathways (Study 2); manipulate soundscapes to experimentally test their potential impacts on loneliness and the mechanisms which drive these (Study 3) and understand how these findings can inform the design of future soundscape interventions for those experiencing lonliness with and without access to urban greenspaces (Study 4). Findings will be crucial in understanding if and how exposure to different sounds within urban contexts can impact psychosocial wellbeing. There will be implications for urban planners and public health policy and practice throught the development of design and/or engagement-based interventions.