| dc.description.abstract | This study aimed to identify how members of the Dalhousie community are currently
using the Studley Quad. More specifically, the intent of this research is to discover the ways in
which the Studley Quad is being used and how we can increase these uses. Throughout this
paper, green space will be defined as “..publicly accessible areas with natural vegetation, such as
grass, plants or trees ”(Lachowycz & Jones, 2013, p.62) . For the purpose of this study, the
Studley Quad is being classified as a green space. An extensive amount of research has shown
that there is a strong correlation between green space and mental health. We are defining mental
health according to the World Health Organization's definition which is “a state of well being in
which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of
life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his
community,” (2017).
Located in Halifax Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University is the largest university in the city
with upwards of 18,000 students (Dalhousie University, n.d.). As Dalhousie is an older campus,
there is an increasing priority to pursue updated environmental health and safety standards to
assure safe spaces for users. To achieve this, Dalhousie has created several policy documents to
guide healthy and sustainable design on campus (Dalhousie Campus Master Plan, 2010 &
Dalhousie Natural Environment Plan, 2014).
The Studley Quad is an urban green space in the center of Dalhousie’s main Halifax
campus, and it connects many campus buildings making it a popular commuter route. The
purpose of this study is to identify how Dalhousie students are currently using the Studley Quad
to determine how these uses can be increased. As access to green space can positively impact
mental health and wellbeing, Dalhousie students will benefit from the improvement of this green
space (Nutsford, Pearson, & Kingham, 2013). Using non-probabilistic surveying methods, we
gained insight on students’ attitudes towards the Studley Quad using a questionnaire, in addition
to evaluating behavioural observations on the site. To analyze our data, frequencies of survey
results were tallied and visually presented in the form of graphs and charts. We also executed a
Chi Square test to compare reported uses of the space to the uses we observed. Together, these
methods allowed us to better understand students’ attitudes towards the Studley Quad based on
how students are currently using the space, and determined what would entice them to use this
space more.
The results of this research confirmed that the majority of Dalhousie students questioned
believe that they should have access to green space and that spending time in green spaces has
the ability to improve their moods. It was identified that currently, the main use of the Quad is
walking; a result of this being that the students using this space to commute are using it
infrequently for short periods of time. Our questionnaire determined that poor conditions of the
grounds and lack of seating have hindered students usage of the Studley Quad. To improve this,
students reported that making the changes they identified would promote them to use the Quad
more. The most popular responses for improvements included incorporating more vegetation and
increasing seating. This study obtained knowledge on students perceptions on the importance of
the Studley Quad. By evaluating observations and questionnaire responses, the results of this
study provided essential information on how we can design campus spaces that better serve the
needs of the students; encouraging the use of public green spaces. | en_US |
