ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has impaired wellbeing and highlighted the importance of open, local greenspaces in supporting healthy lifestyles and providing safe social spaces. Community woodlands, environments managed by and for communities, offer a wealth of individual and communal wellbeing benefits which are likely to have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions. A mixed-methods study, involving 31 semi-structured interviews and 765 questionnaire responses, was conducted in three Scottish community woodlands before and after Scotland's first lockdown in Spring of 2020. Findings suggest community woodlands are highly valued for providing opportunities to exercise and connect with nature but also provide a range of other social, communal and symbolic benefits. Following lockdown, respondents visited community woodlands more often, developed further interest and appreciation in community woodlands, and placed significantly more value on connecting with nature and relatively less on social and shared benefits. These results reflect the impact of national restrictions and highlight community woodlands as important local green spaces which, despite limitations on communal use, continue to support wellbeing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

摘要

COVID-19 大流行损害了福祉，并强调了开放的当地绿色空间在支持健康生活方式和提供安全社交空间方面的重要性。社区林地、由社区管理和为社区管理的环境提供了大量可能受到 COVID-19 限制影响的个人和社区福祉。一项混合方法研究，涉及 31 次半结构化访谈和 765 份问卷回复，在苏格兰于 2020 年春季首次封锁前后在三个苏格兰社区林地进行。结果表明，社区林地因提供锻炼和联系的机会而受到高度重视自然，但也提供了一系列其他社会、公共和象征性的好处。锁定后，受访者更频繁地访问社区林地，对社区林地产生了进一步的兴趣和欣赏，并更加重视与自然的联系，而相对较少地重视社会和共享利益。这些结果反映了国家限制的影响，并强调社区林地是重要的当地绿色空间，尽管公共使用受到限制，但在整个 COVID-19 大流行期间继续支持福祉。