Urban Forestry and Its Impact on the Health of Residents of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State

Abstract

In every environment, the presence or lack of urban forests impacts the built environment. Urban forestry, a branch of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), refers to an urban framework in which individual trees and tree populations in urban settlements are cared for and also managed to promote the health and well-being of the occupants of the urban settlements. Urban forestry strongly posits that trees are an integral part of the urban setting. The urban forest is an urban green infrastructure system that largely contributes to multiple service sectors and functions in urban environments. Although the environmental advantages of urban forests have been realised, the essentiality of urban forests in learning environments and educational communities alike, few have been largely neglected in existing research. Therefore, this research paper aims to investigate the impact of urban forests on the mental health of residents of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. Data for this research was collected through the use of structured questionnaires and field observation. The data collected was analysed through the use of the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results obtained from the analysis of collected data explicitly highlights the effects of urban forests in learning environments and their positive impact, on the mental health and overall wellbeing of the residents of the university community. This research endeavour recommended that more urban forests should be planned and put in place within built up environments to improve the stability of the eco-system and the overall wellbeing of the residents of that urban environment.