About the project

The project "Living with Green Spaces" investigates the importance of green spaces in the immediate vicinity of big city dwellers for their quality of life. A large number of studies have shown that trees, green spaces and waterfronts are very important for overall well-being. Nevertheless, nobody knows how much "green" is enough for a city to be a good place to live. There is also little knowledge about the relevance of a green environment for decisions about moving house. Our research aims to investigate these questions in detail. 

The study consists of a telephone survey conducted twice within one year in Hamburg and Cologne. In cooperation with a social research institute, a random sample of landline numbers will be drawn and called by trained interviewers. If the interviewer is connected to a private household, an interview is requested with the adult over 18 years old whose birthday is most recent. In this manner a representative sample of 900 respondents for each city, Hamburg and Cologne, will be generated.

Over a period of six to twelve months after the first interview, a follow-up interview will be conducted. The aim of the follow-up interview is to find out whether there have been any changes in the residential neighbourhood or the respondents’ quality of life. This is especially important for respondents planning to relocate at the time of the first interview who then realise these plans before the second interview – or, for various reasons, were unable to. However, even if respondents do not move, changes in their residential neighbourhood can affect their quality of life, for example, new construction sites. The impact of changes in the residential neighbourhood on quality of life will be investigated in the second interview.

The project "Living with Green Spaces" is a sub-project of the working group "Sustainable Lives". More details are available here at the "Sustainable Lives" website.