It’s one of many questions set to be examined in a $3.2 million research project at the University of Wollongong (UOW), which includes an Australian-first look at the link between vegetation and a child’s academic scores.

The five-year project, dubbed ‘Greener Cities Healthier Lives’, will also explore whether living near parks delivers better pregnancy health outcomes and how green areas help adults’ mental and physical health.

UOW’s Associate Professor Thomas Astell-Burt and Dr Xiaoqi Feng, two of the country’s leading green space and public health researchers, are behind the study.

Doctor Feng said the new project would bring together senior and junior researchers to explore several important questions for the first time in Australia.

“With prior evidence including our own suggesting that exposure to greenery helps us feel well and live longer, healthier lives, this suggests that green spaces do more than ‘pretty up’ our neighbourhoods,” she said.

“This project will address the key overarching research question now for industry and policy makers: what is the ideal amount of local green-space that helps to keep all of us healthy and out of hospital?

“We recognise that there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution and how people use green space is often dependent upon their age, which is why we will examine relevant outcomes and pathways that relate to pregnancy, childhood, adulthood and seniors.”

The study is being run out of UOW’s Faculty of Social Sciences, in partnership with the Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab).

The UOW PowerLab team will use existing and bespoke data as part of the project, including the study of NAPLAN results to provide the first insights in Australia on green-space and educational achievement.

Studies of mental health and chronic disease in relation to green space, along with hospital admissions and health service costs associated with green spaces will also be used.

Four UOW faculties – Social Sciences; Science Medicine; Health, Engineering and Information Sciences; Business – are involved in the project’s research team, which also includes investigators from the Early Start Research Institute, the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute and the South Western Sydney Local Health District.

The research is among the first round of projects to be funded through the Horticulture Innovation Australia Green Cities fund, which focuses on long-term research that drives a measurable increase in urban green space.