Green Spaces

Increasing urbanization has resulted in urban stress, and this issue has affected adults, including university students. This study investigates the relationship between the utilization of nearby green spaces by university students and their perceptions of stress and health. According to Ulrich's Stress Reduction Theory, this study designs an online survey method on students’ stress and analyzes their stress based on the results of the survey. The statistical population of the research included all 417 undergraduate students of English Language Translation at Alborz Payame Noor University in the academic year 2022-2023. Finally, 186 students who completed the online survey were selected for the study. The Perceived Stress Scale scores were combined and entered into IBM SPSS statistics 25. The results obtained from the regression analysis showed that the utilization of green spaces is negatively correlated with perceived stress levels, indicating that the frequency and time of visiting green areas have a predictive role in reducing the stress of students. This research adds to the body of knowledge regarding the function that urban green spaces predict promoting wellbeing and stress reduction. Thus, some suggestions for utilizing urban green spaces to improve university students' health might be proposed.

In the face of escalating climate change and its cascading impacts, urban resilience has become a fundamental approach to achieving sustainable city management. Zahedan, situated in an arid to semi-arid region, experiences severe climatic stressors including rising land surface temperatures, declining soil moisture, intensifying droughts, and increasing occurrences of dust storms. This study investigates the role of urban green spaces in reducing climate vulnerability and enhancing resilience, focusing on two neighborhoods with contrasting environmental conditions: Daneshgah (University) and Shirabad. Utilizing Landsat satellite imagery, spatiotemporal changes in vegetation cover (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) were analyzed for the period 1980–2023. Climatic parameters—air temperature, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed—were examined through time-series analysis and validated using the Mann–Kendall trend test. Furthermore, the TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making model was applied to evaluate and rank neighborhood vulnerability and resilience levels. The results reveal a marked decline in vegetation cover accompanied by a significant rise in land surface temperature over the past four decades. Drought indices suggest that decreasing precipitation and humidity levels are primary drivers of these patterns. The Daneshgah neighborhood, characterized by greater vegetation density, exhibits higher climate resilience compared to Shirabad. Vegetation in Daneshgah enhances urban resilience by absorbing carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen, reducing ambient temperature, and improving soil water retention, thereby mitigating air pollution and urban heat island effects. Conversely, Shirabad’s compact built environment, inadequate infrastructure, and limited green space intensify its climate vulnerability. The findings underscore the critical role of effective green space management—particularly through the cultivation of drought-tolerant species, adoption of smart irrigation technologies, and establishment of urban green belts—in strengthening Zahedan’s urban climate resilience.