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The latest research from the University of British Columbia (UBC) shows that children living in areas with access to increased greenspaces can set them up for greater success in life and help them meet their early years developmental milestones.

Researchers at the UBC faculty of forestry and faculty of medicine analyzed the developmental scores of 27,372 children in Metro Vancouver who attended kindergarten between 2005 and 2011.They looked at the amount of greenspace around each child's home from ages birth to five and also assessed traffic levels, community noise and air pollution. 

“Most of the children were doing well in their development, in terms of language skills, cognitive capacity, socialization and other outcomes,” says study author Ingrid JarvisI, a PhD candidate in the department of forest and conservation sciences at UBC. “But what’s interesting is that those children living in a residential location with more vegetation and richer natural environments showed better o...