Abstract
Rapid urbanization across major African cities has gradually eaten into the amount of public open space available, and this is starting to show in both the environment and in how people feel day to day. In Lagos, the country’s most populated and busiest city, the pressure is even more obvious. Population keeps growing, buildings keep expanding, and green spaces are getting harder to come by. This study looks at how public open spaces, especially urban parks in Ikeja, actually affect people’s wellness and whether residents really accept and use them. Instead of staying too theoretical, it leans on ideas from environmental psychology and biophilic design, basically trying to understand how being around nature, even in a city, connects to people’s physical health, mental state, and social life. By going through existing studies and a few urban examples, it becomes clear that parks do more than just “look nice”, they help people relax, interact, and even cope better with the stress of city life. The findings suggest that when parks are properly designed and easy to access, they can genuinely improve quality of life, offering a kind of breathing space within all the chaos. However, issues like poor maintenance, safety concerns, and not having enough of these spaces originally hold things back. The study recommends integrating green infrastructure into urban planning policies and improving management strategies to enhance the functionality and acceptance of public parks in Ikeja.