Exploring uncharted territory: Do urban greenspaces support mental health in low- and middle-income countries?

Nawrath, Maximilian; Guenat, Solène; Elsey, Helen

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.110625

Cited by 35 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…While the mental health benefits provided by urban greenspaces are increasingly well understood (Lovell and Maxwell, 2018), much of the evidence is biased towards temperate, highincome countries (HICs) (Nawrath et al, 2020). Although there is evidence to suggest that greenspaces can support mental health outcomes in upper-middle-income countries, the urban areas with the highest rates of urbanisation remain critically understudied (Nawrath et al, 2020). It cannot be assumed that findings from HICs appropriately represent the diversity of urban living conditions in rapidly urbanising cities in LMICs (United Nations, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why cultural ecosystem services matter most: Exploring the pathways linking greenspaces and mental health in a low-income country

Nawrath

Elsey

Dallimer

2022

Science of The Total Environment

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why cultural ecosystem services matter most: Exploring the pathways linking greenspaces and mental health in a low-income country

Nawrath

Elsey

Dallimer

2022

Science of The Total Environment

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“…We are aware that our dataset has limitations with regard to sampling framework and sample size, and suggest that future research could benefit from including additional variables on socioeconomic backgrounds of respondents, and more in-depth surveys over a longer timeframe using a stratified sampling approach to increase regional representativeness. With generally limited information on how greenspaces can support public health in low-and middle-income countries (Nawrath et al, 2021), our study provides initial insights in these geographical areas, as >30% of our respondents reported from upper-middle and lower-middle economic regions. Further, retrospective questions regarding pre-COVID-19 period could be answered in follow-up surveys.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Streetscapes as Surrogate Greenspaces During COVID-19?

Fischer

Gopal

2021

Front. Sustain. Cities

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In 2020, the spread of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) globally led to severe crisis, disruption and hardship in both private and public life. In such times of distress, access to urban greenspaces is essential for physical and mental wellbeing. However, globally implemented lockdowns deprived many people of freely visiting greenspaces. Inequality in access to urban greenspaces was apparent at global scales. Consequently, many people took to streets for outdoor activities due to its easy accessibility. We, therefore, aimed to study the usage and relevance of streetscapes for outdoor activities during a crisis. We hypothesised that streetscapes supported diverse outdoor activities, functioning as surrogate urban greenspaces. We distributed an online questionnaire to over 400 international respondents. Our results clearly showed that people used streetscapes during this period for a variety of activities, many of which were also reported as their main physical activity. Walking was the most frequent activity in streetscapes globally, and independent from sociocultural characteristics. Other activities reported such as jogging and cycling also aligned generally with main physical activities of people, but differed between countries and people's sociocultural background. In summary, more than one third of respondents from lower-income countries reported not having had access to a greenspace, whereas 8% reported the same in high-income countries. Our results highlight the important role of streetscapes in facilitating people's regular physical activities during the pandemic. Recognising streetscapes as important public outdoor spaces within residential neighbourhoods could help counteract the inequality in greenspace access, an issue that seems more relevant than ever before.

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“…Natural components of cities, such as urban greenspaces, contribute many benefits to people, including maintaining biodiversity (Aronson et al, 2014), helping to mitigate urban heat island effects (Rizwan et al, 2008;Li et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2021) and improving residents' living conditions and health (Hartig et al, 2014;Nawrath et al, 2021). Effective conservation and management of greenspaces is therefore critical.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sub-Saharan Africa is also under-researched in terms of stakeholders involvement in urban greenspace planning, conservation and management (Fors et al, 2015), or the multiple values or health benefits of urban greenspaces (Botzat et al, 2016;Nawrath et al, 2021). The challenge of improving African greenspace conservation and management is, therefore, not only reliant on improving the evidence-base surrounding benefits, but on how we might alter planning and decisionmaking processes in order to integrate the needs and perceptions of all stakeholders while placing greater emphasis on the retention of high quality, accessible greenspaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking Stakeholder Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges Associated With Urban Greenspaces in Sub-Saharan Africa

Guenat

Lopez

Mkwambisi

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Urban greenspaces underpin ecosystem service provision in cities and are therefore indispensable for human well-being. Nevertheless, they are increasingly disappearing from cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding how the stakeholders influencing urban greenspace management perceive the benefits provided by urban greenspaces and the challenges to its conservation and management is critical for reversing this trend. Using Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, as a case study, we conducted 44 semi-structured interviews to explore the profiles and perceptions of stakeholders who currently hold influence over greenspace planning, conservation and management. Stakeholders with influence over urban greenspace management described the main focus of their organisation as relating to urban planning, natural resources protection and management, development work, or the hospitality business sector. Critically, only a third of all stakeholders focused on natural resources protection and management. Stakeholders had nuanced and varied appreciations of the benefits that greenspaces provide. Regulation and maintenance ecosystem services, as well as cultural services were frequently mentioned. However, provisioning services were mostly mentioned by those in development work. Stakeholders also identified an additional suite of societal benefits that do not directly map onto ecosystem service frameworks, such as the generation of financial income and the provision of employment opportunities. Challenges identified as hampering the planning, conservation and management of greenspaces included inappropriate urbanisation, lack of coordination and participation, and population growth. Lack of coordination was however not widely acknowledged among those focusing on natural resources protection, who conversely identified population growth more often than any other groups. Highlighting how stakeholders with varying priorities perceive ecosystem services a first step towards improving greenspaces management both for their better acceptation and for improving their potential for biodiversity conservation. Specifically, we bring attention to need for stakeholders working with natural resources protection to recognise more the need for collaborations and engagement. Additional research is also necessary to understand how those different perspectives might be integrated into ongoing processes and procedures to manage greenspaces in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Exploring uncharted territory: Do urban greenspaces support mental health in low- and middle-income countries?

Cited by 35 publications

References 97 publications

Why cultural ecosystem services matter most: Exploring the pathways linking greenspaces and mental health in a low-income country

Why cultural ecosystem services matter most: Exploring the pathways linking greenspaces and mental health in a low-income country

Streetscapes as Surrogate Greenspaces During COVID-19?

Unpacking Stakeholder Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges Associated With Urban Greenspaces in Sub-Saharan Africa

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