Generating Inclusive Health Benefits from Urban Green Spaces: An Empirical Study of Beijing Olympic Forest Park

Abstract

Nature proximity contributes to improving many people’s health. In urban areas, how to increase the gaining of health benefits from urban green space (UGS) has gradually become a topic of concern for urban planners and public health practitioners. However, studies that can make causal inferences and evidence from developing countries and societies are still limited, and little has been done to address the issue of equity. Using data gathered in face-to-face surveys from 997 visitors to the Beijing Olympic Forest Park, we applied the instrumental variable approach to analyze park visit benefits to human physical and mental health, and explore ways that can help motivate visits and enhance equitable use. The results show that the overweight had more frequent visits, indicating that people with less-than-ideal health status might feel the urgency in improving their health and choose to engage in more recreation. In this sense, UGS showed a tendency to provide means for a certain group of people to proactively improve health. The study also solidifies the mid-term stress-relieving effect of park recreation that increased with visiting frequency, and found that visits to different types of UGS should all be beneficial, and do not have to be to large green parks. While distance is a decisive factor in encouraging UGS visits, route friendliness was found to have a complementing role, implying that creating routes to UGS that are more conducive to non-motorized travel (walking and cycling) could be seen as an important instrument. Both the incentives to park visitation and stress-relieving effect are more pronounced in elder groups, indicating higher potentials of such an approach in cities with an aging population. In terms of equity, differences in knowledge and income levels associated with use levels indicated inequitable use. To promote inclusiveness, the policy could start by increasing people’s recognition of health benefits derived from UGS recreation through for example publicity programs. The study could bring implications for planning practitioners to leverage health potentials from increased and equitable use of UGS. Limitations of the study includes: (1) given the nature of cross-sectional data, the possibility of two-way causality cannot be ruled out, and (2) the study was conducted in one park and only park visitors were surveyed. In the future, researchers could consider conducting multi-period surveys, and to look at the city level to include all kinds of recreational UGS, and, if possible, to cover all residents.

Can Campus Green Spaces Be Restorative? A Case Study from Tanzania

“…[50] found that park use led to exercise and physical activity and to improvement in mood; ref. [147] found that green infrastructure fosters spirituality and wellbeing; and [148] presented findings which advocate that increased use of GSs promote our psychological health. Even though most of the aforementioned factors (proximity availability and exposure) were included in our hypothesis, we did not observe correlations with either mental health or restoration.…”

Implementation of Solutions Reducing the Number of Cars in Polish Housing Estates—Based on the Experience of the Vauban Estate in Freiburg, Case of the City of Wroclaw

“…To make the transition to satisfactory and sustainable mobility in cardependent cities, the reduction in car use should be accompanied by benefits for residents. These benefits include improved public transport, convenient walking and cycling, and an integrated system of public transport modes [11][12][13].…”

Gravity-based models for evaluating urban park accessibility: Why does localized selection of attractiveness factors and travel modes matter?

“…Accessibility is also considered as a five-dimensional concept, encompassing approachability, acceptability, availability and accommodation, affordability, and appropriateness (Usher, 2015). Therefore, assessing park attractiveness should involve multiple factors beyond size and quality (He et al, 2022; Sundevall and Jansson, 2020), emphasizing on factors related to inclusiveness, particularly those relevant to the local context (Liang and Zhang, 2017). For instance, previous studies have shown that park entry fees in developing countries act as a barrier for low-income groups, significantly impacting their park visits (Lal et al, 2017; Pinelo Silva, 2021).…”